British Deaf Association
The British Deaf Association (BDA) is a deaf-led British charity that campaigns and advocates for deaf people who use British Sign Language.
History
It was preceded by the National Association for the Deaf and Dumb (NADD), which had been founded by deaf people in 1886. The creation of the NADD had been in response to the perceived threats to the language and education rights of deaf people which had arisen after the Milan Conference of 1880. This international congress, where the majority of those attending were people who taught hearing to deaf children, had passed a resolution banning the use of sign languages throughout the world. The participants of the conference had then returned to their home countries, determined to eradicate both the employment of deaf teachers and the use of sign language in schools. They also sought to reduce class sizes to those that were manageable by hearing teachers.[1]
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In 1889, the NADD ceased to exist and so four deaf men, including
The advent of sign language and its acceptance by the general public resulted in deaf leaders slowly coming back to the forefront starting with Jock Young as the first deaf chair in 1983 and, in the mid-1990s, its first deaf chief executive, Jeff McWhinney.
In the 1990s the BDA became a deaf-led organisation and the campaigning for the recognition of sign language is to date the main focus of their work.[2] The current Chair is Linda Richards.[3] Previous Chairs include the late Terry Riley, editor of the BBC's See Hear programme.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "BDA origins". British Deaf Association. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ "History of Deaf organisations". deafinfo.org. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ "Board". British Deaf Association. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
External links
- Official Website
- Sign Community
- "British Deaf Association, registered charity no. 1031687". Charity Commission for England and Wales.