Hello to everyone,

I’d like to share some news with you about the recent Deaf Awareness course that I ran for Disability Rights Commission (DRC) staff in Stratford-upon-Avon. The course was run over a total of six days, taught in two three-day block on 7th to 9th August and 14th to 16th August. The training days were packed and it was a lot of hard work for everyone involved, but I certainly enjoyed my time teaching the DRC staff more about deaf people.

Most of those on the course work on the DRC helpline and may encounter a range of deaf people during the course of their job, either directly on the telephone, via a minicom call, or through Typetalk. In the future they may also receive webcam calls from deaf people. It is important that front line staff such as these get the opportunity to learn more about the deaf way of life, which is why I made sure that the course offered them some insight into deaf culture, as well as emphasising the fact that deaf people are an extremely diverse group, some using British Sign Language or Sign Supported English, others who may be hard of hearing or who may have become deafened later in life.

The course participants learned a lot during the six days of training and gained an awareness of quite how different life is for deaf people. They all had a great sense of humour and there was plenty of laughter during the course. They worked together as a team very well and maintained a positive attitude throughout. The fact that the group was so lovely really made for an enjoyable teaching experience and I felt I got on well with every member. In fact, I was a little sad to see them leave at the end of the training!

At the end of the six days, I felt confident that the participants were leaving knowing a lot more about deaf people than they did previously. Should they find themselves dealing with an enquiry from a deaf person who has contacted the DRC helpline, I know that they will now be confident in communicating more effectively with that person than they would previously have done. I definitely felt the course was a success, and this was confirmed by the incredible amount of positive feedback I got from the participants. They all rated the course extremely highly, saying that their understanding of deaf people was greatly increased and that they now felt much more confident in their ability to deal with deaf people in the future. Many of them expressed an interest in expanding their knowledge further.

The DRC Helpline Contracts Manager, Kate Waugh, deserves a special mention. Her tremendous organisational skills were a huge help. It’s wonderful to have such great contacts within the DRC, and I hope this mutually beneficial relationship will serve us both well in the future

Testimonial from the Disability Rights Commission

The Disability Rights Commission continually seeks to identify opportunities to improve the skills and knowledge of the advisers on its Helpline. We talked to Jonathan about the deaf awareness training which his company, RuDeafAware, provides and felt that the variety of activities covered and the ability to tailor the training to the needs of our team were what we were looking for. We wanted to avoid awareness training which ‘preaches’ to delegates. It was clear that Jonathan intended his training to be great fun as well as informative, and we liked his approach to the issue of deaf awareness. Jonathan made it clear that advisers would be made to feel comfortable to ask whatever they wanted to know about the issues facing deaf people.

Our instincts about RuDeafAware were right. After delivering 6 days of training to 37 DRC Helpline advisers, the feedback from all delegates was unanimous in its praise for the training. All advisers found the training to be very enjoyable as well as having significantly improved their levels of awareness of the barriers which can face deaf people. The following comment was typical of the feedback from the advisers:

"The course was excellent. A relaxed atmosphere while covering the objectives. I thoroughly enjoyed it. When can we have more?"

We have no hesitation in recommending the training to other organisations who want to improve the awareness of their staff around the experience of deaf people, and thereby improve the quality of the service they offer to deaf people.