IT for hearing-impaired people

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is launching a major project providing fully accredited part-time IT training courses for hearing-impaired people. The RNID hopes that the course, called "Together IT Works", will remove a major barrier to entry into the workforce for deaf people.

The organisation's own research shows that almost 20% of profoundly or severely deaf people are out of work compared with only 5% of the general population.

An RNID spokesperson said: "Deaf and hard of hearing people have particularly bad access to IT courses because their particular needs are not met. This obviously disadvantages them in the market, and the course is designed to help redress the balance."

The three-year project has received funding to the tune of £1.4 million from Barclays Bank.