It’s Deaf Awareness Week in the UK

May 3^rd to May 9^th in the UK is Deaf Awareness Week, a unique campaign in that so many different organisations participate, each able to promote their own work within the broad spectrum of deafness.

The UK Council on Deafness

The UK Council on Deafness co-ordinates deaf awareness week which involves UK-wide series of national and local events to raise awareness of the needs of the 1 in 6 deaf or hard of hearing people in the UK.

Founded in 1993, the Council is the national umbrella organisation for charities and professional bodies working in the field of deafness.

Deaf Awareness Week aims to promote the positive aspects of deafness, promote social inclusion and raise awareness of the huge range of local organisations that support deaf people and their family and friends.

Deaf Awareness Week 2021

Deaf Awareness Week aims to raise awareness and challenge perceptions of hearing loss and deafness across the UK.

Deaf awareness week is all about promoting the positive aspects of living with deafness.

This aims to raise awareness of the isolation that deaf people can sometimes experience, and promote the importance of social inclusion.

Last year, the event aimed to raise awareness of ‘acquired deafness’, which refers to people who lose their hearing during their life, rather than being born with hearing loss or deafness.

This year, Deaf Awareness Week will focus on ‘coming through it together’, working with our members to continue to raise awareness more so now than ever and to ensure that we continue to campaign together whilst focusing on positivity going forward.

The UK Council on Deafness is using the hashtag #DAW2021 as a chance to celebrate all of the amazing deaf organisations and communities across the UK.

They have all continued to raise awareness of deafness and hearing loss, focusing on the positives.

Deaf Awareness Week also helps to raise awareness of BSL (British Sign Language), which is a language used by many people in the UK who are deaf or have a hearing impairment.

Further information about the campaign

If you would like to know more about the campaign, including how to fundraise or otherwise get involved, then there are several ways to go about it.

You can visit the UK Council of Deafness on their website by clicking here.

This Deaf Awareness Fingerspelling Activity introduces children to the different letters in the BSL Alphabet and sets them the task of fingerspelling several different words. A great introduction to BSL for primary age students.

Use Twinkl’s Deaf Awareness Week PowerPoint to cover a range of topics around deafness. Children will learn about the different ways we can communicate, British Sign Language (BSL), and how they can be more deaf aware.

If you are holding an event and would like to support our Campaign, donations can be sent to UK Council on Deafness, c/o Griffin Chapman, 4&5 The Cedars, Apex 12, Old Ipswich Road, Colchester, CO7 7QR or via BACS please contact Clare Long at c.long@deafcouncil.org.uk