Tel: 0870 240 2386 (Voice)     0121 622 1191 (Text)

Fax: 0121 622 5174

RNID trainers offer a one day training course in deaf awareness for up to 16 people in-house for £550+VAT, inclusive of all expenses, but might be persuaded to reduce the training to a half day course for £385 + VAT.

For more information about the training that RNID offer you or your employer should contact RNID Training Services by phone, fax, post or email or click on the Services symbol in

7-11 Armstrong Road
London W3 7JL

Tel: 0845 0744600 (Voice/Text)     Fax: 020 8742 9043

Hearing Concern provides deaf awareness training under its Sympathetic Hearing Scheme for managers and staff of organisations that provide services to the public. Its basic three hour deaf awareness course costs £200 plus travel expenses for up to 25 participants.

For more information about this training you or your employer should contact Hearing Concern by phone, fax, email or post or by clicking on

Finding out what training is available

Learndirect

Tel: 0800 100 900 (Voice/Text) - Mon-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat 9-12am

Learndirect is an organisation established to help enquirers find the training and training method that suit them best. It has a database of half a million training courses and information about a wide range of training organisations in every area of the UK so that it can quickly locate the sort of training that enquirers want or put them in touch with the organisations responsible for providing that training. If you are not sure what training you need you will be put in touch with a Learning Adviser who will ask what job you want to do and find out what qualifications you need and where you can get appropriate training.

In addition Learndirect runs a number of training courses online and at local Centres in libraries, firms and educational institutions. These courses cover basic skills in literacy and numeracy, computer skills – the Centres run free "taster" courses for beginners – and a selection of business and management skills.

When you are considering what training course to choose you may find it useful to have a look at the issues raised on disability on the Learndirect website. Select "Learndirect national learning advice" on the home page, then click on "help and advice" and finally on "help with special needs".

For anyone who lives in England another way of finding out about locally available governement sponsored training is to contact your local Learning and Skills Council.

The Government established a national Learning and Skills Council in April 2001 to improve training in England. It operates through 47 local Learning and Skills Councils which each have a substantial budget of public funds – on average over £100 million a year – to develop training programmes relevant to the needs of its area. Normally courses are free for unemployed trainees.

Tel: 0845 119 4170 (Voice)     or Fax: 024 7686 3100 or

Tel: 0118 9260259 (Voice)     0118 9260257(Text)

Deafax is a training organisation that has specialised in computer training for deaf and deafened adults since 1987. Currently it is delivering a government funded Lifelong Learning Project designed to help unemployed deaf/deafened adults acquire basic computer skills and find employment, but available also to deaf/deafened employees who want to improve their employment prospects.

The project provides basic training in IT for everyone, focusing on Microsoft programmes (Word, Access, Powerpoint and Excel). Unemployed trainees also have the chance to choose from a range of other modules that consist of training in numeracy, job interview skills, assertiveness and using email/the internet and mobile telephones/faxes/textphones.

Deafax relies on a team of deaf and hearing trainers who can deliver their modules in British Sign Language, Sign Supported English or Total Communication. For unemployed trainees all the training is free and most of their other expenses are paid, including travel, child care and overnight accommodation where this is needed. However although Deafax is based in Reading it has training centres in several other locations.

Deafax can also provide deaf awareness training. Trainers at several Learndirect computer centres have received its deaf awareness training so that deaf/deafened trainees who have completed their basic IT training with Deafax can progress to more demanding IT courses at their local Learndirect centres.

Tel: 020 7802 8200 (Voice)     020 7802 8214 (Text)

Under the Workability project Leonard Cheshire has combined with a group of specialist organisations to provide free computers and the training to use them for disabled people aged between 19 and 50 who are actively seeking work. Anyone accepted on to the project will receive a free computer, printer and Internet access but will need to meet the delivery cost of £40. The computer itself will be accompanied by a training programme that can be downloaded on to the computer; but the trainee will be given the name, phone number and email address of a tutor who will help the trainee to follow the training programme.

You should phone or write to be sent further information and an application form; but as the project is very popular it may take several months for the application to be processed.

Tel: 020 7730 7766 (Voice/Text)     Fax: 020 7730 6822

U Can Do I.T. is a charity providing Internet training for disabled people in their own homes in the London area. It employs part-time freelance tutors who have all passed a personal police check. Many tutors have had deaf awareness training, two are themselves hard of hearing and one is profoundly deaf with BSL as his first language. If you apply for Internet training with U Can Do I.T. you will first be given a free assessment. If you are accepted for the training you will be asked to pay a registration fee and a fee for each training session. These fees will vary according to your income; but there is no charge apart from a registration fee of £5 for anyone with a weekly income of £150 or less after tax.

U Can Do I.T. plans to raise funds to extend its training to disabled people who live outside London as soon as possible.

Freephone: 0800 328 5050 (Voice) 0800 068 2422 (Text)

Tel: 020 7657 2337 (Voice)     Fax: 020 7450 0650

Tel: 0131 475 2348 (Voice)     Fax: 0131 475 2397

A more specialised source of financial support is the Disabled Student's Allowance (DSA). This allowance is for extra costs related directly to the student's disability and associated with courses of higher education.

It is available for full-time undergraduate and some postgraduate courses as well as some part-time courses (if equivalent to 50% of full-time courses) and some open and distance learning courses. It is not means tested and so does not affect eligibility to income support.

It should help with the costs of note takers, lip speakers or Palantypists because up to £10,505 is available for each year for non-medical helpers for full-time undergraduate courses and up to £5,000 each year for all aspects of DSAs for full-time postgraduate courses.

Local education authorities deal with applications but are expected to follow guidance from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

For more information and an application form ask for the leaflet Bridging the Gap from your local education authority or download them from the DfES' website by clicking on www.dfes.gov.uk , selecting "HE Students" and then "Financial Support for HE Students 2001/2002".

More detailed information, which also covers Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as England and Wales, is available on Skill's information sheet on "Applying for the disabled students' allowance (DSA) 2000/2001". This is well worth reading alongside Bridging the Gap which applies to 2001/2002.

Financial support from charities

In its factsheet on "Applying to Trusts" Skill has a useful list of charities that provide grants (usually rather small) for students who cannot fund all their training costs from other sources. Learndirect identifies databases that match your needs against the most suitable charitable grants available and gives contact details for the Educational Grants Advisory Service.