Deaf life-stories project
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Deaf with Dementia Life-Stories Project
IRAS ID
193940
Contact name
Alys Young
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Around 50,000-70,000 Deaf people in the UK use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first or preferred language. Deaf people who use BSL belong to a formally recognised cultural linguistic minority community. Using the word Deaf (with a capital ‘D’) usually refers to a group of people who use BSL whereas the term deaf (with small ‘d’) is used to refer to the many people who experience some level of hearing loss during their lifetime, usually later in life, but who use English speech and residual hearing / lip-reading to communicate. In the UK, in common with countries throughout the world, there is a strong Deaf history that spans over 200 years, including activities at Deaf clubs, Deaf sports associations, annual conferences and social events. These are all currently being digitally archived by the British Deaf Association’s Deaf Heritage Project (https://www.bda.org.uk/heritage) based in London. The archive consists of video footage and photographic images, some dating back 90 years. \n\nThis project will therefore test out the acceptability and utility of creating and using bespoke life story materials about, for and with Deaf people with dementia in the contexts of both family and professional care providers/environments. It focuses specifically on those Deaf people who use BSL and share a Deaf community historical and social context. It is consistent with the emphasis in the National Dementia Strategy (England) (2009) on tailoring intervention and support to be linguistically and culturally appropriate for diverse communities. \n\nParticipants and their carers will be given the opportunity to access a specifically designed life-story app on a tablet (which will either be an iPad or an Android) where they will be able to select photographs and/or videos that mean something important to them. They will then be interviewed to explore their choices with their carer present. \n
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0126
Date of REC Opinion
28 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion