October 2–8, 2006, is Learn to Sign Week in Britain. Here’s the British Deaf Association’s official site for the campaign.
British Sign Language isn’t related to American Sign Language. Not only are there different signs for the same concept, but the two languages also don’t use the same gestures for spelling names from written English. BSL has a two-handed system. ASL has a one-handed system developed from French Sign Language’s system (more on the history of FSL and ASL in my post Inuit Sign Language gathering).
Last week was 2006 International Week of the Deaf and America’s Deaf Awareness Week. The next Deaf Awareness Week in Britain is May 7–13, 2007 (UK Council on Deafness’s official site).
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