What do we do?

Watch this page in British Sign Language (BSL)

We provide a range of services which include:

Specialist information and advice

• We provide information and advice to all people who have been diagnosed as deaf, their families and carers, and professional colleagues.

Assessment of needs

• We can assess a person's needs which arise from deafness
• Anyone who has been diagnosed as d/Deaf, deafened or partially hearing can request an assessment
• We co-work with and can give professional advice to colleagues from social services, education, health, police, probation and voluntary agencies.

Social work service

• We can help with social work activities such as counselling and support, including adult protection
• We can assist people who have additional disabilities and other issues such as mental health needs.

Supporting People service

• We can provide a Supporting People service to assist d/Deaf,deafened and partially hearing people with a range of housing related issues.

Support to access mainstream services

• We provide additional support to ensure equality of access to services for d/Deaf, deafened and partially hearing people, including those who use sign language, sign supported English, and speech to text services such as palantype.
• We involve service user groups for feedback and consultation on services
• We can help people to comment or complain about services, using appropriate formats such as BSL and video letters, and human aids such as interpreters.
  We can advise on the Disability Discrimination Act and its implications when accessing other services.

Equipment assessment and provision

• We can assess the need for assistive equipment and provide it where needed. Equipment can include textphones or fax machines, flashing light or vibrating alerts for the door and baby alarms.

Welfare rights advice and support

• We can provide advice on welfare rights and provide support with benefit claims by d/Deaf, deafened and partially hearing people.

Registrations

• We carry out registrations on behalf of d/Deaf people who have speech, do not have speech or are hard of hearing, under the classifications required by the Department of Health, for the Personal Social Services Local Authority Statistics register.