A NEW initiative to encourage more employees to take up sign language as an extra language and skill is coming to Tavistock.
'Signs4Life' is setting up introductory employee in-house courses equipping people in communicating and dealing with the deaf community.
Sara Phillips, founder of Signs4Life, said: 'You never know when you will come into contact with a customer or member of the public who is deaf or hard of hearing.
'British Sign Language is the first language of 95,000 deaf people in the UK and we are working with organisations as varied as care homes, police forces, the Red Cross and Asda.'
Signs4Life is working hard to raise the public and political awareness of deafness and deaf people. The organisation is also behind campaigns in introducing sign language as a GCSE option within the education system alongside other languages like French and Spanish into mainstream society.
It is also hosting the first ever conference on deaf awareness and career progression in Tavistock — 'Bridging the Access Gap' — in the summer.
Anyone who would like further information about the Signs4Life employee courses in Tavistock should contact Ms Phillips on 07964 019764.