Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Official Report 901KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business today is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader is Mr Kenneth Nuttall, a Deaf Christian Bible teacher from East Kilbride.

(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) Presiding Officer, thank you for inviting me to address Parliament today.

Many years ago, I was driving my van through a country area, and I approached a small town from the top of a hill. On the way down, I saw a sign that said that the speed limit was 30mph. I happened to look at my speedometer and realised that I needed to slow down. I put the gears into neutral and let the vehicle slow down on its own. Further down the road, at the corner, I saw a policeman standing with a speed gun. I had a quick look at my speedometer and saw that I was doing about 45mph.

Further down the road, I saw another policeman waving me to the side of the road, and I knew what was coming next. I pulled over and the policeman came around the side of the van. He did not look friendly. I rolled down my window and he started talking to me. I looked at him and gestured that I was Deaf, and he looked like he was stuck. I thought, “Do you know, I’m not going to say anything. I will just leave him with this problem and let him sort it out.”

After that, he thought for a bit and pointed at my speedometer and gestured that I should slow down. He then said I could go, and I thought, “Phew.” I was really relieved. The policeman had been stuck. He had felt that it was easier just to let me go, because the communication might have been too difficult, so I got to go free.

You might be smiling at that, but the truth is that that kind of thing happens quite a lot in society today. For example, often, when Deaf people go to hospital, a doctor or nurse who tries to speak to them realises that they are speaking to a Deaf person and then they are stuck. In that situation, it is not funny; it is really quite sad.

I would like to give you a quote from Helen Keller. She said that blindness separates people from things that they cannot see, but that deafness separates people from other people, because they cannot communicate.

The Bible pleads with us to

“walk in the ways of understanding.”

That is from Proverbs, chapter 9, verse 6. One way in which to walk in the way of understanding would be to understand Deaf people and the different ways that they have of communicating.

We Deaf people are very grateful to the Parliament that British Sign Language is recognised in Scotland. We believe that that will be a great benefit to Deaf people and will give us equal access to vital services.

Thank you.