What is Deaf Awareness Week and how you can get involved
Deaf Awareness Week is an annual event that will be taking place in the week starting 3 May 2021. The event focus is to raise awareness of deafness and hearing loss. It aims to celebrate exceptional individuals, and showcase what you can do to champion inclusivity and be more deaf friendly.
There’s so much going on this week, including many of our online events:
- The terrible twos (and ones and threes!) online coffee morning
- Part 2 of the Early Education online sessions
- Overcoming sleep issues for deaf children with our resident sleep specialist, Nicola Corazzo and many, many more!
Why not get involved further, and take part in our 50K in May fundraising event! Can you walk, jog or run 50 kilometers for deaf children?
Here’s some tips on how to become deaf friendly
Every deaf child or young person is different. Levels of hearing loss, communication methods and use of hearing technology can vary widely. It’s important to remember this and find out what everyone’s individual needs are so you can make sure everyone is included in whatever you are doing together.
Whether you’re a parent, relative or you work with deaf children and young people, there’s lots of simple things you can do to be more deaf-friendly – and we’ve got tips and resources to help you.
There are lots of ways to chat… probably more than you think, watch this video to see how!
There are lots of different ways you should communicate with someone who is deaf particularly children:
Find out how they communicate, is it BSL, or a different type of sign language?
Get their attention by waving, knocking on a table or tapping their shoulders lightly
Face them when you’re talking ideally
Speak clear and natural
Watch your mouth – this means don’t eat, chew gum or anything that could make it hard for them to understand
Use visual cues where possible e.g. use gestures for example if youre telling them dinner is ready, you can use a knife and fork action
Make it clear what the topic of conversation is – as they will understand more if they understand the topic
Stand where it’s light
Speak one at a time if there’s a group of you
Reduce background noise by closing windows, doors and turn machines off
Never give up or say I’ll tell you later. You can try texting, phoning them or writing on pen and paper
