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 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 and inclusive, focusing on communication and information accessibility.
The training is suitable for anyone working in a customer facing role, whether it be in health and social care, or in public, private or third sector – anywhere you come in contact with the general public. Given the prevalence of sight and hearing loss, wherever you are you are likely to meet people with sight and/or hearing loss. This training will help to give you the confidence to communicate effectively and to make sure they can use your services fully.
Research over many years has shown the businesses who consider how to reach their disabled customers make more money, are more productive, have more loyal customers and don’t lose out business to others who are more accessible.
If you work in health and social care, this training is suitable for you, whether you work 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. Sight loss and hearing loss is often associated with other conditions, including dementia, head injuries, neurodiversity, neurological conditions.
You may also have colleagues, family or friends who develop sight and/or hearing loss, and gaining a better understanding of how it affects them will help you to feel more confident supporting them.
NESS’s Training programme
NESS’s training programme runs six sessions throughout the year in Aberdeen, funded by the Aberdeen See Hear Strategy fund, and is free to anyone working in the public or third sector in Aberdeen City.
We run four training sessions funded by our contract with the Health and Social Care Partnership in Angus for staff employed by the health and social care partnership. That means staff who work for Angus Council or NHS Tayside in Angus. 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-to-face training session runs from 9.30 am to 4pm.
Dates in Aberdeen for the Sensory Awareness Training in 2027
The Aberdeen based training takes place at the NESS Resource Centre, 21 John Street, Aberdeen AB25 1BT and runs from 9.30-4pm.
Dates are:
- 27th January 2027
- 24th March 2027
- 12th May 2027
- 23rd June 2027
- 25th August 2027
- 27th October 2027
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 £95.
Date in Angus for the Sensory Awareness Training in 2027
The training in Angus takes place at The Cross, 5-7 the Cross, Forfar DD8 1BX and runs from 9.30am – 4pm.
Dates are:
- Wednesday 14th April 2027
- Thursday 15th June 2027
- Wednesday 1st September 2027
If you work for Angus Health and Social Care Partnership, (that is, you are employed either by Angus Council or by NHS Tayside in Angus) the training is free for you to attend, as it is funded as part of our contract with Angus Health and Social Care Partnership.
If you work for another third sector or health and social care organisation (including private health care organisations) in Angus, the training costs £75 per person. If you work in the private sector (not care related), the training costs £95 per person.
If you work in a public or third sector organisation in another part of Scotland, including Aberdeenshire, Moray or Dundee you can still attend the training, and the cost is £75 per person. If you work in the private sector (not care related) the cost of the training is £95 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) or using the QR code.
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. 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 Sight Loss in Care Homes session and a two-hour Deafness in Care Homes 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.
