Homepage > Professionals & Parents > Communication Support

During the 1980s, more and more people were encouraged to enter various training schemes as a means of avoiding the mass unemployment of the era. Deaf people, who joined training schemes, found that there was little or no communication support for them, either within the work place, or at the college they attended on day release.

Teachers of the Deaf and Social Workers with Deaf People found they were not able to meet the communication needs of all their clients; a new type of worker was required to operate within the further education colleges (for a detailed and extensive history of how communication support for the post sixteen sector developed see The Rise of the Communicator, Green and Nickerson).

The history of Derby College for Deaf People's communication service closely follows the development of Communication Support Workers courses over the last fifteen years. As increasing numbers of deaf students enrol at DCDP, each requiring specific communications needs, so the service has expanded.

It is flexibility that lies at the centre of the service provided by the Communication Worker. The gap that exists between lecturer and the deaf student occurs due to linguistic and cultural differences: without a shared mode of communication a third party is required to 'bridge the gap'.

The educational environment can vary from lecturer to lecturer and from one moment to the next. Consequently, the type of communication that is needed will have to adapt to whatever is necessary at any given time. This can take many forms, although the emphasis remains constant: what is necessary to access this information for this deaf student in this particular situation? Therefore, during a lecture, a CW at DCDP will negotiate with the deaf student and lecturer as to how this can be achieved.

It requires patience and trust from all those involved in the educational process to ensure maximum access to information is possible. To be able to provide such a flexible service, CWs are expected to train in a number of different communication methods. They then need to utilise their range of skills to match the needs of any given student.

DCDP has established teams of CWs based in several colleges, this is a vital step in the development of the profession as team members can be mutually supportive. In turn this encourages improvement of standards and uniformity of service.