Your County - Putting Kent First

Kent 4 star Council

Learning and development

Are you interested in learning about benefits, deaf rights and healthy living?

There are lots of specialist centres that provide training for d/Deaf people. These include:

Deafax

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Deafax can provide training for young deaf people and adults including:

  • Keeping yourself safe from danger
  • Deaf rights
  • Benefits entitlements
  • Speaking with confidence
  • Assertiveness skills
  • Interview skills
  • Computer skills.

City Lit

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City Lit has a Centre for Deaf People that offers professional training, continuing education or support for students in Higher or Further Education.

Kent Adult Education have a range of courses on all kinds of topics and subjects from healthy living to pottery.

Support can be given to you when accessing these courses. More more information can be found within the Adult Education website.

You may want to contact your local Kent Learning Champions where trained volunteers can help you find information on courses, provide you with contacts for advice and guidance or show you how to get involved in volunteering.

Deaf awareness

d/Deaf and Deafblind awareness is about understanding:

  • Use of language commonly used to describe deafness and deafblindness, and deaf and deafblind people and what is appropriate and inappropriate.
  • How to communicate successfully.
  • Aspects of the Deaf Community and their culture.

This information is meant as a taster to help you understand some of the basics that may be required when working with d/Deaf and Deafblind colleagues or service users.

Please read the Deaf and Deafblind awareness tutorial.

Information is provided on this page about training courses that are available to you or your organisation.

Further information about can be found on the following websites (the links will open in a new window):

  • SignStation has video, interactive exercises, pictures, graphics and explanations about BSL and dDeaf people at work
  • Sign Post BSL can help you to learn how to finger spell or learn a sign a day - and get the news in BSL.

Deaf awareness training providers

Hi Kent (link opens in a new window)

Hi Kent provides training for frontline staff and compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. They offer an intensive half day course providing background knowledge to assist frontline staff offering services to deaf and hearing impaired customers or clients.

They also offer training for care staff, which is an intensive one day course providing background knowledge and practical skills appropriate to care of the elderly with a hearing loss.

RNID (link opens in a new window)

  • Deaf and disability awareness training
    Their course aims to raise awareness of what is meant by disability. Delegates will leave with an appreciation of the issues involved.
  • Deaf awareness training
    This course aims to raise awareness of the barriers faced by deaf and hard of hearing people, and develops an understanding of how to overcome them.

Private organisations

Sense-ability (link opens in a new window)

  • Work on making communication skills with deaf people more effective
  • Be introduced to British Sign Language
  • Discuss the barriers deaf people face in different scenarios
  • Learn how to work with language service professionals (i.e. interpreters)
  • Learn how the Disability Discrimination Act affects the rights of deaf people
  • Be introduced to aspects of deaf culture and community

DeafWorks (link opens in a new window)

Deaf Works courses provide people with a greater understanding of deafness. You are taught to understand the different types of deafness and to be able to negotiate the most appropriate means of communication. You should have an awareness of the constraints of lipreading, fingerspelling and signing.

Copyright Kent County Council 2008