1st – 7th May 2006 is National Deaf Awareness Week and Tayside Deaf Association has organised a programme of events to raise awareness of the issues facing deaf people and the wide range of services available to deaf people across Tayside. The theme this year is ‘Look at Me' . It aims to improve understanding of the different methods of communication used by deaf, deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing people, such as sign language and lipreading.
Tuesday 2nd May –
• Ninewells Hospital - 12noon – 3pm
• Perth Royal Infirmary - 10am – 7pm
• Whitehills Health Centre, Forfar - 10am – 2pm
We will be joined at Ninewells by Tayside Cochlear Implant Support Group and information will be available from the Tayside branch of the National Deaf Children's Society.
Wednesday 3th May
• Wellgate Centre - 12 – 3pm with the Wave 102 Roadshow, The Link Centre for Deafened People and a performance from The Claypotts Castle Primary School Signing Choir at 1pm. A competition will be run at this event, with the first prize being a Level 1 British Sign Language Course worth over £200 .
Thursdsay 4th May
• Stracathro Hospital from 10 – 12pm
• Perth Royal Infirmary from 10 – 7pm .
At Stracathro Hospital we will be joined by the Tayside branch of the National Deaf Children's Society.
Friday 5th May
Abbeygate Shopping Centre, Arbroath - 10 – 2pm
Gateway Volunteer Centre Perth - 11-3pm along withRNID Typetalk who will be able to give advice, information and demonstration on textphones and the Typetalk relay service.
If people are not able to make it along to one of the awareness raising events then do not worry. We are happy to receive enquiries at our office. Please contact us at:
Tayside Deaf Association
36 Roseangle
Dundee DD1 4LY
*There are 8.7 million deaf or hard of hearing people in the UK , that is 1 in 7 of the total population. For every 10,000 of the population
• 10 will be born profoundly deaf. They probably get little or no benefit from hearing aids and mainly use sign language to communicate
• 20 will become profoundly deaf. They may use sign language and probably also lipread
• 100 will be partially deaf. They may have difficulty following what is being said even with hearing aids. Mostly they will lip read and some use sign language as well
• 600 will be hard of hearing. They will be able to follow what is being said with a hearing aid and will be able to use a telephone if it has adjustable volume or has been designed to be used with a hearing aid.
• 800 will be mildly hard of hearing. They may have difficulty following conversations particularly in large groups or in noisy situations. Some will wear hearing aids and many find lipreading useful.
*Information from leaflet for Deaf Awareness Week www.deafcouncil.org.uk
