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Signs4Life – Community BSL Programme

28 November 2021

Bridging the healthcare access gap for people with disabilities

A NEW initiative to encourage more healthcare and/or non-clinical staff to take up sign language as an extra language and skill, is now available locally. The Signs4Life scheme is to help people to communicate and engage with vulnerable service users, patients, and colleagues, who may be hard of hearing. 

Radiyya Jahan, Signs4Life partnerships officer, explains “There are more than nine million hard of hearing people registered in the UK. We have already worked with social workers, housing staff, teachers, the local NHS, and Royal Mail. We wanted to open our programs to the general public, who might also have an interest in learning sign language. We are offering a community 6-week BSL program, which you can enjoy and access from the comfort of your homes, delivered through Zoom”. Signs4Life is leading efforts towards a society in which people with disabilities have full access and are working to raise the public and political awareness of disability provision.

 

For more details on the Winter community programs, please sign up here https://signs4life.org/in-the-community/

 

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