Member Article

Deaf training inspires housing employee to gain qualification

A housing association employee was so inspired by the training that his employer organised – he decided to study for the full qualification himself and has now passed with flying colours.

Nick Dine who works as a plumber and trainer at Yorkshire-based housing provider, Incommunities, attended a series of one-hour bitesize disability awareness training sessions to support and help staff deliver a more inclusive and accessible service to customers.

The training, which was delivered earlier this year by award winning training and consultancy company, HearFirst, gave staff a brief overview on a range of individual topics such as deaf awareness, visual awareness, mental health, British Sign Language (BSL), understanding learning difficulties and disability etiquette.

Nick is based at Incommunities’ construction training centre at Hillam Road in Bradford. Part of his work involves engaging with local schools and youth groups to encourage more young people to get a hands-on taste for working in construction. After the initial training with HearFirst, both Nick and his employer were keen for him to continue and study for his BSL Level 1 to demonstrate the inclusiveness of the centre and to help them communicate better with deaf pupils and customers.

He said: “The training provided by HearFirst inspired me to carry on and complete the BSL Level 1 course which I studied at Queensbury School in Bradford. The course has provided me with the basics in sign language and the confidence to communicate with a deaf person should we need to in future. I would like to continue to study my BSL Level 2 course but at the moment due to limited time it is something I may think about in future.

“My employer, Incommunities, has been great and actively encourage staff to invest in training as part of their personal development and in improving customer services.”

Julie Ryder, Director and Founder of HearFirst, said: “Nick contacted me to tell me that following the HearFirst training session, he was so interested in learning more about deafness and sign language he approached his employer, Incommunities, who fully supported him studying for the full qualification.

“It is so reassuring to hear the impact our training has on delegates and although we get very good feedback from staff who attend our courses, it is pleasing that people like Nick are so inspired that they want to learn more. I congratulate him on passing his Level 1 course.

“It is great to see Incommunities show their commitment towards BSL training and in turn improve access to their housing services.

“Learning and understanding BSL is such a wonderful skill and qualification to have as you never know when you may need to use it but the benefits this has when communicating and signing with a deaf person is invaluable.”

Sue Laycock, Director of HR at Incommunities said: “I would like to congratulate Nick on his course success.

“As an organisation we are committed to taking a proactive approach to promoting equality and diversity both within our workforce and in delivering our customer services.

“HearFirst share our commitment to promote disability awareness issues and the opportunity to develop more inclusive and accessible services that aim to meet our customer needs.”

Incommunities is one of the largest social housing providers in the UK. The organisation owns and manages 21,500 homes for rent including almost 1,000 properties for leasehold.

HearFirst provides a full range of equality and diversity training courses to organisations across the UK. For more information on deaf, disability awareness and BSL training, please contact Julie at HearFirst on 01706 872 816 or visit www.hearfirst.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by HearFirst .