Celebrating Deaf Awareness Week 2025

This Deaf Awareness Week, Carmarthenshire County Council is joining communities across the UK in recognising and celebrating the rich culture, language, and experiences of Deaf children, young people, and their families. This year’s theme, "Beyond Silence", resonates deeply with the Council’s work across Carmarthenshire — reminding us that communication is far more than sound and speech. It is found in facial expressions, signs, gestures, touch, technology, eye contact, written words, and shared understanding. It is found in connection.

Across our Local Authority, we are privileged to support over 200 children and young people from birth to school leavers, each with their own unique communication needs, identities, and potential. We champion all communication approaches, including British Sign Language (BSL), speech, Sign Supported English / Cymraeg â Chymorth Iaith Arwyddion, and Total Communication. For many of our learners, communication is a rich and dynamic blend of methods — from vocalisations and signing to assistive devices and behaviour — each one equally valid, powerful, and worthy of recognition.

At the heart of this work are our dedicated and specialist staff. We are incredibly fortunate to have six Specialist Qualified Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People within Carmarthenshire. They work tirelessly across our Primary and Secondary Resource Provisions or as Peripatetic Advisory Teachers within the Sensory Impairment Service, which sits within our Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Team. Two of whom are also parents of deaf children themselves, bringing a deeply personal layer of empathy, insight, and lived experience to their professional expertise.

Since September 2024, our Sensory Impairment Service has been led by a new Service Manager, who is herself profoundly deaf and a Specialist Qualified Teacher of the Deaf and Qualified Educational Audiologist. Her ethos is rooted in authentic understanding and unwavering advocacy for deaf children and their families.

We also want to give heartfelt recognition to our Teaching Assistants — whose skill, compassion, and day-to-day commitment in both specialist and mainstream settings ensure that every deaf learner feels seen, heard, and supported. Their contribution to inclusion cannot be overstated.

Our schools are doing exceptional work to ensure inclusive, empowering, and enriching experiences for all. Our specialist provisions provide safe spaces where deaf learners thrive in a language-rich, supportive environment, while our mainstream schools continue to build awareness, break down barriers, and create learning spaces where deaf children can participate fully and confidently.

Amongst the excellent work seen by Carmarthenshire schools are:

One such example is Ysgol Parcyrhun, which is home to the Council’s Primary Resource Provision, where learners have collaborated with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales to raise awareness of BSL and deaf inclusion. Their wonderful video, featuring both deaf and hearing pupils using BSL, is proudly featured on the Commissioner’s social media platforms this week. 

At Queen Elizabeth High School, the Council’s Secondary Resource Provision has developed an ongoing Deaf Role Model Programme. This inspirational initiative regularly welcomes successful Deaf individuals from a wide range of backgrounds into the setting to share their experiences, challenge stereotypes, and inspire our young people to believe that there are no limits to what they can achieve.

Last term, Ysgol Bryngwyn arranged for BSL taster sessions to be delivered to every Year 7 class, promoting inclusivity, empathy, and communication beyond the spoken word — a fantastic example of how mainstream schools can embrace the Deaf Awareness Week theme of Beyond Silence. Ysgol Bryngwyn’s BSL club has taken part in school Eisteddfodau and ‘Bryngwyn’s Got Talent’ events over the past two years, thanks to the fantastic effort of the TA staff leading those initiatives.

This Saturday, 10 May 2025, Carmarthen Library looks forward to welcoming families of deaf babies and young children aged 0–5 for a morning of connection and celebration, including a Baby Beats Music session, signed storytelling, and play — a wonderful opportunity to meet other families and professionals in a relaxed, supportive environment.

Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language - Cllr Glynog Davies said:

As a local authority we are incredibly proud of the achievements of each one of our deaf learners and are grateful to our specialist teachers and staff of the wonderful work that they do to support our children and young people. 

Thank you to you all, you are a testament to the power of inclusion, the beauty and richness of diverse communication, and the importance of community.”