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To support our vision of “A Scotland aware of the needs of people with sensory impairment, that includes them as equal participants in community life and offers them the opportunities available to all”, NESS delivers a programme of Sensory Awareness (visual awareness and deaf awareness) Training, raising awareness of the practical and emotional impact of sight and/or hearing loss.

The training will give you greater awareness as well as the skills and knowledge for you to feel confident meeting or supporting someone with a sensory impairment. It will also introduce ideas about making services more accessible, particularly thinking about communication and information accessibility.

The training is suitable to anyone working in health and social care, whether it be in day care, residential care, home support, in hospital, in community-based settings – wherever you are working with people. Anyone can develop sight loss or hearing loss at any age, and this training is suitable for you, whichever sector of health and social care you work in.

The training is also suitable for anyone working in a customer facing role, when you will be in contact with a wide range of people with different communication needs.

To support our vision of “A Scotland aware of the needs of people with sensory impairment, that includes them as equal participants in community life and offers them the opportunities available to all”, NESS delivers training, raising awareness of the practical and emotional impact of sight and/or hearing loss.

The training is also suitable for anyone working in a customer facing role, when you will be in contact with a wide range of people with different communication needs.

You can access NESS’s training in different ways.

Our training programme:
Tailored training
Sensory Loss in Care Homes training
Talks to groups

NESS’s Training programme

NESS’s training programme runs with six sessions throughout the year in Aberdeen, funded by the Aberdeen See Hear Strategy fund, and in Angus with four sessions funded for health and social care staff. Staff who don’t work for the health and social care partnership (that is staff who are not employed by Angus Council or NHS Tayside in Angus) can pay to attend the training.

The training raises awareness of the practical and emotional impact of sight loss, hearing loss, Deafenss and deafblindness, and explore many ways in which people living with sight loss, hearing loss, Deafness and deafblindness might maintain their independence, while also teaching essential communication skills and sighted guiding skills.

By the end of the training, you will:

Be aware of the range of ways vision is affected by sight loss.
Be aware of the different degrees of deafness and the different ways these impact on communication.
Be aware of what deafblindness is and its impact on day-to-day life.
Be aware of the practical and emotional barriers that affect people living with a sensory loss day to day.
Understand the different mobility techniques that someone who is visually impaired might use to get out and about independently.
Understand basic sighted guiding skills and how you can use these skills to support a visually impaired person to navigate the environment safely and independently.
Be able to communicate more effectively with someone with a hearing loss.
Understand what British Sign Language is and who uses it.
Understand the communication and information needs of people who are visually impaired, living with a hearing loss or who use British Sign Language as their first language.
Be aware of some of the daily living aids and technology that someone with a sensory loss might use to maintain their independence.

How is the training structured?

There are two parts to our Sensory Awareness Training.

The first part is e-learning. The e-learning provides you with all of the background information about sight loss, hearing loss, deafness, and deafblindness.
The second part is the face-to-face part of the training. The face-to-face training will explore the practical and emotional impact of sight loss and hearing loss using interactive activities, looking particularly at communication and sighted guiding skills. Each face-ato-face training session runs from 9.30 am to 4pm.

Date in Aberdeen for the Sensory Awareness Training

The Aberdeen based training takes place at NESS Resource Centre, 21 John Street, Aberdeen AB25 1BT and runs from 9.30-4pm.

Wednesday 28th January 2026
Wednesday 18th March 2026
Wednesday 13th May 2026
Wednesday 17th June 2026
Wednesday 9th September 2026
Wednesday 11th November 2026

If you work in Aberdeen City, in the public or third sector, or in the private health and social care sector, you can attend the training for free. We have funding from the Aberdeen See Hear Strategy Fund to deliver the training. If you work in the private sector the training costs £85.

Date in Angus of training

The training in Angus takes place at Friockheim Hub, Eastgate, Friockheim, Arbroach DD11 4TG and runs from 9.30am – 4pm.

Training dates in Angus in 2026 are:

Thursday 14th April 2026
Thursday 21st May 2026
Thursday 17th September

If you work for Angus Health and Social Care Partnership, the training is free for you to attend, as it is funded as part of our contract with Angus Health and Social Care Partnership. This means anyone who works for Angus Council or NHS Tayside in Angus can attend the training for free.

If you work for another third sector or health and social care organisation (including private health care organisations) in Angus, the training costs £65 per person. If you work in the private sector (not care related), the training costs £85 per person.

If you work in a public or third sector organisation in another part of Scotland you can still attend the training, and the cost is £65 per person. If you work in the private sector (not care related) the cost of the training is £85 per person.

Book your Place

You can book your place onto the training in Aberdeen and Angus by completing the Booking Form (opens in a new window).

Once we have received your booking, we will email you a confirmation along with the link to the e-learning which you will be able to log into straight away.

Sensory Loss in Care Homes

For staff working in Care Homes, we have a programme designed for you! Sensory Loss is far more prevalent in Care Homes than we might think and is often one of the factors the affects the decision for someone to go into care however it can be difficult to identify that a resident is experiencing sight loss and/or hearing loss, and to know how best to support them.

Our Sensory Loss in Care Homes training consists of a two-hour Visual Awareness session and a two-hour Deaf Awareness session. These are designed to explore the practical and emotional impact of sensory loss in Care Home residents in particular. The shorter sessions are designed to make it easier for Care Homes to organise staff attendance.

This training is free in Aberdeen, as we have funding form the See Hear Fund to pay for it.

We can deliver Sensory Loss in Care Homes in other areas for a cost. Please get in touch to find out more.

If you work in a Care Home and would like to find out more about our Sensory Loss in Care Homes training, please get in touch .

Tailored Training and Talks

We know that sometimes, teams would rather complete training together. If you have a group or a team of people who would like to complete the training, we can tailor our training to meet your particular needs and deliver it at a time and place to suit you – please get in touch (opens in a new window) to discuss your training needs, and to get a price.

We can also come and talk to your community group about what NESS does – please get in touch for more information.

Awareness Training