Deafax believes that...
• Young deaf and hard of hearing people are not being given adequate sexual
health education in schools due to a lack of access to information.
• Sexual health clinics are not geared up appropriately to cater for deaf clients.
• Midwives and doctors generally lack awareness of deafness and the
importance of interpreters; therefore do not provide a service that is equal to
that which other service users receive.

We will aim to...
• Encourage healthcare organisations to cater for their deaf clients as equally
as their hearing clients; providing guidelines and training to staff where
necessary.
• Encourage teaching staff at schools with deaf students to take specialised
deaf awareness training that assists in the delivery of Sexual and
Reproductive Health Education.

How will this improve the situation for deaf and hard of hearing people?
• Young deaf people will be able to make informed and responsible decisions
regarding their sexual health.
• Prevalence of teenage pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
will reduce
• Deaf women will receive adequate support during pregnancy and labour.
• The healthcare and education systems will be in line with the Equality Act
2010 which stipulates that deaf people should receive the same access to
care and support as hearing people.

Deafax will work towards achieving this through:
• Launching a sexual health package for schools with deaf pupils.

• Providing a British Sign Language (BSL) resource focussed on sexual health
that will assist schools, healthcare professionals and interpreters when
discussing sexual health or reproduction with a deaf person.
• Releasing information on deafness and sexual health based on research by
Deafax.
• Encouraging schools, health care clinics and midwives to take deaf awareness
training.