Deaf students celebrate Deaf Awareness Week with business signing sessions

To mark National Deaf Awareness Week (5th–11th May), deaf students from Northern Counties School hosted a British Sign Language (BSL) session for local businesses, aiming to raise awareness and enhance communication skills.

This year, the British Deaf Association’s theme for Deaf Awareness Week was ‘Beyond Silence’: celebrating the diverse ways that deaf people communicate and breaking down barriers to full accessibility for individuals with hearing loss.

16 students from Northern Counties School, a specialist education provider for students with disabilities and part of the Percy Hedley Foundation, hosted the session for businesses across the region.

The session taught how to sign numbers, letters, colours and family in BSL before a performance by the Northern Counties BSL choir.

Alex Williams, Director of Standby Healthcare, said:

“It was a pleasure to attend the student signing session, which highlighted the importance of increasing our awareness and understanding of sign language.

“We picked up some valuable phrases, and the students did a fantastic job guiding us in how to communicate more effectively.

Mandy Davison is a Higher Level Special Support assistant at Northern Counties, who also leads the school’s BSL Choir.

“Both of my parents attended Northern Counties School as they were both deaf.

“The school was an absolute lifeline for my grandparents and is still a valuable resource for the Deaf and their families.

“Deafness is part of everyday life, and it’s important we all make an effort to understand different ways of communicating. That’s exactly what we aim to do at Northern Counties.”

BSL was recognised in law as a language of Great Britain in the BSL Act (2022), and students will soon be able to study the language at GCSE level.