Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Communicate with 9 Million People

An initiative to raise awareness of the issues faced by deaf people means local people can gain a nationally recognised qualification. Orpington College, Hands On Access and RNID have joined forces to provide free training across six South London Boroughs leading to the British Sign Language Level One Course.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act anyone who comes into contact with deaf and hard of hearing people as a main part of their job needs to be able to communicate easily with them, including receptionists and shop assistants, as well as supervisors and managers. There are 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK* and this training will raise awareness of the issues they face in their daily lives. Held at venues in the Boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Sutton this training is available to employees of small-to-medium sized organisations in these Boroughs.

“This is a great initiative designed to make sure deaf and hard of hearing people aren't excluded from society. Through receiving this Deaf Awareness Training and the opportunity to do BSL Level 1, businesses can make sure they aren't inadvertently closing the door to the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, which represents a huge consumer population,” commented Cheryl Cullen, Director of RNID’s Employment Training and Skills Service (ETSS).

These one-day courses are being run until December 2007 with Hands on Access delivering the training across Kingston, Merton and Richmond, Orpington College in Bromley and RNID in Croydon and Sutton.

For further info on the training course and the venues it will be held at, please visit the website at http://www.esfsignon.org.uk or e-mail contact@esfsignon.org.uk