Providing sign language alternatives will make your communications more accessible to people who use British Sign Language (BSL) to communicate. BSL is a gestural language used in the UK’s deaf community. It is not related to English or any other spoken languages. BSL was officially recognised by the government as being a full, independent language in March 2003. This recognition raised the status of BSL and led to money being invested in training more deaf BSL tutors and BSL interpreters. Many people who are born deaf, or become deaf in early life, use sign language to communicate. The number of deaf signers who use BSL as their first language is estimated at 22,000 (source: Census 2011). Many hearing people also use BSL because they have family members, friends or colleagues who are deaf. Figures from the British Deaf Association suggest that on any day up to 250,000 people use BSL. BSL is used across the UK, although there are considerable differences in regional dialects. The BSL used in Belfast, for example, is very different from that used in the Channel Islands.