You will find reports and papers about the work of the Trust on the “Downloads” page. A list of what the Trust has been doing since it began its work in 1984 is in the Trust Timeline in the “About” section. Most of the current work is being held up by the virus situation and we may not be able to resume properly until after the summer.
Trust work just now includes
Language Skills Project funded by the EU ERASMUS+ programme.
We are working with partners in the Czech Republic (Mazaryk University), in Hungary (ELTE), in Austria (Technical University in Vienna) and University of Central Lancashire in the UK. ERASMUS is a programme for student exchange and the main work of DST is to provide a BSL online course for deaf people from other countries who do not yet have English. The course has to be presented wholly in pictures and video. There is a draft version online but it is due to be released later this year. DST also provides a summer school for deaf students of English in Bristol and in parallel a workshop for the teachers of English from the partner States.
Programmes for Caring for deaf with dementia
We have organised several workshops for members of the deaf community to discuss and inform about issues in caring for those with dementia or Alzheimer’s. Although there are services for hearing people, often deaf carers are unaware of both the problems and the support which can be available. Our next step is to set up a deaf carers group.
Programme for families with deaf children
although there are many people and agencies concerned with support to deaf children, there is not so much emphasis on family life (independent of the age of the deaf child). DST works with the school support service, the family centre, the Deaf Children’s Society, Little Hands and the Youth Club to support families with older children through workshops and activities.
Deaf Athletics Initiative
Since the middle of 2019, DST has been working with local and regional agencies to develop access to athletics for deaf children and adults. IN the summer of 2019, we ran a deaf schools event and through the autumn an evening weekly programme for adults from 19 years. We were scheduled and funded (by Sport England & Wesport) to develop a much bigger programme for this year for all ages but this is currently on hold until we can have access to the track for coaching and events.
Courses for 2nd Year and 3rd Year Medic students in the University of Bristol
For nearly 10 years we have provided extended courses for university students. These are now part of the national curriculum for doctors and are presented as full-time 3 week and 6 week placements. In this programme, the students have input on research on deaf health, learn BSL in immersion with deaf teaching staff, meet with many deaf people and learn of their experiences in health care and are finally evaluated on their own ability to carry out a consultation in BSL with a deaf patient.