Deaf Awareness Week: Breaking Barriers in Emergencies
Deaf Awareness Week is an annual opportunity to celebrate Deaf culture, identity and history, while also shining a light on the barriers that still limit full accessibility for deaf people and those with hearing loss. It is a time to champion equal access to communication and services, and to build a deeper understanding of the communication needs of the deaf community - including before, during and after emergencies when clear information can be lifesaving.
As part of this year’s conversation, we spoke with Sorenson, a global language services provider that blends patented technology with human-centred expertise to connect people across signed and spoken languages. As the provider of 999 BSL, the UK’s first Emergency Video Relay Service in British Sign Language, Sorenson plays a vital role in ensuring Deaf people can reach emergency services quickly and confidently. Their insights help highlight both the progress being made and the work still needed to ensure emergency communication is accessible to all.
Sorenson shared their perspective on the challenges Deaf people face during emergencies and beyond, and the strengths and capabilities within Deaf communities. They also reflected on the accessibility of current emergency alerts and where improvements could make the biggest difference. Read the full article below.
1. How does your work support Deaf communities?
Sorenson has been supporting Deaf communities in the UK since 2003 through its companies Sign Language Interactions and Significan’t UK, and is the longest-running and leading provider of British Sign Language (BSL) Video Relay Service (VRS) and Video Remote Interpreting (VRI). We pioneered the development and delivery of VRS and VRI in the UK, helping to remove communication barriers for Deaf BSL users across everyday life and essential services.
Through our product and services, SignVideo, we enable Deaf BSL users to communicate with hearing people via live video access to qualified BSL interpreters.
VRS allows Deaf people to make phone calls to hearing organisations - such as GPs, banks, local authorities or businesses - through a BSL interpreter who relays the conversation in real time.
VRI provides on-demand remote interpreting via video, supporting Deaf people to access services directly, including appointments, customer service interactions and workplace communications, without the delay or cost of booking an in-person interpreter.
Our aim is to give Deaf people greater independence, privacy and equality when accessing services that are often taken for granted by hearing people.
We are also the provider of 999 BSL, the UK’s first Emergency Video Relay Service in British Sign Language, enabling Deaf people to contact the police, fire or ambulance services directly through a BSL interpreter in urgent and life-critical situations.
2. What are your goals for this year?
One of our key goals this year is raising awareness of the 999 BSL service and ensuring that as many deaf people as possible know it exists and have the app downloaded on their phone before an emergency happens. In an emergency, there is often no time to search for solutions, so awareness and preparation are critical.
Alongside this, we aim to:
Encourage greater take-up of SignVideo across public services, including police forces, NHS boards and local authorities.
Continue working with emergency responders and public bodies to improve understanding of deaf people’s communication needs.
Advocate for more consistent, nationwide access to interpreting support, so where someone lives does not determine the support they receive.
3. What are the biggest challenges Deaf people face during emergencies, preparedness and recovery?
A major challenge Deaf people face during emergencies is communication continuity. While 999 BSL allows Deaf people to contact emergency services in the same way a hearing person can call 999, the service operates in a similar model: once emergency responders arrive on scene, the call is completed and discontinued.
However, when responders arrive, effective communication still relies on access to qualified BSL interpreting so that emergency services can fully understand and respond to the Deaf BSL user. At this point, responsibility for ensuring accessible communication sits with the emergency authorities.
Encouragingly, a number of police forces and NHS boards already work with us through SignVideo to provide ongoing interpreting support beyond the initial emergency response. However, this is not consistent nationwide, creating a postcode lottery where access to communication support depends on location rather than need.
Beyond the immediate response, Deaf people also face challenges during preparedness and recovery. These include a lack of accessible emergency information, limited involvement in emergency planning, and barriers to accessing healthcare, support services or recovery processes where interpreting provision is not guaranteed.
4. What strengths, capabilities or opportunities do you see within Deaf communities that support others before, during or after an emergency?
Deaf communities are resilient, resourceful and highly connected. Strong social networks and trusted communication channels play an important role in sharing information, offering peer support and promoting safety before, during and after emergencies.
There is also a growing awareness within deaf communities of digital tools such as VRS and video based services, which creates opportunities to strengthen preparedness if these tools are properly supported and promoted.
Deaf-led knowledge, lived experience and BSL expertise represent a significant asset to emergency planning. When Deaf communities are meaningfully involved, services become more effective, inclusive and responsive for everyone.
5. How accessible are current emergency alerts and how would you like to see them improved?
Many emergency alerts still rely heavily on audio-based methods such as spoken announcements, which remain inaccessible to Deaf BSL users. While services such as 999 BSL represent a major step forward, accessibility across the entire emergency journey - from initial alert, to response, through to recovery - is still inconsistent.
True accessibility requires BSL access not only at the point of the emergency call, but before, during and after emergency response. This includes visual and text-based emergency alerts, accessible public information, and clear provision for interpreting support once emergency services arrive on scene, so that responders can communicate fully and effectively with Deaf BSL users.
Improvement would also be strengthened through a hybrid model of remote and face-to-face interpreting, supported by consistent national contracts across police, fire and ambulance services. Combining Video Relay Service (VRS) and Video Remote
Interpreting (VRI) with in-person interpreting where appropriate would ensure flexibility, resilience and continuity of communication in both urgent and complex situations.
More consistent collaboration between emergency authorities and VRS/VRI provider would help remove regional variation and ensure Deaf people can rely on the same level of accessible communication support wherever they are in the UK.
6. How can people connect with you to learn more about your work?
People can learn more about our work through Sorenson, SignVideo, and 999 BSL, including information on using Video Relay Service (VRS), accessing emergency support through 999 BSL, and working with us to improve accessibility for Deaf BSL users.
We work in partnership with police forces, NHS boards, public services and voluntary organisations, and welcome opportunities for collaboration, training and awareness-raising. Increasing understanding and uptake of services such as SignVideo and 999 BSL is key to ensuring Deaf people can communicate effectively and receive equal access to support when it matters most.
SignVideo is free to download for Deaf BSL users. Information on how and where to download the app for different devices is available here.
To explore businesses and organisations that support Deaf BSL users through SignVideo, visit our SignDirectory here.