Treloar's celebrates Deaf Awareness Week

During the annual Deaf Awareness Week we raise awareness of deafness and hearing loss. This is a great opportunity to promote inclusion and help our students and staff understand how we can all communicate more effectively.

This year's theme is “Right to understand—Together, we break barriers.” It highlights the everyday barriers that deaf people face in society—at home, in education, at work and in the community—and simple actions that can make a big difference.

At Treloar's, around 15% of students are deaf or have a hearing loss. This includes students with mild, moderate, severe, or fluctuating hearing loss. Students may need hearing aids, radio aids or other assistive listening equipment, lip‑reading, visual support, or quieter listening environments.

During this Deaf Awareness Week, we would like everyone take the time to think about inclusive communication, being patient and helping each other.  

At Treloar’s our Speech and Language Therapy Team has suggested some simple activities for all students and staff:

• Think about your own communication needs: Look at the poster showing different communication strategies that can help deaf people and choose the ones that help you with your own communication.
• Make your own poster: Create your own posters about famous people who are deaf or have a hearing loss who are ‘breaking down barriers’.
• Watch a video to become more deaf-aware and learn how you can help: Choose one of these videos to watch together and talk about what you have found out:
• Deaf Awareness Week: How to be an ALLY | Newsround
• When accessibility isn't prioritised, this can be the reality of being deaf at school 💔 - BBC
• Rose Ayling-Ellis signs Can Bears Ski? 🐻⛷ | CBeebies Bedtime Stories | #ReadAlong

What could you do to celebrate Deaf Awareness Week in your school, college or work place?