Exeter Deaf Academy celebrates cultural diversity

Students and staff from across the Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education have had an action packed week learning about different cultures and raising awareness of deafness as part of Cultural Diversity and Deaf Awareness Week.

To coincide with International Cultural Diversity Day on Wednesday 21 May, a three-day programme of events saw Academy students taking part in a range of exciting activities. In early May, students discovered interesting facts about different European cultures and their roles in the European Union. They also learnt various greetings in European Sign Languages such as French, Polish and Irish. During this week’s celebrations, the Academy’s students built on these projects and explored many of the different cultures present in the UK.

Visiting Exeter’s Mosque and Synagogue, the students found out about different religions and showcased their knowledge by creating a mural depicting various religious symbols.

Alongside this, students took part in a ‘culture-swap’, working in partnership with St Joseph’s school in Sri Lanka. They produced a guide to Exeter and its local community and also created a presentation of a typical day including school, home-life, hobbies and friends. St Joseph’s will produce a similar project to mark the start of a partnership with the Academy, working towards an International Schools Award.

Whilst enjoying finding out more about other cultures, the Academy also had the opportunity to raise awareness of deafness and deaf culture as part of National Deaf Awareness Week. Launching a weeklong social media campaign on Monday 19, the Academy shared a whole host of interesting and perhaps unfamiliar “Did you know…?” facts about deafness for the community to find out more about deaf culture. Even the city of Exeter featured in the Academy’s facts for the week as did you know… “Exeter has the fourth highest number of BSL users in the country!”

On Wednesday 21, the Academy’s CEO Jonathan Farnhill highlighted his support for raising deaf awareness as he embarked on an epic 270 mile bike ride from London to Paris. Joining members of the Interserve team, who have chosen the Academy as their Charity of the year, Jonathan is due to reach Paris on Saturday 24 May.

Celebrating International Cultural Diversity Day closer to home, the Academy revealed a ‘Day in the Life’ video created by its students. The time-lapse style video gave a snapshot into life at the Academy and all the exciting activities that the students get up to. The video generated a great response with Intoto Exeter, amongst others, tweeting “Brilliant video. Great insight to your activities”.

Academy students also worked collaboratively with WESC Foundation to compare Deaf and Blind cultures and the week was rounded off with a visit to Devon County Show providing the chance to find out about farming in the local community. The three-day programme was a great opportunity for the students to learn about what is important about their own culture whilst gaining an understanding about other cultures’ needs and differences and why it is important to celebrate them.

Keith Stevens, Head of School at the Academy commented: “The week’s activities were a fantastic opportunity for our students and staff to find out more about different cultures and raise awareness of deaf culture. It was great to work in collaboration with so many organisations and we are very excited about working towards our International Schools Award in partnership with St Joseph’s School in Sri Lanka.”

You can view the Academy’s ‘Day in the life’ time-lapse and find out more about Deaf Awareness by visiting: http://www.exeterdeafacademy.ac.uk/Did-You-Know-it%E2%80%99s-Deaf-Awareness-Week/News-Article/