In March 2021, Sarah Everard was murdered by a serving Metropolitan Police officer. Five years on, do deaf women feel any safer? That is the question at the heart of the latest episode of Thrive Live.

Thrive Live is the monthly chat show in British Sign Language (BSL) made by deaf women, for deaf women. Series 2 Episode 7 went out live from our studio on Romsey Terrace in Cambridge on Friday 16 October 2026, and you can now watch it in full.

Women’s safety and trust in the police

Host Nadia Nadarajah was joined by Becky Fitzgerald, Marie Vickers and Samantha Pearsall. Nadia warned viewers at the start that this would be a hard conversation. Together they talked about:

  • whether women feel safer in the UK today than they did five years ago
  • whether their trust in the police has changed since the Sarah Everard case
  • what police forces should do to stop officers who abuse their power from staying in the job
  • the things women do every day to stay safe, like avoiding certain places, travelling with friends or messaging someone when they get home
  • what needs to change so that women feel safe in public spaces

It was not all criticism. Cambridgeshire Police came in for some praise from the panel, for its Police Link Officers for Deaf People (PLOD) scheme, its livestreams in BSL, its community meetings, and for involving local deaf people in training exercises with hundreds of officers.

Can AI understand sign language?

After that, the panel turned to something lighter: SL2T, new technology from Google that turns sign language into written text. It launched this summer on the Pixel 11 phone, starting with American Sign Language.

The guests asked whether it could make everyday communication easier for deaf BSL users, whether AI can really be trusted to understand sign language, and whether it could ever replace interpreters or should only ever be an extra tool. And as always, the episode ended with our matching game.

Watch Thrive Live

Watch Episode 7 on the Thrive Live YouTube channel, or catch up on every episode from Series 1 and Series 2 at thrive-live.cambsdeaf.org.

The next Thrive Live goes out live on Friday 13 November 2026.

Thrive Live is sponsored by SignWow and produced by Cambridgeshire Deaf Association. Thank you to our interpreters, Tamsin Hewett and Paul Hollingdrake.

If you know a deaf woman who would enjoy Thrive Live, please share this with her.