Let your hands do the talking in Limavady

Hands That Talk volunteers at a recent event in Dungiven. There are 40 voluteers in total at the Dungiven based charity,

Mags Connolly, community champion at Tesco in Limavady, said: “This all started because we want to be able to better interact with our customers who are deaf, or hard of hearing. We are always looking for new ways to serve our customers a little better. We want everyone who walks through our doors to feel welcome and be warmly greeted by colleagues. With the help of ‘Hands that Talk’, we hope we’ll be able to offer basic greetings to our customers who use sign language. I’m sure this would be of interest to other local businesses and organisations, so we’re opening the invitation to get in touch and reserve your space.”

Ann Owens of ‘Hands that Talk’ added: “There are approximately 5,000 sign language users across Northern Ireland and hundreds of thousands of others affected by hearing loss.

“By working, not only with those affected by hearing loss, but the community at large we hope we can support better social integration. We’re very grateful to Mags for inviting us to Tesco in Limavady and we hope we can help show attendees how to let their hands do the talking.”

Hands that Talk was established in 2000 to provide holistic support those who are deaf or hard of hearing in the North West. As well as offering support programmes, the charity also aims to promote social integration between the hearing and non-hearing communities.

To attend the two-hour team training session on Wednesday, 15 March at 7pm at Tesco in Limavady contact Mags Connolly on 07718520523.