image: Bit Boy Around 15% of the British population - 10 million people - are deaf to some extent. According to Voscur this means that out of every 1,000 people, "one will be profoundly deaf and 100 will have some hearing loss (perhaps due to age, illness, accident or exposure to excessive noise)". And that figure is expected to rise to 14.5 million people by 2031. Which means everyone reading this will know someone who is deaf to some extent. But did you know that it's Deaf Awareness Week?
Running from 19-25th May, the week is a chance for charities to raise awareness of deafness, communication, and other related issues, but it hasn't had bucket loads of publicity, so we thought we'd share some of our favourites.
The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) was set up to support the 35,000 deaf children and young people in the UK. They've developed a fantastic range of resources for anyone who works or interacts with deaf children. As they point out, "The majority [of deaf children] are educated in mainstream schools alongside their hearing peers. Some of these children are the only deaf child in their class, or even the whole school. It is vital that their hearing friends learn how to be deaf aware."
One of the things that they've created is an excellent guide on tips for communicating with deaf children, most of which also apply to adults, such as making sure that if you're talking to someone who's deaf then you don't cover your face, stand with your face to the light and reduce background noise.
The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) was set up to support the 35,000 deaf children and young people in the UK. They've developed a fantastic range of resources for anyone who works or interacts with deaf children. As they point out, "The majority [of deaf children] are educated in mainstream schools alongside their hearing peers. Some of these children are the only deaf child in their class, or even the whole school. It is vital that their hearing friends learn how to be deaf aware."
One of the things that they've created is an excellent guide on tips for communicating with deaf children, most of which also apply to adults, such as making sure that if you're talking to someone who's deaf then you don't cover your face, stand with your face to the light and reduce background noise.
| All good tips for speaking to someone who can speak and/or lip read, but what about using British Sign Language (BSL)? It's estimated that there are around 30,000 to 70,000 people for whom BSL is their first language, with the total number of people using it on any given day as high as 250,000. | learning how to fingerspell...will increase the number of people you can communicate with. |
But despite that many people don't realise it is a language in it's own right - it's not just about having signs that equate to words in English: BSL has its own grammatical structure and vocabulary, but was only recognised as an official language in 2003. You can read more about the history and current status of BSL here, or get an overview of BSL and a brief history over at sign community.
That said, learning how to fingerspell or perfecting a few key phrases is relatively easy and will massively increase the number of people you can communicate with.
The communication charity Signature have leant on this idea and turned bus stops into sign language lessons by teaming up with an app that lets you watch translations of phrases while you wait for your transport. And if that whets your appetite to learn more, Signature are the place to start looking for a course where you can learn BSL.
To learn particular signs, there are some good choices online - British Sign have an online dictionary with drawings of signs. While Sign Station have a great video dictionary where you can watch a video of someone using the sign you want to use.
The Squeamish team are entirely hearing and we can't give you a proper insight into the depth and variety of Deaf culture or British Sign Language, but if you're interested in learning more start with the links above.
Squeamish Louise
That said, learning how to fingerspell or perfecting a few key phrases is relatively easy and will massively increase the number of people you can communicate with.
The communication charity Signature have leant on this idea and turned bus stops into sign language lessons by teaming up with an app that lets you watch translations of phrases while you wait for your transport. And if that whets your appetite to learn more, Signature are the place to start looking for a course where you can learn BSL.
To learn particular signs, there are some good choices online - British Sign have an online dictionary with drawings of signs. While Sign Station have a great video dictionary where you can watch a video of someone using the sign you want to use.
The Squeamish team are entirely hearing and we can't give you a proper insight into the depth and variety of Deaf culture or British Sign Language, but if you're interested in learning more start with the links above.
Squeamish Louise
RSS Feed
