Deaf Awareness Week: providing information and support for the Deaf community

This week is Deaf Awareness Week, a time to celebrate identities and support the Deaf community. This year’s theme is all about communication and about helping people understand the unique challenges faced by the Deaf community when accessing communication.

At Macmillan, we are committed to providing accessible and inclusive information and support and we believe that everyone should have access to the right information and support for them.

Our range of BSL videos and animations

Since 2022, we have added BSL (British Sign Language) signing to all our new information videos and animations. This is to make sure they can be understood by as many people as possible and to make sure people have equal access to health information. We will continue to add BSL signing to any new videos and animations we produce.

You can watch our range of BSL videos and animations on YouTube.  

Easy read information

Our easy read booklets use simple words and pictures. They can be useful for people who use BSL and English is their second language. You can see the full range of easy read titles and download a PDF or order a free printed booklet.

Speak to us, using BSL, for support

We have two ways you can get in touch with us for support using BSL:

1. Speak to a trained Deaf volunteer: You can get immediate practical support and help with how you are feeling through our Deaf Cancer Support Project across the UK. This support is available to anyone living with cancer in the Deaf community. It also supports their carers, including Deaf people who are supporting a hearing person living with cancer. You can access the service by contacting DeafCancer@selfhelp.org.uk.

2. Speak to our Macmillan Support Line using a BSL interpreter Call us free on 0808 808 00 00 if you want to speak to a cancer nurse specialist or about money and work. You can arrange a call by emailing us or chatting with us online. Or a hearing family member or friend can call us to arrange this for you. We will not share any personal details without your consent.

Tell us what you want from future BSL videos!

We want to create more BSL videos and would love to know your favourite format for these – please spare 2 minutes to fill out our survey and tell us what you would like to see more of. To fill out the survey, please visit our BSL hosting page, the survey will pop up in the bottom left corner after 30 seconds. The survey also includes space for any general feedback about our videos.