MP supports Deaf Awareness Week

Alison Seabeck, MP for Plymouth Moor View, a sufferer of partial hearing loss herself, has shown her support for Deaf Awareness Week by attending a training session to understand the impact of deafness and improve communications skills to Deaf people.

The sessions, which were delivered at the House of Commons last week, were organised to improve the understanding of the different types of deafness by highlighting the methods of communication used by deaf, deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing people, such as sign language and lipreading.

Now in its eleventh year, Deaf Awareness Week is a week-long campaign between 19 and 25 May where hundreds of deaf charities and organisations from across the UK will participate in a series of national and local events.

Ms Seabeck said: “Being deaf in one ear, I am extremely supportive of Deaf Awareness Week. It was great to attend the training session in the House of Commons and to learn more about the methods used by those who suffer from hearing loss. With nearly 15% of the population having some form of hearing loss it is really important to be aware of the day-to-day issues that they face and to learn about the different methods which deaf people use to communicate.”

Julie Ryder, Director and Founder of HearFirst, a national workplace training and consultancy company who was commissioned to deliver the training, said: “Deaf awareness training sessions were organised to raise awareness of deafness and provide MP’s with the knowledge and skills to help them make real changes for Deaf people within their constituencies.

“In the case of MP’s, it could mean being deaf aware during one-to-one meetings with constituents, making more formal meetings accessible and considering the needs of BSL users in written or web based materials.

“We are really pleased with the response to the training and hope MP’s can use what they have learnt to improve their communication skills with local deaf people.”