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Open Make Deaf Awareness Training Mandatory for All Social Work Students

Created by Amelia Jane north
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Social workers work with deaf children, deaf adults, deaf parents and families every day. Yet we are concerned that many social work students can qualify without receiving what we believe to be meaningful training on Deaf awareness, communication barriers, accessibility or the rights of deaf people.

We believe this needs to change, and that every student training to become a social worker should receive compulsory Deaf Awareness training before qualifying, including practical education on:

- Communicating effectively with deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
- Understanding the limitations of lip-reading and spoken communication.
- Understanding British Sign Language (BSL), interpreters and other communication support.

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    This petition will stay open until 10 March 2027.