‘On the Move’ Action on Hearing Loss Transitions Project was a winner at the Strathclyde Police Excellence Awards held in the Strathclyde Police Training College. Action on Hearing Loss Scotland Employment Adviser, Barbra Wylie accompanied PC Scott and PC Forrester as they were awarded a Strathclyde Police excellence award for the category of ‘Diversity in action’ for their work with us.

The award came about as a result of a group of young deaf and hard of hearing people aged 16-25yrs who were working with Barbra took part in The ACT Now exercise.

The ACT (All Communities Together) Now is a counter terrorism exercise where participants take on the role of the police and have to make decisions based on the information available to them & the situations they find themselves in. It is designed to allow debate around the sensitive issue of extremism within our communities

Working closely with PC Scott and PC Forrester Barbra made sure that the ACT Now material including a DVD with subtitles, was suitable and met the needs of the participants. A staff member reviewed the DVD prior to the actual event and transcribed the content to allow the BSL interpreters and electronic notetakers to prepare for the session.

Barbra said, ‘It is great that Strathclyde Police Diversity Unit has been recognised for working with us. This was the first time the ACT Now programme had been delivered to deaf people in the UK and the team worked very closely with me to make sure it was fully accessible. I believe through working with us they increased their awareness of the issues we work on and they are now working closely with other deaf organisations in the Glasgow area.’