Judith Collins has made history as the first British Sign Language user to be elected to a university senate

Durham University British Sign Language teaching fellow Judith Collins is believed to be the first BSL user to become a member of a university senate.

Ms Collins, who is deaf and a native user of BSL, has been elected to a three-year term on Durham's senate as one of the representatives of academic staff.

Senate proceedings at Durham are interpreted by BSL/English interpreters.

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Ms Collins said that for this reason she felt no apprehension about her new position.

She said: "I am very pleased that BSL is now visible in a senate chamber for the first time in the UK. I am proud to be involved in this development. I feel it is important that the views of a BSL user and member of the deaf sign community are influencing and helping to shape the academic development of the university."

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Ms Collins said that now BSL has been recognised by the Government as a minority language, she did not consider being deaf a barrier to an academic career. She has been a teacher and researcher at Durham for 14 years. She began as a teaching fellow at the university's Deaf Studies Research Unit.

There she joined a team that produced the first BSL/English dictionary. She said: "It took approximately 15 years. It was groundbreaking research and produced the first, from a linguistic perspective, record of one of this country's overlooked indigenous languages."

Ms Collins, a teaching fellow at Durham's Language Centre, is involved in developing a better understanding of deaf interpreting.