Adults

Medway Council's Deaf Services Bureau is a team of specialised workers who provide services to people who are deaf and use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language.

The Bureau works with deaf children and their families, as well as deaf and deafened adults in the community, providing advice, information and support for any needs arising from deafness.

Personal and telephone callers can also see a specialist worker, trained in BSL, at the Compass Centre in Chatham Maritime on Wednesday mornings from 9am to 12 noon. They will be happy to sort out any questions you may have.

Services include:

• working with families where a child has been found to be deaf or partially deaf;
• supporting hearing children who have deaf parents;
• giving information, support and advice on issues such as welfare rights, housing or employment;
• promoting independent communication and equal access to services, using interpreters;
• assessing the need for equipment such as minicoms, flashing light doorbells, induction loops, telephone adaptors and vibrating or flashing baby alarms;
• registering people as deaf or hard of hearing under the rules required by the Department of Health;
• working with and giving professional advice to colleagues within the council and from the health service, police, probation service and voluntary agencies;
• advocating the rights of deaf people;
• encouraging the involvement of deaf people in the planning and provision of services to achieve equal access for all.

More information about services for deaf people can be found on the Hi Kent website (www.hikent.org.uk./resources_medway.php).

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