AN East Kilbride lawyer rejected by a law firm for being Deaf is making a bid for Holyrood.
SNP councillor Grant Ferguson has become the latest candidate to declare an interest in Linda Fabiani’s seat.
The veteran MSP announced last month that she would not be contesting the constituency at the next election, sparking a race to replace her.
Ferguson told The National it would be “an amazing opportunity to be at the coalface” of public policy.
He said: “This would be filling a huge pair of boots. Linda Fabiani, our current MSP, is a household name in the town. However, she is not leaving the country and I know that she will be there for guidance and advice.”
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If elected, Ferguson, who is already the first Deaf BSL user in local government in Scotland, would become the first to take a seat in the Scottish Parliament.
Ferguson said being a councillor had helped “build a bridge between the Deaf and hearing communities”.
He continued: “When I decided to study law, someone said to me, ‘How can you be a lawyer? You’re Deaf’. I thought, ‘Why not? Deaf people need legal advice too and how good and more economical it would be for them to be able to get legal advice without paying for an interpreter?’
“When I obtained my LLB and then my Diploma, the Law Society of Scotland were a great support, however, I could not find a law firm willing to recruit a Deaf lawyer.”
Getting elected, he said, would help “expand awareness and understanding”.
“In the next few years, more organisations will be surprised that being Deaf is not a barrier to delivering a service,” he added.
Others also interested in contesting the seat include SNP spin doctor Grant Costello and councillor Danish Ashraf.
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