Exmouth students support legal status for British Sign Language

Students from the Deaf Academy marched along Exmouth seafront on Friday

Students have marched in support of a bill for British Sign Language (BSL) to be given legal status.

Pupils at the Deaf Academy in Exmouth, Devon, rallied along the town's seafront in support of BSL becoming recognised as an official language.

The bill, supported by MPs, requiring public bodies to support the language, will now go to the House of Lords.

"Deaf people need to be involved...we need to be equal," said student Chloe Stutt.

"Other people have access with various languages, but we don't - so it's important for everybody to be aware of that."

Chloe Stutt said deaf people "need to be equal"

Ms Stutt was joined by about 60 students who marched at 11:00 GMT towards the beach, through Manor Gardens and then to the Strand in Exmouth.

The bill would recognise BSL as a language in its own right in England, Wales and Scotland.

According to the British Deaf Association up to 250,000 people in the UK use some BSL on a daily basis.

The bill would make the world of deaf people "bigger", said teaching assistant Nikki James

Nikki James, a teaching assistant at the academy, said the bill would mean "better support for parents and children".

"It will make their world bigger - at the moment a deaf individuals world can be quite small and so we want to improve and enlarge the world for them", she said.

One of the academy's students, Ethan, who was born deaf, said it was "exciting" to see what the future would bring.

It will also recognise BSL as a language in its own right in England, Wales and Scotland.

The legislation was introduced by Labour MP Rosie Cooper.