Housing

Award-winning 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.

Our workshops might be of interest to your housing and care staff, in their work with vulnerable tenants, residents, families, and colleagues. We can come to you, or alternatively, we also offer remote learning via Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Deaf people’s experience of communication when they interface with housing services is often disappointing. Housing and care staff need to be aware of the isolation and frustration many Deaf tenants, residents, and families experience in their dealings with service providers.

Research by Hearing Link found that hearing loss is associated not only with mental health conditions, but also with numerous physical health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, irregular sleep, balance problems and an increased risk of falls. When hearing loss is unassisted, even those with a mild hearing loss are twice as likely to develop dementia. The isolation which deafness can cause means that Deaf people are twice as likely as hearing people to suffer from depression, anxiety, and other similar conditions.

Testimonials

“A brilliant session with Margaret, our care workers now feel they can better meet the needs of all of our residents.” (Andrea Brown, Anchor Care Homes, Gillingham)

“Afifah was brilliant and all the team absolutely loved it; myself included. I think it’s really important that all staff receive the training, it really was very insightful and really informative.” (Rachael Dalton, Housing Needs, Kensington and Chelsea borough council)

“Three members of our staff attended your open course at Salford Town Hall. We now feel that as an organisation we can better meet the needs of all our tenants.” (Jennifer Brettle, Manchester Jewish Housing Association)

“A really enjoyable course, we now feel better equipped in the community when fitting fire alarms, for disabled people.” (Melanie Walker, community engagement, Humberside Fire)

“Thankyou for organising this for our carers, everyone felt it was a great morning, and are looking forward to the next course with you!” (Wendy Turner, Families Together, Cheshire)