Understanding What D/deaf People Want

Recently, several local organisations that support Deaf and hard of hearing people have shut down. With more people communicating online, some are questioning if there’s still a need for physical meeting spaces. Also, there hasn’t been much recent research into what Deaf and hard of hearing people currently need. Because of this, local Deaf Centres: Bolton Deaf Society, Manchester Deaf Centre, and Walthew House, asked us to do this research to better understand these changing needs.

Our research sought to answer the following questions:

• What are the needs of the D/deaf community? Does the evidence identify different support needs between D/deaf groups? Have needs changed since Covid-19?
• How does Bolton Deaf Society, Manchester Deaf Centre and Walthew House currently meet the needs of the D/deaf community?
• What are the costs of not supporting the D/deaf community?

We approached this research by carrying out:

• An extensive literature review of existing data, research and evidence on the D/deaf population in each location, as well as their experiences and needs.
• An online survey of people who are Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, and living or accessing services in each location. The survey was translated in British Sign Language, and paper copies were also available at each centre, and staff helped respondents complete it.
• An analysis of the organisations’ Social Return on Investment.
• We also supported them with focus groups with their service users.

Nearly 200 D/deaf people responded to the survey, which exceeded the clients’ expectations. The research is being used as evidence in funding bids. It also revealed gaps in the organisations’ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data, which they found useful, and are working to improve.