Many people will be aware of Deaf Awareness Week, which aims to raise the profile of deaf people and deaf issues.

Prominent amid the issues that affect deaf people is the fact that their language, British Sign Language (BSL), has recently been recognised by the Government - when ordered to do so by the EU - as a foreign language but is still not recognised as a native British language, such as Welsh or Gaelic.

This means deaf children have no legal right to be taught BSL at school, instead having to make do with trying to lip read - a poor substitute.

As a student learning BSL, I recently contacted all the main political parties on this matter and, of those that bothered to reply, the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems all made nice, soothing noises but stated they had no intention of recognising the right of deaf children to be educated in a language they can understand.

Of the mainstream parties in Britain today, only one, the British National Party, has a manifesto commitment to recognising BSL as a native British language.

Surely the deaf community deserves a better deal from the other parties than that being offered?

-Alan Winder, Longstone Road, Eastbourne