Rose Ayling-Ellis has shared a Twitter thread in response to "upsetting" comments left in a BBC News article about paramedics who were unable to tell a deaf widow that her husband had passed away.
Elizabeth Corbett was unable to communicate with paramedics after returning home from work after her children had contacted her to tell her that their dad had fallen ill. East Midlands Ambulance Services has apologised in a statement, adding: "As an organisation we are currently working with the Nottinghamshire Deaf Society to discuss how we can improve our education to staff around deaf awareness and common emergency communication problems."
Responding to the comments on the article in a thread shared to Twitter, Rose wrote: "Some of the comments are quite upsetting. I just want to break it down as simple as possible… 1. 'Why can’t the children tell the mother?' No child should ever do this. 2. 'Why can they just write it down?' Imagine going through the most traumatic time of your life, you need someone there you can access to in the full language. Not writing backwards and forward.
"3.'Oh, so paramedics must be able to learn to speak in different language now?' It is BRITISH sign language. Paramedics are already so overwhelmed with the amazing work they do. They should have been given the right tools/support to be able to communicate with this lady. For example, Paramedics having emergency interpreter on iPad ready on call for this situation.
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"And, basic BSL to be able to pick up quickly that this lady was trying to communicate with them. 4. 'Let be realistic here…' No, let's be realistic here, we pay our taxes too, we have every rights to receive the same care."
Her followers were quick to agree, with one writing: "We should have all learnt basic BSL at school - I had mandatory French classes as a kid and I’d never been abroad and can remember barely a shred as never had to use it, but I had a deaf uncle I couldn’t communicate with. This is tragic." Another person added: "Thank you Rose for your ongoing advocacy of our language, BSL. The @BDA_Deaf will continue to ensure BSL is used across all public services, however long that takes. It’s a basic right."
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