Member Article

'Signed and sealed' partnership kicks off with retail boost

DURHAM-based national charity Signature has teamed up with Innovation Birmingham’s Learning Labs to launch the UK’s first learning aid for British Sign Language (BSL).

Signature and Learning Labs have developed the ‘Learn British Sign Language FlashSticks®’ to improve the way people learn BSL and present the visual language as an engaging and useful choice alongside other foreign language options.

And just weeks after launch, Signature and Learning Labs are already celebrating as WHSmith, Staples and online giant Amazon are confirmed as stockists.

The innovative BSL ‘FlashSticks®’ are custom printed Post-it Notes®. Each note demonstrates how to sign a particular word, with an illustration and written description. In addition, thanks to FlashStick’s smart app technology and Signature’s BSL expertise, you can also scan the note and watch a BSL teacher sign the word on your device.

Signature, which is the UK’s leading awarding body for deaf communications works to generate awareness of and increase interest in BSL as well as teaching the general public skills to communicate with deaf people.

Signature’s commercial services manager Emma Mortimer said: “Here in the UK one in six people have some degree of hearing loss. That’s about 10 million people so the demand to learn how to effectively communicate with deaf people is now higher than ever.

“This latest partnership and the resulting BSL ‘FlashSticks®’ is great news for the deaf community. This is a fantastic product. It raises awareness of the need for increased skills and understanding of BSL and also presents the learning in a fun, effective and engaging way, particularly with the addition of the signed video tutorials.

“The FlashSticks® are another step in the right direction with regards to bringing BSL into the forefront of language learning.”

Learning Labs CEO, Veejay Lingiah said: “We launched the BSL FlashSticks® in response to consumer demand and the feedback from retailers, language learners and educators has been overwhelmingly positive.

“When we began developing the product we already knew that people were enjoying the sticky note aspect of FlashSticks®, being able to stick notes up in their environment to help improve their learning momentum, but we weren’t exactly sure how this would translate to BSL.

“Working with Signature, we knew we were in safe hands to create a more accessible and inclusive way to support learning BSL. And that’s exactly what we’ve hopefully developed - a unique, fun and effective BSL learning tool for individuals, families and schools.

“Signature’s signed videos are a great way to enhance the way BSL is learnt. Bringing the notes and vocabulary to life is a tried and tested learning method which will garner great results for individuals and the deaf community.

“We are thrilled that WHSmith, Staples and Amazon have given the BSL FlashSticks their vote of confidence too and are now focussed on making as many people as possible aware that this new method for learning BSL exists.”

Kate Escott, buyer at WHSmith, added: “BSL Flashsticks are a really innovative and exciting product, appealing to all ages and abilities. They are a great learning aid.”

Packs of BSL FlashSticks contain 100 unique words to learn and retail from £4.99. More information on BSL FlashSticks can be found at www.flashsticks.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Crulley .