The Change of life project: Deaf women and the menopause

In November 2018 two workshops were conducted by Sarah Bown from the University of Wolverhampton in partnership with BID Services, focussing on the menopause as experienced by Deaf and hard of hearing women in Birmingham and Solihull. The feedback from participants indicated a greater need for accessible information and support.

Sarah Bown, Senior Lecturer in Interpreting and Deaf Studies at the University, said: “Despite existing legislation, (Equality Act 2010, Public Sector Equality Duty 2011, NHS Accessible Information Standard 2015), the health inequalities experienced by Deaf people are well documented.  Amongst wider society, there is growing awareness and discussion about the Menopause, its impact upon women, access to specialist health care services/support and the understanding required during this transitional phase of a woman’s life.  These successful pilot studies show that Deaf and hard of hearing women face greater barriers than most in fully accessing fundamental aspects of care, being able to understand the process of that care/treatment options and the knowledge to be able to make informed choices.”

BID services said: “BID are delighted to have held the Menopause events at the Deaf Cultural Centre in November 2018 working with Sarah and the University of Wolverhampton. These events were very successful and demonstrate the need for further information and exploration around this topic, so that we can ensure the information is accessible for all deaf and hard of hearing people. We will be continuing to work with Sarah and other NHS providers to ensure this happens. Thank you to Sarah for approaching us with this research initiative, for your support and to everyone that came, we will keep you updated with the next steps.”

Find the results here : menopause-deaf-PDF