· Are you a Deaf BSL user who lives in Scotland?
· Do you sometimes have to see a doctor or go to the hospital or other healthcare appointments?
· Do you have to accompany family members to healthcare appointments?
· Do you feel that healthcare in Scotland is accessible to you as a BSL user?
We are a team of researchers who are seeking funding from the Chief Scientist’s Office to conduct a research project to:
· understand the challenges encountered by Deaf BSL users’ and family members, BSL interpreters and translators and healthcare professionals in Scotland;
· identify any gaps in Deaf BSL users’ experiences of accessing and using healthcare services in Scotland;
· consider how technology can be used to facilitate timely access to primary and secondary healthcare services for Deaf BSL users in Scotland.
We want to identify good practices and systemic barriers in Scottish healthcare for Deaf BSL users so we can make recommendations for policy to improve things.
The study with deaf and hearing researchers will be led by Heriot-Watt University in collaboration with University of Manchester, University of Wolverhampton, NHS Scotland (Lothian board), BDA Scotland, SignHealth, and other Deaf community organisations.
We would like you to tell us what you think of this proposal and our plans to conduct the research in Scotland. You don’t have to be familiar with research, we just want you to tell us if you think we are approaching the research in the right way.
If you are interested in helping us to design this research project, you are welcome to join a webinar that will be conducted in BSL. The webinar will be recorded, but only to help us take notes for our project application. The video will then be destroyed.
