'Politics should be accessible to deaf communities'

Vladimirs Krumins, who is deaf, says it is important for deeper discussions to be had in British Sign Language

More than 1,000 people watched a special election debate that allowed the deaf and disabled community to be heard by key political candidates.

The event, hosted by the Cambridgeshire Deaf Association (CDA) in Peterborough, was live streamed and featured British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters and captions.

Vladimirs Krumins, who is deaf, said events like these made a difference as it could be hard for him to interpret television debates that did not include BSL.

Andy Palmer, chief executive of the CDA, said the positive response to the accessible debate was "not surprising" given a "lack of accessible hustings".

Sign language interpreters provided real-time interpretation online, as well as in the room and a remote captioner watched the live feed and provided captions

Four candidates from Peterborough each focused on their policies concerning the deaf and disabled community.

Thirty people attended in person while 1,500 people viewed the event online.

Mr Palmer said: "This positive response is not surprising, given the scarcity of information available in BSL about the choices at this election and the lack of accessible hustings.

"We all believe in the idea that elections and information, in general, should be accessible."

Andy Palmer believes it is important for everyone's questions to be answered

The event on Thursday was the second accessible debate to be hosted by the CDA.

Mr Krumins said it was important that deeper discussions were had in BSL.

"I do feel a bit left out," he said.

"On television it is all in English and some of the more complicated political language can be hard to understand.

"This will help to decide who to vote for and get more information."

Peter Smith said the event helped him decide who to vote for and gave him a way of getting more information from candidates