Signs of life

Modern biology can often be daunting to the non-scientist, filled as it is with the jargon and acronyms that come so easily to a researcher. While gene therapy, stem cells and chromosomes are terms widely used in current affairs and in the school classroom, biologists' conversations are littered with perplexing terms such as 'snips', 'lod scores' and 'sonic hedgehog'.

Learning about or discussing such biological concepts and issues can be difficult if English is not your first language - doubly so if your first language does not include the words or phrases to begin with. The latter situation is precisely that facing Deaf people whose first language is British Sign Language (BSL). For many biological terms, there are no accepted signs, so the words must be finger-spelled - losing the meaning and context of the phrase.

"Science can be very excluding for Deaf people," says Dr Jan Barfoot, Development Officer at the Scottish Institute for Biotechnology Education, Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh. "For example, one sign is used for DNA, gene, genetics or chromosome - any inheritable material in fact. This is OK for a general context, but as soon as you want to be more specific, as you often need to be in science, the signs either don't exist or haven't been collated."

With funding from a Wellcome Trust People Award and a Royal Society Copus grant, Dr Barfoot is leading a project that aims to improve Deaf people's access to biology through sign language. The project brings together Deaf scientists, interpreters and hearing scientists to examine biological terms: identifying what signs exist already, what signs are commonly produced on the spur of the moment by people discussing science, and what gaps there are in the signing vocabulary.

British Sign Language is the first or preferred language of about 70 000 people in the UK. Its grammatical rules are completely different to spoken English, as it is not based on spoken language. Instead, signs use the hands, body, face and head to express meaning and context. "Sign language is such a descriptive language," says Dr Barfoot. "Often a sign will involve making the context, and putting the word into the context. So you get a lot more meaning out of a few signs than out of a lot of words."

The project began in March 2003 with the first of several vocabulary development days. Deaf scientists and interpreters spent the first part of the day in the lab doing practicals, using the equipment and exploring concepts and terminology. For each of three experiments - DNA extraction, DNA fingerprinting and bacterial transformation - the team dissected the protocols, identified the words and language needed, and discussed how sign language could be used to express the terminology.

The videos of the discussions, which Dr Barfoot and colleagues are using to identify the signs used, highlight the difficulty of the project as signing does not stick to a fixed lexicon. Instead, signing makes extensive use of the 'productive lexicon' whereby expressions are created on the spur of the moment - signing combinations which may have never been used before, but which are fully understandable and meaningful at the time.

"We're constantly finding new words that need translating," says Dr Barfoot, "but we'll probably focus on 50-100 new signs that work well in the context of the three experiments." The vocabulary development workshops will be followed by training workshops for sign language interpreters and biology teachers who use sign language in their lessons, and the new signs developed in the project will be vetted by BSL experts, interpreters and scientists, and then made into a searchable CD-ROM.

By producing a resource for interpreters and for teachers of Deaf students - materials developed by Deaf people for Deaf people - Dr Barfoot hopes that the project will both improve access to science and raise awareness of the problem. "We want to broaden access of all that we do to include everyone, and signed science communication activities are an important part of this work," she says. "The project has already raised awareness in the university - people hadn't realized that so much of biology is excluding. Of all that we do, this is my favourite project although it is also the most challenging. But I think the project will be successful because of the skill of the Deaf scientists we're working with - they are so committed to communicating with us." GN

The Deaf Community

Many Deaf people whose first or preferred language is British Sign Language consider themselves part of the Deaf Community. They may describe themselves as Deaf, with a capital 'D' to emphasize their Deaf identity. This is the convention we have used in this article.

Related links

Copus grant schemes: Further details

Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh: Affiliation of Dr Jan Barfoot

[brokenlink] People Awards part of the Engaging Science Programme: Scheme details