This year’s ASLI conference will take place in Blackpool at the Imperial Hotel. The theme is ‘Reframe, Reset and Refresh’ and the programme promises to be a vibrant mix of talks, workshops and experiential learning.

You can find more information about the schedule over at the event page by clicking here. ASLI members can also access hotel discount codes by clicking here. The full programme and tickets will be released in June.

This year we are doing things a little differently. All presentations and workshops will be delivered in BSL and there will not be public interpretation into English offered during the conference. Instead, we encourage attendees for whom BSL is a second language to enjoy the immersion in professional BSL discourse that is rarely available in our daily lives outside of work. We believe that it is important to offer opportunities for our members to develop their skills and confidence in safe spaces, and play with alternatives to ‘access’ that are not conforming to the norms. To this end, we will not be booking interpreters to work publicly during the conference. However this does not mean that those who are less fluent are left out, we will be providing support in various ways to make sure everyone is fully included. 

You might be someone who really doesn't 'do' conferences, but we hope that this year you will give it a try!

Tessa Slaughter,

ASLI Chair