Octagon Group’s Post

Deaf Awareness Week If you find yourself in a situation where the person you're interviewing - or the person interviewing you - is deaf or has hearing loss, it would be helpful to know how to communicate in a way that works for everyone. Here are some valuable suggestions for video and face-to-face conversations, that might come in handy 👉 #DeafAwarenessWeek

10 ways to support a deaf colleague at work. - Listen to what their needs are. - Get their attention before talking to them. - Don't mumble, shout or exaggerate your words - this makes lip reading impossible. - Get to the point - don't waffle or go off on tangents. - If they don't understand what you're saying, say it differently instead of repeating. - Follow up meetings with an email/minutes to clarify key points. - Send new instructions/work via email, then have a conversation later for any questions. - Don't have meetings when an email will do. - Don't say 'never mind' or 'it doesn't matter' instead of repeating something. It could matter to them. - If you employ a deaf person or someone with hearing loss, or work with the public, send your staff on a deaf awareness course. They are great for team building, staff wellbeing and anyone in a customer facing role. #deafawareness #hearinglossatwork

It’s Deaf Awareness Week, raising awareness of hearing loss and how we can all help to break down communication barriers. Access to services and information can be a challenge but communication is a powerful tool and many deaf people use sign, lip reading or other methods to communicate. Not everyone is familiar with sign but there are simple things we can all do to show consideration, compassion and respect to those with a hearing difficulty and help to bridge that gap. #DeafAwarenessWeek

Exhibitions are really the ideal place to promote and to raise sensory awareness in our business communities. Sadly age related hearing loss will catch 71% of over 70s, but in real terms 1:6 people in the UK have hearing loss. That’s 12 million people. It is those people who are your customers and they need your business to support their Communication needs. Businesses build up their client portfolio, but keeping them is the hardest part. So if you are not deaf aware. Those clients with a hearing impairment will break away from that all important business relationship. Simply because of companies not appreciating the difficulties experienced by deaf people. If you have experience this, you know the difficulties both for your employees and clients. Building your business awareness and gain new friends is important. I am here to support our business communities through our #incustraining. Don’t keep their deafness quiet DSN want to find out more incus@dsnonline.co.uk

🔊✨ Understanding Deaf/Hard of Hearing Communication ✨🔊 Being deaf or hard of hearing (HoH) doesn’t mean we can’t hear you; the challenge is in trying to discriminate your words. Here are my top tips for clear verbal communication: 1. Face-to-Face: Always face the person so they can read your lips and see your facial expressions. It makes a huge difference! 2. Speak Clearly: Avoid mumbling. Enunciate your words without exaggerating. Clear speech helps us follow along better. 3. Reduce Background Noise: Find a quieter spot if possible. If there’s background noise, have their back facing the wall to minimize distractions. Was this helpful? Drop your thoughts in the comments! 👇 VD: I am sitting in my office sitting directly in front of the camera. I am wearing my hair down and have a navy dress and necklace with a gold pendant on it. #DeafAwareness #HardOfHearing #ClearCommunication #InclusionMatters #DeafCommunity

This. Right. Here! As educators, we tend to turn up our volume, resulting in the STRAIN of our voices. This can easily lead to more misunderstanding with the added fatigue from the speaker. Instead of DISTORTING the sound by just raising your volume ... FACE the student or person with hearing loss and speak clearer. If that doesn't work, simplify the vocabulary as students may have heard and can even repeat the words but may not know their meaning.

Imagine navigating your day without being able to hear the conversation around you. One in three adults are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus, and this is their reality. September is Deaf Awareness Month, a perfect time to think about how we can all make communication more accessible. You don't need to be fluent in British Sign Language to make a difference to someone's day. Learning a few simple signs can help bridge the communication gap and show your support to friends, colleagues or customers.

Did you know this week; 6th-12th May has been Deaf Awareness Week? I didn’t. So to bring the week to a close, here’s are my personal thoughts; I’ve never classed my hearing loss as a disability but it is classed as such; however I wished people had more awareness of hearing loss: • It is easy to forget a person has a hearing loss, especially when they do so well to navigate in social situations. So always check in and see if you can do anything to make the day easier. • When a person does well to cope with their hearing loss, it is TIRING, and can cause fatigue, headaches and can cause them to limit social interactions if they keep on saying declining invitations don’t take it personally and ask them again next time. • We tend to use other senses to compensate, main one being sight, seeing who is around us, what people are doing to ensure that we aren’t ignoring you when you try to speak to us. • We can miss critical information or mishear what is being said and answer in the wrong way and even pronounce names/words incorrectly; however we will always try. #Bekind • Never say “Don’t worry” or “It doesn’t matter” because it does, in these situations give us time and repeat or use different ways of communication to get the message across. 🦻 #deafawareness #deafawarenessweek #access #accessibility

👂 Tip 3: Deafness isn't a singular experience – it's a vibrant spectrum, filled with unique perspectives and stories. For those who are unfamiliar, here's a deeper look into the terminology for the spectrum of deafness: • Deaf: Used to describe people with all degrees of deafness. • Deafened: People who become severely or profoundly deaf after learning to speak. • Hard of hearing: People who’ve lost hearing gradually or have mild to severe hearing loss. • Deafblind: People who have limited vision and hearing or who are totally deaf and blind. #DeafAwarenssWeek #DeafCommunity #BetterCommunication #SignVideo

This is a common misconception with hearing loss. People often think, "I'll just talk louder." Some people will ask us to turn up our hearing aid too but it doesn't work that way. Volume distorts. We need clarity. Our hearing devices already give us volume but there are limits to how much volume they can give us. For instance, ff we are deaf in certain frequencies there's no amount of volume that will help that. The volume will override the frequencies we can hear. Providing clarity would be... Getting our attention before talking so we can focus on you and the visual elements of communication. Facing us while talking and being within 6 feet. Learn why that provides clarity here: https://lnkd.in/gsPx9hzX #ClarityNotVolume #CommunicationSkills #Misconceptions #HearingLossLIVE