The past 18 months has seen an increase in the amount of work that MDC is doing to influence change in mainstream society. External organisations are asking us more regularly to inform them about the experiences of the deaf community and the barriers faced. We are passionate about raising awareness of the barriers that deaf people face daily and influencing system change. We therefore do our best to respond to the requests, even though we mostly do not get funded for it, so resourcing the work can be a challenge.
Here are just a few of the conversations that we have been involved in this year:
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)
We advised TfGM on how to make their Cycle Training schemes deaf accessible.
We also gave them advice and feedback from a deaf perspective about their new live transport displays for buses, and about the problems that deaf people experience obtaining bus passes.
Manchester City Council
We have been working with the Digital Skills Team at Manchester City Council to explain the barriers that deaf people face accessing websites and digital skills training opportunities.
Academic projects
We have provided advice and support to several academic research projects which are focusing on barriers that deaf people face. Topics include: supporting school-age children with shared reading activities at home as a deaf parent or guardian, and accessing neighbourhood planning consultations as a deaf resident.
Sport and leisure facilities
Our funded project to improve deaf access to sports and leisure facilities has also been proceeding well. Click on the video below for an update on where things are up to (BSL and English captions):
Additionally, we continue to influence change through our deaf awareness and BSL tuition for external organisations.
