Families across England will get the chance to learn British Sign Language in the comfort of their own homes with free online classes launched today (Friday, May 8th).
The series of classes will be run by the National Deaf Children’s Society every Friday for 12 weeks as part of its Family Sign Language programme. The date was picked to mark Deaf Awareness Week (May 4th-8th).
Each class will cover a different topic, including vocabulary and conversation related to family life so parents and children can learn together.
Seaton Tramway and Lundy Island, two very different and unique heritage attractions in Devon, have now introduced special tours aimed explicitly at Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users.
The new filmed tours feature a BSL signer, to help BSL users get a better understanding of the information presented at both attractions, and help them feel engaged with the history of the sites.
Many Deaf BSL users in the UK use BSL as their first language and may struggle with large panels of written English. By introducing the filmed BSL tours, Deaf visitors can receive information in a...
Exeter Deaf Academy students will be out in force in Exeter City Centre tomorrow (Thursday 7 May) as part of National Deaf Awareness Week (4–10 May).
This year’s theme is ‘Connect and Communicate’ and the Deaf Academy’s students would love to meet more of the local community to help raise awareness of deafness and the Deaf Academy.
From 9.30am-12.30pm a group of Deaf Academy’s School students will be ready and waiting in Bedford Square to deliver Deaf Awareness sessions and also on hand to teach members of the public how to sign their names in British Sign Language (BSL...
Students and staff will be bouncing back into the second half of the spring term at Exeter Deaf Academy as the specialist education provider is elated to announce it has been rated as ‘Good’ across the board in its recent Ofsted inspections.
In just over an 8-month period, the Deaf Academy’s School, College and Care provision has been inspected and rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. The third and final inspection to complete Exeter Deaf Academy’s trio of success was conducted in January. Giving only a morning’s notice, a team of two Ofsted inspectors visited the Deaf Academy’s Care...
Students have been celebrating the anniversary of the recognition of BSL as an official UK language with a week of activities. This included a visit to the local museum and motivating talks from four Deaf role models. The week reinforced the importance of the official acknowledgement of minority languages and the pride we take in using BSL.
Visit to RAMM Museum
The local Royal Albert Memorial Museum had discovered a 200 year old mug with a BSL fingerspelling alphabet design. On Monday students visited the museum where they were allowed to hold the mug and looking around the...
With the backing of local radio, businesses, and celebrities such as Caroline Quentin, with over 100 videos created, the British Sign Language Celebration (BSL) Week campaign, run by Exeter Deaf Academy, SignUp BSL and Deafinite Interpreters has been a great success. The campaign hoped to get as many people as possible filming themselves signing their name and the organisations were inundated with clips. A video guide was produced to allow everyone to take part and footage was shared over Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest using the hashtag #loveBSL. Caroline from Heart South West’s breakfast...
An Exeter based interpreting agency for Deaf and hard of hearing people is supporting a move by the British Deaf Association (BDA) calling for all public bodies and agencies to be required by law to provide a Deaf person with a registered communication professional. As the South West’s leading interpreting agency, Deafinite Interpreters is supporting the vital campaign to ensure full access for everyone. Talking about the campaign Helen Caldwell, a founding director of Deafinite Interpreters, said: “It is vital that Deaf and hard of hearing people are supported by qualified, registered BSL...
Students from Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education will be taking over Route 2 in Topsham on Thursday 28th November.
After the fun and success of last year’s British Sign Language (BSL) appearances at Café Lingua, which takes place on Thursdays at Route 2 in Topsham, we are set to put on another great event this November.
Students will be running the café’s kitchen and encouraging attendees and staff to communicate and order using BSL.
Whether you are new to BSL or a seasoned expert, the event is a relaxed, informal and friendly place to learn more, practice and...
