Deaf Awareness Month and Lipreading Awareness Week:
Celebrating inclusion with Boo and Nancy
September is Deaf Awareness Month, and this week (7th – 11th September) marks Lipreading Awareness Week. It is a time to celebrate the importance of accessible communication, raise awareness of the barriers D/deaf people can face, and recognise the people helping to create more inclusive communities.
At Achieve together, we’re proud to support people who are D/deaf and D/deafblind to live healthy, happy and meaningful lives. This commitment is strengthened by passionate team members like Boo Holmquest, our D/deaf Services and British Sign Language (BSL) Advisor, and Nancy Weatherson, a long-standing member of our D/deaf Services team.
From support worker to community champion
Nancy joined Achieve together 10 years ago as a bank support worker, bringing with her a Level 1 BSL qualification and a passion for learning more about the D/deaf community.
Over the past decade, she has worked in a variety of roles and, as Nancy explains, continues to support people because she loves being part of the Achieve together community.
Working closely with people who are D/deaf inspired Nancy to look beyond traditional support and explore how communities could become more inclusive.
Building bridges between D/deaf and hearing communities
While supporting people in everyday situations such as shopping, dining out and socialising, Nancy noticed that many hearing people wanted to communicate but lacked the confidence to do so.
That experience led her to establish her own D/deaf awareness training business, Feel Hear, delivering workshops that help organisations understand how small changes can make a big difference.
Today, Nancy delivers D/deaf awareness training to colleges, care homes, supported living homes, businesses and community groups, helping more people gain the confidence to communicate inclusively.
Creating a space where everyone belongs
Nancy’s work also led to the creation of the New Forest Deaf Club in February 2024.
The club brings together people we support, Achieve together team members and people from the local community in a welcoming space where people can communicate, learn and build connections.
It provides opportunities for people who use BSL as their first language to socialise comfortably, while also helping hearing people develop confidence and understanding.
Boo, who regularly attends the club, describes it as a wonderful opportunity to see people making meaningful connections and engaging with their community through their preferred language.
Lipreading Awareness Week
This year’s Lipreading Awareness Week is particularly significant for Nancy.
Following the retirement of a local lipreading tutor, Nancy undertook 18 months of specialist study at City Lit in London, one of the UK’s most respected centres for D/deaf education, and has now qualified as a lipreading teacher.
Lipreading can be an important communication tool for many people experiencing hearing loss, helping them understand conversations and remain connected to the world around them.
The importance of lipreading continues to grow. More than 18 million people in the UK are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus, and an estimated 2.4 million people have a level of hearing loss that means they would struggle to hear most conversational speech. For many people, lipreading is a vital communication skill that helps them stay connected, independent and confident.
Through her business Feel Hear, Nancy has recently achieved Signature Centre accreditation, allowing her to deliver recognised British Sign Language qualifications locally in the New Forest.
These achievements help create more opportunities for people to learn communication skills that support inclusion and accessibility.
Recognition for making a difference
Nancy’s dedication has also been recognised beyond Achieve together.
She has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Great Neighbour category of the BBC Radio Solent Make a Difference Awards 2026, recognising her commitment to making her community more welcoming and inclusive for D/deaf people.
Nancy was joined at both her BBC Radio Solent interview and the launch of her new lipreading classes by Achieve together Support Worker Luke Davis and Jordan, a person we support who is D/deaf. Their involvement reflects Nancy’s belief that the people we support should be at the heart of every achievement and every opportunity to promote greater awareness and inclusion.
For Nancy, the recognition belongs to everyone involved: “The people we support are at the heart of every decision I make,” she says. “This has always been a team effort.”
Inclusion starts with communication
At Achieve together, we believe everyone deserves to feel heard, understood and included.
This Deaf Awareness Month and Lipreading Awareness Week, we’re celebrating the incredible work of Boo, Nancy and our wider D/deaf community, whose passion and commitment continue to break down barriers and create opportunities for meaningful connection.
Learn more about our specialist support for people who are D/deaf or have hearing impairments
Find out more about Nancy’s Deaf awareness work
Watch Boo and Nancy’s conversation and discover how greater awareness, confidence and accessible communication can help create communities where everyone belongs.
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