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Next week marks Deaf Awareness Week, a week supported by the UK Council on Deafness. 

The theme of this year’s Deaf Awareness Week is love and trust, with a focus on transcending barriers, and uniting hearts in the spirit of understanding and compassion.

The Deaf community often faces significant barriers to communication, which can lead to social isolation, limited employment opportunities, and reduced access to essential services. These barriers can include a lack of access to sign language interpreters, limited captioning and subtitling in videos and online content, and a general lack of awareness of the communication needs.

According to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), 12 million adults in the UK are deaf or have hearing loss. Further information and resources about being more Deaf aware, both at work and in daily life can be found on the following websites:

UK Council on Deafness - Deaf Awareness Week

BDA - British Deaf Association

RNID – Being more deaf aware at work

Learning Support page of the Signature website with resources including greeting signs.

Links to guidance and information on the University website to support on accessible documents and resources:

Website accessibility and further resources

Guidance on commissioning accessible videos

How to: Get captions and media content and live teaching

Get involved:

Brighton & Hove Council’s Deaf Services Liaison Forum (DSLF) are holding a Deaf Awareness Week Community event with the D/deaf community.

The event is on Saturday 11 May at Brighthelm Centre from 9am-1pm.

To sign up and for further information about the event click the Eventbrite URL here: https://bit.ly/DeafAwarenessEvent.

A BSL translation of the event information can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/0VgJ5RzjON0

Are you interested in learning more about BSL and Deaf Culture?

The Department for Language Studies will be hosting an Introduction to BSL and Deaf Awareness workshop on Monday 24^th June.

Booking information can be accessed here: Introduction to BSL and Deaf Awareness Workshop 2024

Staff and Student Support:

For more information on support available to staff, including the Workplace Adjustment Toolkit, please go to our disability equality and inclusion page.

For more information on support available to students, please go to our Disability Advice page.

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