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Two leading deaf charities have launched a new course, Online Deaf Awareness

Signature and RNID (the Royal National Institute for Deaf People) believe their Online Deaf Awareness course will make a positive difference to the lives of the one in six people in the UK who have some degree of hearing loss.

We are all likely to come into daily contact with people who are deaf or deafblind.

Online Deaf Awareness is easy to access, easy to use and will educate and improve how businesses and organisations like schools communicate with their deaf customers and colleagues. It will improve inclusivity and accessibility, providing a much better experience for all.

In April 2022, the British Sign Language Act became law. The Act recognised British Sign Language (BSL) as its own language and will improve the promotion and use of BSL. This was a fantastic achievement and will make a real difference to BSL users, but we still need to go further to improve communication for all deaf people and his course offers will help do this.

The course will help people understand the terms used to describe deafness, how to effectively communicate with deaf people and people with hearing loss, and the communication aids available. It will also explain about communication support professionals and when to use them.

Signature Executive Director Lindsay Foster said:

“We are pleased to be launching our new deaf awareness course. As a charitable organisation, we work tirelessly to improve communication, by creating learning opportunities and this course does that.

We have developed a course that will last and keep its relevancy for the modern landscape that we live in, giving people the appropriate life skills to communicate effectively with everyone.

To work with RNID on this course made complete sense to us and meant that we could bring together our different skillsets and expertise to create something that would make a significant change to awareness and communication. We look forward to continuing to work with RNID in the future as together we commit to improving communication for all.“

Teri Devine, Associate Director for Inclusion at RNID said;

“We know that the biggest barrier that people who are deaf or have hearing loss face is negative attitudes from society who too often are not deaf aware. Deaf people and people with hearing loss face challenges every day accessing employment, healthcare and public services and we are passionate about changing this.

“Simple changes to the way we communicate can make a big difference towards people feeling included, that’s why RNID is pleased to be partnered with Signature to develop this new course for businesses. The Online Deaf Awareness online course will be a great tool for any organisation that wants to improve how they engage with the 12 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss. We know that initiatives like this can make a real difference to people’s lives and help make society more inclusive for everyone.”

To buy Deaf Awareness training click here: https://shop.signature.org.uk/products/online-deaf-awareness-course

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