A partnership with deafscotland and Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has seen the electricity distributor begin work with Dingwall Academy to promote resilience and electrical safety with the school's Deaf Base.
SSEN and deafscotland began their partnership in 2018 when they gave a joint talk at the Scottish Government's Resilience Conference. More recently, a grant from SSEN's Resilient Community Fund saw deafscotland receive £20,000 to help raise awareness of individual and community resilience.
The message of personal safety and resilience is one which applies to all age groups, and Mo Bates, SSEN Stakeholder Engagement Manager, explains how the awareness-raising sessions at Dingwall Academy came about:
"From our work with Scottish Government we became aware of a post being developed at Education Scotland which would focus on individual and community resilience. We recognised this new role as something that closely aligned with our own ambitions, and so we have part-funded the post, now filled by Alison MacLennan. It was through Alison's links with Dingwall Academy that we began to explore working with the Deaf Base there"
Alison said:
"My role is about creating opportunities for children and young people to engage with their communities and local businesses, such as SSEN, through realistic and relevant learning activities in relation to community resilience, for example, electricity and keeping safe in the home. It's been really encouraging to see the pupils engage with such an important subject and working together to get the most out of the lessons, whilst encouraging their ongoing development of life skills, learning and work."
Margaret Kinsman, PT Deaf and Deaf Studies at Dingwall Academy, recognises the potential benefits this link-up with SSEN could bring to the Deaf pupils, including those whose first language is BSL. She said:
"BSL is a rich, vibrant language used by many Deaf people, and sharing information in their preferred language is vitally important. The pupils really took to the last session on electrical safety at home, and looking ahead, future work with SSEN and Education Scotland will focus on enhancing these resilience strategies to enable young Deaf people to be confident when they meet challenges - power cuts, dangers of playing near overhead lines and also the possibility of future careers with SSEN."