Deaf Inclusion in Health and Social Care: What Practitioners Need to Know

On 18 April 2026, the Deaf Health Wales (DHW) project will be hosting a Mini Deaf Gathering event at Pontio. This is a daylong deaf arts and culture event. Details can be found here.

As part of that event our project will be presenting a seminar, ‘Deaf Inclusion in Health and Social Care: What Practitioners Need to Know’, which has been specifically designed for hearing health care professionals, practitioners, students and stakeholders to help them to better understand Deaf culture and barriers to accessing services and to show how they can make their services accessible and inclusive.

The session will be led by two deaf DHW co-investigators and experts in the field, Dr Sara Rhys-Jones and Mr Paul Redfern (full biographies below).  It will provide an opportunity for attendees to learn about the deaf community and how to make Wales a fairer and inclusive country.

Topics to be covered will include but are not limited to:

• An introduction and explanation of what British Sign Language (BSL)  is and is not, and Deaf culture with respect to identity, language and community
• Statistics on mental health and physical health of deaf communities in Wales
• Barriers in healthcare and social care services for deaf patients
• Explaining and understanding consent and GDPR with deaf patients
• Understanding what equality means for deaf BSL signers
• The importance of working with and not for deaf communities.

There will also be an open Q&A session where Dr Rhys-Jones and  Mr Redfern will endeavour to answer any and all questions that the audience may have regarding deaf healthcare and well-being.

This is a unique opportunity to learn from deaf experts.  BSL–English interpretation will be provided, and the event is free and open to all hearing health care professionals, practitioners, students and stakeholders.  We do, however, ask you to register here so we can plan accordingly.

If you have any questions, please email us at deafhealth@bangor.ac.uk.

Hope to see you there! 

Bios

Dr Sara Rhys‑Jones is a deaf BSL‑signing Principal Clinical Psychologist for Swansea Bay University Health Board. She has a PhD on deaf linguistic‑identity theory and impression formation in BSL.  More information here.

Mr Paul Redfern is a deaf BSL signing researcher with decades of experience in deaf community development, public sector engagement and organisational leadership. He works with Action Deafness, chairs the All Wales Deaf Mental Health and Wellbeing Group, and previously held leadership roles with the British Deaf Association, Richmond AID, and international development work in Eswatini.

A BSL version of this email can be found here.