Deaf awareness Week 2024
Image credit: Cottonbro, Pexels
About 1 in 6 people have hearing loss. 7 in 10 people affected by hearing loss are over 70 which is expected to increase by 50% in the next 20 years.
Deaf Awareness Week 2024
The campaign aims to encourage individuals, organisations and governments work together to create an inclusive society. This means that people who are D/deaf or experiencing hearing loss have the same opportunities and get treated the same as everyone else.
D/deaf people and people with hearing loss may feel:
- misunderstood
- unheard
- invisible
- isolated
Find out more about the campaign
The right to be heard and understood
Communication access is a basic human right for everyone. By law, all publicly-funded health and social care providers must fully comply with the Accessible Information Standard (AIS).
This means health services have to meet the information and communication needs of people who have a learning disability, a sensory impairment or loss. This is regardless of your hearing ability.
Find out about the Accessible Information Standard
What we're doing to improve care
We received a national commendation from Healthwatch England for our work to make sure D/deaf patients using GP and hospital services in our city are given a BSL interpreter if they ask for one.
We know from patient feedback that D/deaf patients and those with hearing loss can often have negative experiences of care at their GP surgery, hospital or another healthcare setting. If you have an experience to share with us, please get in touch.
Health information in British Sign Language (BSL)
We're working hard to put together a hub of useful resources in BSL. It's a work in progress, so if there is a topic that you think we need to include, please let us know.
