Deaf Awareness Week
Raising Awareness Of The UK’s Deaf And Hard Of Hearing
Connect and Communicate is the theme for this year’s Deaf Awareness Week, which runs from May 4 to May 10.
It aims to celebrate positive attitudes to deafness and raise awareness of the huge range of organisations, both nationally and locally, that champion greater deaf awareness and support deaf people and their families and friends.
Positive
It will also recognise the positive steps taken by employers and services to make sure deaf and hard of hearing people are treated fairly.
Promoted by the UK Council on Deafness, Deaf Awareness Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of the fact that one in six people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing.
Communication
And sticking with this year’s theme the UK Council on Deafness says adults and children who are deaf or hard of hearing face communication barriers which can lead to lack of confidence, isolation, depression, unemployment and exclusion from society.
Jim Edwards, chairman of the UK Council on Deafness, said it now had more than 100 members and worked with many more organisations across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
Co-operation
He added: “It is this co-operation that is leading to improvements for deaf people. Over the past year we have together secured better access to health services and information, improved relay services, made changes to Access to Work, challenged plans to deny people hearing aids and more.”