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British Sign Language (BSL) is not the same as English. It is a separate language with its own grammatical structure etc. It is a visual language and uses hands, arms, body and facial expressions. Along with some other sign languages from around the world, there has been much linguistic research into BSL and, in 2003, the UK Government gave official recognition to BSL as a separate language.

It is difficult to get an accurate figure for the number of deaf people who use BSL. According to the British Deaf Association, there are currently around 250,000 deaf people who use BSL as their first or preferred language (this includes people who are born deaf as well as those who become deaf later in their lives from childhood onwards)

Each country has its own Sign Language in the same way that each country has their own spoken language and, as with spoken languages, there are regional 'accents' in Sign Language too.

Within the UK, there is also another form of communication called "Sign Supported English". Unlike BSL, Sign Supported English (SSE) follows the same word order as English and is usually used by deaf people who lost their hearing later in their lives. These two styles of sign language are not mutually compatible, for example a person who uses SSE would not be able to access information in BSL unless they had previously learned this.