Deaf News: Sense produces video to help sport coaches work with deafblind people

The national deafblind charity, Sense, has produced an instructional video for sport coaches and instructors, aimed at giving them more confidence in working with people who are deafblind.

The four-minute video, which features sport instructors offering their top tips on making lessons accessible to deafblind people, is part of  ‘Deafblind Active’, an 18-month, Lottery funded Sport England project.

‘Deafblind Active’ saw Sense work with sport coaches across the country to develop a wide range of inclusive activates for people with dual sensory loss.

Sense’s National Sport Manager, Ian Carpenter said:

“Offering training and advice to sports coaches has been a key aspect of our Deafblind Active project and has enabled more people to access quality meaningful sports activities.  I believe that the video, along with our live training courses, will give coaches more knowledge and confidence to provide activities for deafblind people.”

Participation in sport has significant physical, mental and emotional benefits, yet over 300,000 people with dual sensory loss in England are effectively barred from activity due to the lack of developmental pathways that would lead to appropriate, safe and accessible sport provision.

The ‘Deafblind Active’ project attempts to support coaches who play a vital role in ensuring people with sight and hearing loss can access sport and physical activity.

The video features contributions from yoga teacher Richard Kravetz, Aston Villa football coach Nigel Macrow and climbing instructor Ryan Plunkett.

The video can be viewed on the Sense YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/j5d4X1NYSP