Bolton Deaf Society has been working with deaf, Deaf and hard of hearing people in Bolton and the surrounding areas for the last 150 years.

 We spoke to its chief executive John Hesketh to find out what the charity offers to its community and why it is important, now more than ever, that businesses are aware of benefits and obligations in enabling deaf people to be part of the workplace and society.

There are some 46,500 deaf, Deaf and hard of hearing people in Bolton, 15.7% of the local population. Bolton Deaf Society provides charitable services to the deaf community and, through socially impactful enterprise, offers valuable paid-for expertise to the wider community.

It provides free of charge:

An accessible information and advocacy service

John said: “We get a lot of people coming with letters from health professionals, housing associations, banks and so on that they cannot access because British Sign Language (BSL) is their first language, and it is visual, not written or spoken.

“Our advocates also take up responsibility for benefits appeals. They represent people at employment tribunals and broker access to legal advice around Power of Attorney. Last year they saw 600 people, many of them more than once, helping with a range of different issues – more than 74 in total.”

An employment and enterprise service

“It’s about growing skills for employment, in readiness to engage with hearing culture in the workplace; sustain work, build and progress careers. We also advise aspiring deaf entrepreneurs on market research, business planning, start-up finance, and arrange time with successful deaf entrepreneurs.

“Shockingly, 66% of employers will employ an ex-offender or a recovering addict before they would employ a deaf person. And this costs the UK economy £25bn a year.

Very few employers are complying with the Equality Act 2010 and the BSL Act 2022.

“We are nudging employers to be more openminded about employing skilful deaf people with energy, enthusiasm, good values and principles and helping make their recruitment, induction, in-house training, support/supervision and career progression arrangements more accessible.

Sport and physical activity service

“Deaf people have been excluded from most hearing-led sports services and facilities for many, many years. We’re setting about changing that by increasing deaf awareness and basic BSL communications competencies in sports and leisure professionals. Until recently, there was no sports or physical activity information accessible to deaf people in Bolton and that exacerbates  health inequalities and grows costs to the public purse.

“But we are also encouraging deaf people living with barrier fatigue and a lack of confidence in the hearing community to take a leap of faith and engage and encourage others to take up. It is going to be a long process.”

Deaf-led groups

“There are a number of deaf-led groups that meet at the society’s building in Bark Street including a Deaf Asian Women’s Group, a long-running Darby and Joan Club, a Sports and Social Club, and a craft group. We also support a Sign Language Choir, Handmade, and a Tinnitus Group.”

 

As part of their socially impactful enterprise work, Bolton Deaf Society additionally offers services to the public and businesses for a fee:

Interpreter bookings service

John said: “We will find qualified, experienced, NRCPD registered and appropriately insured interpreters for public service providers, employers, voluntary community, faith and social enterprise groups that want to include Deaf people whose first language is BSL on an equitable basis, comply with the law and fulfil their moral duty.”

Employer courses

“We’re always conscious that for all the work we do within our four walls, it will be compromised unless we are able also to make the world out there more accessible. We run Deaf and Interpreter Awareness courses, basic British Sign Language programmes and have an inclusive employment course in the making. They are all written and largely delivered by Deaf professionals.”

Hearing loss

“Our Make The Most of Your Hearing course helps people who are losing their hearing to come to terms with it emotionally and practically and advises on assistive technologies, learning to lip read and BSL, also how to care for any residual hearing that they might have. We also run a stand-alone lip-reading course and a 10-week introduction to sign language for people on the hearing loss spectrum.”

Video captioning

“We produce captioned British Sign Language videos for public service providers and employers that want to make their websites more accessible and inclusive in line with their legal obligations.”

While it is clear that many businesses have a long way to go to make life more equitable for deaf people, John feels encouraged.

He said: “We have met with a very positive reception from Bolton Council with whom we’ve worked, training frontline staff in Deaf awareness and basic British Sign Language, and creating a first video for their HR team making known to Deaf website visitors that their vacancies are very much open to Deaf people. Of course, this is the first in a series of steps We need to do further work with them to make their recruitment and selection arrangements accessible, the whole employee journey  inclusive. We’ve recently delivered training to representatives from the 49 GP surgeries across the borough and some associated optometrists. We are under no illusions in terms of the scale of challenge when it comes to changing things out there but over the last 18 months, we’ve seen plentiful reasons to be to be encouraged.”

John’s colleague Zienna agreed: “The momentum is building, not just in here in Bolton Deaf Society, but out there in the in the big wide world because the BSL Act has made a lot of bigger companies – BT Sports, Tottenham Hotspur – sit up and take notice and they are going back to look at the Equality Act. They have a massive impact on social media, so others are seeing what they are doing and thinking, actually, are we doing enough?”

“We are not just here to shout and campaign for Deaf equality from the side lines,” concluded John. “We want to help. Our courses and advisory services will enable people to get themselves to the place where they are more inclusive.”

If you want to know more about the services Bolton Deaf Society offers visit their website: www.boltondeafsociety.co.uk or email admin@boltondeafsociety.co.uk, call 01204 521219 or text 07749 339049, or drop in at Bolton Deaf Society, Bark Street, Bolton, BL1 2AX

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