Bunbury, S. 2025. The reasonableness of providing British sign language as a “reasonable adjustment for those wanting access to an ‘experience’”. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/13582291251393868
| Title | The reasonableness of providing British sign language as a “reasonable adjustment for those wanting access to an ‘experience’” |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Bunbury, S. |
| Abstract | The law in some ways is beginning to take positive steps for the Deaf community to ensure services generally are accessible following the pandemic and recent change in legislation, with the introduction of the British Sign Language Act 2022. Despite some improvement, there is little case law or scholarship in terms of disabled individuals wishing to access a service where the ‘experience’ is the core service. This article argues that recent changes in legislation and legal decisions will address this laguna by transforming attitudes and practices. It seeks to provide some guidance for service providers offering an experience as a core service to review and implement reasonable adjustments in advance to enable access to the experience for Deaf users using British Sign Language as a mainstream language. Although there is now legal recognition, it is argued that the requirement for the provision of British Sign Language should be incorporated into anti-discrimination legislation as a reasonable adjustment to ensure adjustments are made for Deaf users wishing access to an experience. |
| Keywords | disability, British sign language act 2022, equality act 2020, anticipatory reasonable adjustment duty, service provider, deaf users, discrimination |
| Journal | International Journal of Discrimination and the Law |
| ISSN | 1358-2291 |
| 2047-9468 | |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publisher | Sage |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1177/13582291251393868 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 13 Nov 2025 |