Debate contribution: Sign Language Bill: Final Stage
Debate contribution by Ms Kellie Armstrong on .
- MLA
- Ms Kellie Armstrong
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 28 April 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Sign Language Bill: Final Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5510034
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Today is a fantastic day — a fantastic day — for me and for the deaf community. Today, we will agree the Sign Language Bill. Today, Northern Ireland joins everyone else on National BSL Day in celebrating the progress of sign language. "Thank you" to all in the deaf community for your patience. It has been a hard-won battle. Today, you get legislation that will enable public services to deliver in your language. Today and from today forward, you have a lot of work to do — more work to ensure that public services live up to the action plans that you will help to create. You have enabled the Sign Language Bill. This is your victory. Thank you for all your hard work so far. What will we see in five years' time? In five years, we hope to see every Department with an action plan that sets out how it will provide access to services in sign language when you need them. As we heard in the evidence provided to the Committee, we hope that nobody else will have to attend a health appointment without sign language, go to work and be unable to use sign language or be turned away from an employment support mechanism because there is no sign language there. Today and for the next five years, there is a lot of work to do to make sure that the action plans are right for you as a community. The process was long in coming, but it was not so long for the Bill. I thank the Minister and his departmental colleagues for their hard work in taking the Sign Language Bill through. I also thank the Assembly. This is the first time that the Assembly has provided such an inclusive consultation period. We provided video links so that people could sign their responses to and thoughts about the Bill to us online. We provided Committee sessions with live interpretation, meaning that we could have a one-to-one discussion with someone in their language as part of our considerations. Those considerations have been reflected in the Bill, and I very much acknowledge the Minister, the Committee and the Assembly for accepting the amendments that were tabled. The amendments were not difficult, because they made the Bill the best that it could be for all of you. As a member of the deaf community — I am hard of hearing — I do not know at which stage of my life I may have to depend on sign language. The Bill recognises that there will be an opportunity for deaf and deafblind people to access training for the time when they need to depend on sign language as their main form of communication. I welcome that. Today is a fantastic day. It is a day that you have long waited for. It is a day that Francis Maginn long waited for. It is the day on which we say goodbye to the Milan decision and say in BSL and ISL, "Welcome to Northern Ireland, sign language". Your languages are exactly the same as all other languages. Today is a fantastic day.
524 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.67).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.97).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.10 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.17 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.05 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.67 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.97 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.02 |
| Adopts it | 0.01 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.98 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.02 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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