Deaf Awareness Week aims to raise awareness and challenge perceptions of hearing loss and deafness across the UK. Hearing loss affects 11 million people throughout the UK including 50,000 children.
This year’s campaign is Coming Through It Together. It aims to promote the positive aspects of living with deafness, social inclusion and raising awareness of the organisations that champion greater deaf awareness. Many different organisations participate, each able to promote their own work within the broad spectrum of deafness.
Together, the aim is to continue to:
- Raise awareness
- Improve access to education, health, social care and employment
- Ensure people have the accessible information they need
Make communication easier
For Deaf Awareness Week, an NHS audiology team has provided some tips to improve communication.
- Face the person while you are speaking to, don’t turn away
- Repeat yourself if necessary
- Don’t say ‘It doesn’t matter’
- If the person doesn’t understand you, don’t give up
- Write it down or draw a picture
- Speak one at a time, don’t talk over each other
- Keep your mouth visible
- Smile and relax
- Don’t speak too quickly or too slowly
Learn a new language!
The University of Lincoln British Sign Language Society regularly posts signs which are great to practice and are terrific encouragement for us to learn more of this vital language.
For Deaf Awareness Week, members have posted videos of their favourite signs, including space, snow and baked potato.
Check them all out here and be sure to follow their account.
Find out more
For anyone, of any age, who is Visually Impaired, Deaf, Hard of Hearing or Deafblind.
Phone 03333 202667
Text 07710 155104
Email contact@lincolnshiresensoryservices.org.uk
This charity is run by deaf people for deaf people. It delivers a range of services to achieve its aims of empowering deaf people.
Text 07795 410 724
