School of Social and Political Science

Description

Sign LOUD is a joint project between the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. It explores the perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families. 

The Sign LOUD team brings BSL (British Sign Language), languages, GBV (Gender-Based Violence), participation, practice and lived experience expertise together. Key considerations for the future were developed with stakeholders with GBV and Deaf/BSL policy and practice expertise. 

The aim is to improve access to information and support, enhance communication and access in BSL, and take collaborative action across GBV/BSL fields to improve responses to Deaf women and their children experiencing domestic abuse.

For more information about the project, watch the Sign LOUD summary video below and go to the project website.

The Sign LOUD Project Team 

• Claire Houghton (Co-Investigator) from the University of Edinburgh, a hearing non-BSL user, who brought her years of expertise undertaking action research with victim-survivors to change policy/practice to the project. The project was underpinned by her participation and ethics framework that was co-developed with young survivors (see Houghton et al. 2024, Participation toolkit | Children and families affected by domestic abuse (stir.ac.uk)).
   
• Professor Jemina Napier (Principal Investigator) from Heriot-Watt University, who is a hearing BSL user and child of Deaf adults (CODA) with many years of experience of conducting research with deaf people about sign languageinterpreting and communication.
   
• Lucy Clark, who is a deaf BSL user and a domestic abuse survivor. She has experience of researching domestic abuse and advocating for better access to information on domestic abuse for Deaf women.
   
• ⁠Tasnim Ahmed, who is a deaf BSL user and a domestic abuse survivor who has been involved in previous projects on domestic abuse as a participant and consultant. She advocates for Deaf ethnic minority communities to have better understanding of domestic abuse.

Research summary

Sign LOUD explored the experiences of Deaf mothers in relation to domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on their family. The resulting report presents perspectives of six Deaf mothers who are victim-survivors and five signing practitioners who use BSL to support Deaf women. Key themes are lived experience and communication in BSL. Findings informed key considerations developed with 13 stakeholders with GBV and Deaf/BSL expertise, and were presented in Scottish Parliament on 4 December 2025.

Read more about the research and its key findings in this Sign LOUD project report.

Acknowledgement

Our sincere thanks to all participants, including signing practitioners and stakeholders, and especially to the Deaf mothers who bravely shared their stories. We are indebted to the BSL interpreters who supported us throughout the project. We gratefully acknowledge the British Academy for funding the project. Finally, we extend our appreciation to Karen Adam MSP for her unwavering support throughout the course of this project.