A deaf teenager who has been campaigning for a GCSE in British Sign Language (BSL) said it would be "a step towards equality".
Daniel Jillings, 17, from Lowestoft in Suffolk, has been campaigning on the issue since he was 12 years old.
In June, the Department for Education announced a 12-week consultation for a GCSE in BSL.
The teenager said the qualification would "build respect" for what is a primary language for many.
The British Deaf Association estimated about 151,000 people use BSL in the UK, with 87,000 being deaf.
Daniel is profoundly deaf and was born without a cochlea, meaning he cannot use hearing aids or cochlear implants and does not use speech.
He has always used BSL to communicate and began campaigning for it to become a GCSE subject, believing it was unfair that he could not take a formal qualification in his own language.
A GCSE would be "a step towards building equality between deaf and hearing students", he said.
