Stress and Relaxation
There is a void in health information and advice for Deaf sign language users. A new DVD produced by EyeGaze is the first in a series that aims to address this problem.
Press Release:
Sign away your Stress
A self-help Sign Language DVD for the Deaf Community
Peter Gladwell, a physiotherapist based at the North Bristol NHS Trust has teamed up with a Bristol-based company called EyeGaze and a collective of other health specialists to produce the first ever self-help relaxation DVD for Deaf people who use British Sign Language. The DVD is entitled ‘Stress and Relaxation’ and can be purchased at http://www.eyegaze.tv/health.
The DVD explains the nature of stress, its causes and effects and also includes some innovative relaxation exercises to help the viewer reduce the harmful effects that stress can have - all in British Sign Language (English subtitles are available also).
“Stress is a factor in everybody’s life but Deaf people more commonly experience depression and anxiety and other inevitable stress associated with being Deaf in a world geared towards the needs of hearing people’, said Peter Gladwell, who works in the Pain Management Service and the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME Service. “Practising the relaxation exercises contained on this DVD can have a significant impact on your life by helping to manage stress in order to maintain and improve health and confidence, you now have opportunity to relax with information presented to you in your own language.”
“We are delighted to have been involved in the production of such an important DVD”, said Mick Canavan, a director of EyeGaze, and father of a Deaf teenager. “We hope Primary Care Trusts, hospitals, community services, pain management clinics, clinical therapists and all GP’s will make this DVD available to Deaf patients because we believe it can really make a positive difference to people’s lives.”
The written word is a second language for the Deaf community with British Sign Language being their first. Whilst great care is often taken to prepare health related materials in numerous languages for the hearing population, relatively little is produced in British Sign Language. EyeGaze aims to ensure equal access to information and services for the Deaf community.
For more information or to purchase this DVD please go to http://www.eyegaze.tv/health.
To download the full press release please click here