🧠 Final Reflection on AI, BSL, & Language Justice: We Must Not Repeat History.
- Tim Scannell
- Nov 8, 2025
- 1 min read
Over the past year, my research has explored how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming access to British Sign Language (BSL). What I found confirms a critical truth: BSL is a living language, not just data, and its interface with AI is fundamentally about language power and equality.
Too often, AI projects risk repeating historical mistakes—a pattern I call Digital Milan: Innovation without Inclusion.
🛑 The Repeating Patterns of Harm:
Language Deprivation: BSL is sidelined in favour of speech-centric automation.
Colonial Patterns: Hearing-led control dictates Deaf language and knowledge.
Economic Neglect: Deaf professionals are unpaid or excluded from key decision-making roles.
Cultural Erasure: "Accessibility" is delivered without genuine community consent.
✅ The Mandate for Change:
True accessibility demands Language Justice. This requires a fundamental shift in how BSL-AI projects are led, funded, and governed:
Deaf-Led Leadership and Ownership of every project.
Fair Pay and credit for Deaf contributors.
True Partnership between AI experts, interpreters, and linguists.
Ethical, Low-Carbon AI that benefits people first.
"AI can see my hands, but not my meaning. True accessibility means language justice - where Deaf people lead, are paid fairly, and our languages are never colonised again.”
🔗 References that informed this reflection:
🔗 References: BDA Discussion Paper on AI • BOBSL Dataset (Oxford/BBC) • Tim Scannell – AI BSL in Public Services
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