Training your company to be more deaf aware

So, you’ve been assessed by Access to Work, you’ve got any equipment you need, and you’re loving the live captioning we provide. Everything’s hunky dory right?

Hmm, not quite…

A lot of our clients tell us they wish there was some way of training everyone they work with to understand more about hearing loss, and the impact it has on employees like themselves.

Well there is!

We provide deaf awareness training courses that not only help your colleagues understand your experience, but also help them communicate more effectively with any clients or customers with hearing loss.

The trainer skilfully introduced us to the deaf world, showing us the difficulties and also the amazing skill of deaf people as they communicate through lipreading, signing and concentrated hearing. My awareness went from a 3 to a 10! Great course.

– HM Revenue & Customs

Unlike a lot of other deaf awareness courses available, we don’t work on the assumption that all deaf people use British Sign Language (BSL). As an organisation that is deaf-owned and deaf-led we know that, in reality, 99% of people with hearing loss do not use BSL as their first language. That’s why our trainers are native English speakers, and also why we emphasise that organisations need to think beyond BSL when asked to provide communications support.

We can tailor all of our training courses specifically for your organisation, and can include you in them to help educate your colleagues on your personal experience of working in your organisation.

Training with 121 Captions

Here are a couple of examples of the training we offer;

Deaf awareness training

(full day or half day)

Aim: to enhance the awareness and knowledge of issues around deafness and hearing loss.

Objectives:

1. To increase the understanding of communication needs for people with different levels of hearing loss.
2. To look at the ways in which people respond to losing their hearing (this is where you could really help), and how we respond to people with hearing loss.

Your colleagues will be able to try out hearing aids, practise lipreading exercises and learn the two-handed BSL alphabet (also known as fingerspelling).

To find out more about our training courses contact us.

Communicating with deaf and hard of hearing people

(we recommend half day)

Aim: to help your organisation understand the best practice for communicating with deaf people, and so avoid loss of business or staff.

Objectives:

1. To help your colleagues understand the challenges deafness causes to a person’s life.
2. To explore communication choices available to deaf people.
3. To review hearing aids, induction loops and cochlear implants.
4. To discuss and practise lipreading and communication tactics.

All our training courses are provided by qualified trainers who provide training from the perspective of the organisation, their employees and their potential customers.

To find out more about how our training courses could help your organisation, contact us.

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