An update from Cornwall

A summary report from one of the Co-Founders of Zebra Access; Marilyn Willrich.

I was delighted to move to Cornwall last winter to embark on a new project. Our team gave me a lovely send off with a farewell party in our headquarters.

Since then, I have been supporting the Zebra Access Team on a new project; "Cornish Deaf Workshops". This was awarded to us from the 'Award for All' fund. This fund aims to deliver workshops for Cornish Deaf people, covering different topics for them to gain their access to information in their own language, such as British Sign Language. We provided a British Sign Language interpreter upon their request, yet we are also happy to provide a number of other suitable communication aids such as: lip-speakers, note-takers, etc. I also collected evidence from their feedback regarding their experiences with accessibility, which I have included in my report. 

 

We have also set up Cornish Deaf Workshops (CDWs) and we now have a lovely, small team that work across Cornwall. The team have now completed their training but we still have: regular meetings, planning of the CDWs, organisation of the speakers and arranging venues, while also filming participant feedback videos, etc.

Several Cornish Deaf Workshops have already been conducted with various speakers in different locations, such as: Newquay, Camborne, Saltash, Penzance. We are also planning to deliver some more workshops in Launceston, Truro, St. Austell, and so on. There is a lot of positive interest in the CDWs and we have recognised that this is a real need for them to continue running!

To find out more about the Cornish Deaf Workshops visit their Facebook page.