Deaf Awareness Training can be provided for families, teachers, the medical profession, businesses, organisations etc. as required. Deaf Awareness involves the discussion of deaf issues, differences and culture alongside communication strategies for communicating with all levels of deafness. Deaf Awareness is provided on request and is modified to suit the audience. Tapes and videos may also used as well as offering people the opportunity to experience some of the difficulties themselves in a workshop setting. Many employers should be thinking of the improvement this knowledge would give to their employees in dealings with their clients particularly in the light of the high statistics of people with a hearing loss.

Varieties and degres of Deafness.

When a deaf person meets someone for the first time, in a shop, for instance, it is common for them to receive very different reactions. The shop assistant may say "Do you sign then?" or shout or write down information or even ignore the person. Rarely do people know what to do in this situation. It is very important that people learn how to react when meeting someone deaf for the first time.

The most important factor is to find out the person's preferred method of communication. There are many degrees of deafness. Some people will have a mild hearing loss and no hearing aid, but if the background noise is strong they will have a real difficulty hearing even without realising their problem. Other people wear hearing aids, but if background noise is strong they may not hear well even with their hearing aid switched on. In fact many people will switch off their hearing aids in background noise because it sounds terrible.

Deaf people who are born deaf and use sign language as their first language may have an interpreter in which case there are etiquettes to observe. If they have no interpreter, they may be very good lipreaders or not. Some Deaf people use fingerspelling only. Some Deaf people will write down to converse, others never do. The important thing to remember is to never assume that if someone is deaf or hard of hearing that you know what their preferred method of communication is.

Many deafened people lipread. It is not an easy thing to do and requires the cooperation of the people with whom they are communicating. There are many things that people can do to make lipreading easier and Deafness Awareness training explores these strategies in depth.

Deafness Awareness training goes into depth not only exploring different methods of communication but also looking at all the different degrees of deafness and what this means in terms of hearing. Tapes are available to demonstrate what it is like to hear with and without hearing aids with different degrees of hearing loss. Tinnitus is also demonstrated with a simulated tinnitus sound so that people are aware that many people with a hearing loss have not only a hearing difficulty to contend with but also a loud internal sound especially in quiet circumstances.

It is really helpful to have a good understanding of the ear and the hearing mechanism and to actually experience the difficulties of lipreading in a workshop setting. The insight gained into hearing loss and deafness in general can change the way people communicate and increase their empathy. Above all communication with deaf people will be optimised saving embarrassment and improving quality of life - a huge benefit to all concerned.

Who will benefit?

Everyone who has no knowledge of deafness will benefit. Families and friends of people with any degree of hearing problem will benefit. People working in shops and department stores and people working in government departments who meet people frequently, for example, people working in Centrelink or the tax office. Teachers will benefit, doctors, nurses, consultants and dentists and anyone working in the medical field. Counsellors would benefit and indeed anyone who has personal contact with people in their work. In educational institutions Deafness Awareness could be incorporated into training very easily with a half day workshop. There is no limit as to who would benefit.