West Yorkshire Achieve Centre

2017 – Deaf Awareness

The training was interesting and thought provoking.  It introduced me to something I knew very little about in a fun and interactive way.

Both Debra and Simon, the BSL interpreter, were very good at delivering the training.

I enjoyed the exercises that we did.  They really made you think about how different situations may effect deaf people and the multitude of issues that come up on a day to day basis. 

Most useful training session I’ve ever been on.  The training gave me a much better idea of what the challenges to communication were and some good tips for me to do my bit to help overcome them, as opposed to just feeling helpless.  I now have an awareness now of the kind of gestures and pointing that could be useful, and know not creep up behind people.  The practical session with the ear muffs really did bring home what some of the difficulties around deafness were.  Initially it was temptingly pleasant to be left alone with your own thoughts in the middle of a working day but that just became a huge barrier quickly with the usual opportunities for misinterpretation and the information gaps hugely magnified and a strange sense of disorientation as we moved about.   How much humour could help with this particular situation never occurred to me, of course not everyone has a sense of humour or is in a confident enough place to use it,  but it is a useful tool and should be borne in mind.   West Yorkshire Achieve Centre – 2017