Women’s Health Project in Leeds

Women’s Health Project in Leeds

With support from Wellbeing of Women, Leeds Sensory Services is working to remove barriers for women when accessing health information and services. We know from past experience that those who are D/deaf/Hard of Hearing experience health inequalities which can impact many areas of their lives and can result in women receiving poor health and wellbeing support.

In Leeds, there are a number of health-related topics where accessible information and services are limited for D/deaf or Hard of Hearing women. These include menopause, pre-natal and post-natal care, domestic abuse, gynecological conditions, general women’s health for over 50s, mammogram screening and mental health.

Our project focuses on D/deaf and Hard of Hearing women of all ages, in particular BSL users, who face barriers which can lead to:

• Misdiagnosis
• Inappropriate treatment
• Not following treatments accurately
• Not attending appointments/screenings
• Lack of understanding around health/conditions/treatment
• Restricted ability to make informed choices

We will be working with women from the Deaf community in Leeds to deliver 10 face-to-face workshops over 12 months, delivering vital health information and breaking down barriers. We want to empower women and enable them to make an informed choice about their health, care and treatment.

These workshops will be 2 hours long, split into two parts. The first part will be an interactive, visual presentation and the second part will be an open question and answers/peer support session. This gives women the opportunity to ask questions freely and raise concerns in a relaxed environment.

Alongside our workshops, we aim to release 5-10 accessible video resources on women’s health providing an overview of key topics and additional appropriate information. These videos will be found on our Information Library and on social media.

We want to say a huge thank you to Wellbeing of Women for your ongoing support and enabling us to deliver support to our community.

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