International Week of Deaf People – Are you aware?

This week is the International Week of Deaf People which will run from the 19^th to 25^th of September.

The week will be a great opportunity to learn about d/Deaf issues, how to offer better accessibility, and for you to educate others if you work within the d/Deaf community.

2022’s event has the theme of ‘Building Inclusive Communities for All’ as its central idea, with sub-themes for each day.

These are:

• Monday 19^th – Sign Languages in Education
• Tuesday 20^th – Sustainable Economic Opportunities for Deaf People
• Wednesday 21^st – Health for All
• Thursday 22^nd – Safeguarding Deaf People in Times of Crisis
• Friday 23^rd – Sign Languages Unite Us!
• Saturday 24^th – Intersectional Deaf Communities
• Sunday 25^th – Deaf Leadership for Tomorrow

These themes are well worth exploring in more detail, so please read about them on the World Federation of The Deaf’s official event pages: https://wfdeaf.org/iwdeaf2022/

What kind of support do d/Deaf people need?

First and foremost is understanding. By educating yourself on what it means to be deaf, culturally d/Deaf or hard of hearing, you will have a better idea of how to offer support.

START HERE 

This is an international event so consider that just like non-deaf people, d/Deaf people speak an array of languages worldwide. You are probably aware of British Sign Language (BSL), but there are many more sign language systems like ASL in the USA and LSF in France.

This means that many d/Deaf people need interpreters to use languages like BSL, but they may also need services like notetaking, closed captioning and written guides for reference, so please consider all these for your own organisation – the result will be amazing accessibility!

LEARN THE HISTORY OF BSL 

How can you get involved?

The organisers of the week have two great ways to get involved…

Join the Global Leaders Challenge

If you are involved in local or national politics, are a community leader or run a large organisation, you can use your influence to make a real difference by promoting unity among all people and linguistic diversity. Learn more HERE

Shine a Blue Light on Sign Languages

This is a simple but visually impactful step all organisations can take. The federation ask that you do what you can this week to light up you r premises in blue as part of their Blue Light Challenge.

Blue has been used as a motif for the World Federation of The Deaf since 1951, along with the blue-ribbon symbol.

Many civic buildings have adopted this in recent years, so why not join them?

How can we help you?

As you educate yourself on d/Deaf issues, it will become clear that deaf people sometimes need additional support with medical appointments and meetings with local authorities to name just a couple of examples.

This is where we can make a real difference. Please see these links for all the services you need to offer better access:

• Video Interpreting – A great alternative to telephone interpreting for d/deaf people when face-to-face appointments are not possible, or practical: https://www.word360.co.uk/interpreting/video
• BSL - Our British Sign Language option makes services accessible for all BSL speakers, making life easier for them and making accessibility simpler for your organisation: https://www.word360.co.uk/accessibility-services/sign-language
• Subtitling – A great alternative to signing, we can offer subtitles for all your promotional or informative videos, in any language: https://www.word360.co.uk/audio-visual/subtitling