To support our vision of “A Scotland aware of the needs of people with sensory impairment, that includes them as equal participants in community life and offers them the opportunities available to all”, NESS delivers Sensory Awareness (visual awareness and deaf awareness) Training, raising awareness of the practical and emotional impact of sight and/or hearing loss.
The training will give you greater awareness as well as the skills and knowledge for you to feel confident meeting or supporting someone with a sensory impairment. It will also introduce ideas about making services more accessible, particularly thinking about communication and information accessibility.
The training is suitable to anyone working in health and social care, whether it be in day care, residential care, home support, in hospital, in community-based settings – wherever you are working with people. Anyone can develop sight loss or hearing loss at any age, and this training is suitable for you, whichever sector of health and social care you work in.
The training is also suitable for anyone working in a customer facing role, when you will be in contact with a wide range of people with different communication needs.
By the end of the training, you will:
- Be aware of the range of ways vision is affected by sight loss.
- Be aware of the different degrees of deafness and the different ways these impact on communication.
- Be aware of what deafblindness is and its impact on day-to-day life.
- Be aware of the practical and emotional barriers that affect people living with a sensory loss day to day.
- Understand the different mobility techniques that someone who is visually impaired might use to get out and about independently.
- Understand basic sighted guiding skills and how you can use these skills to support a visually impaired person to navigate the environment safely and independently.
- Be able to communicate more effectively with someone with a hearing loss.
- Understand what British Sign Language is and who uses it.
- Understand the communication and information needs of people who are visually impaired, living with a hearing loss or who use British Sign Language as their first language.
- Be aware of some of the daily living aids and technology that someone with a sensory loss might use to maintain their independence.
How is the training structured?
There are two parts to our Sensory Awareness Training.
- The first part is e-learning. The e-learning provides you with all of the background information about sight loss, hearing loss, deafness, and deafblindness.
- The second part is the face-to-face part of the training. The face-to-face training will explore the practical and emotional impact of sight loss and hearing loss using interactive activities, looking particularly at communication and sighted guiding skills. Each face-ato-face training session runs from 9.30 am to 4pm.
Dates for face-to-face training in 2026
We have dates in Aberdeen, Elgin and in Friockheim in Angus throughout the year.
Aberdeen – at NESS Resource Centre, 21 John Street, Aberdeen AB25 1BT
Training dates in Aberdeen in 2026 are:
- Wednesday 28th January 2026
- Wednesday 18th March 2026
- Wednesday 13th May 2026
- Wednesday 17th June 2026
- Wednesday 9th September 2026
- Wednesday 11th November 2026
Cost of Training in Aberdeen
If you work in Aberdeen City, in the public or third sector, or in the private health and social care sector, you can attend the training for free. We have funding from the Aberdeen See Hear Strategy Fund to deliver the training. If you work in the private sector the training costs £85.
Book your Place in Aberdeen
You can book your place onto the training by completing the Booking Form (opens in a new window). Once we have received your booking, we will email you a confirmation along with the link to the e-learning which you will be able to log into straight away.
Elgin – at NESS Resource Centre, Elizabeth House, Victoria Crescent, Elgin IV30 1RQ
Training dates in Elgin in 2026 are:
- Thursday 26th March 2026
- Thursday 30th April 2026
- Thursday 11th June 2026
- Thursday 27th August 2026
- Thursday 1st October 2026
Book your Place
You can book your place onto the training by completing the Booking Form (opens in a new window). Once we have received your booking, we will email you a confirmation along with the link to the e-learning which you will be able to log into straight away.
Cost of training in Elgin
If you work for Moray Health and Social Care Partership, the training is also free for you to attend, as it is funded as part of our contract with Moray Health and Social Care Partnership. This means that if you work for Moray Council or NHS Grampian in Moray, you can attend the training for free.
If you work for another third sector or health and social care organisation (including private health care organisations) in Moray the training costs £65 per person. If you work in the private sector (not care related), the training costs £85 per person.
Angus – at Friockheim Hub, Eastgate, Friockheim, Arbroath DD11 4TG
Training dates in Angus in 2026 are:
- Thursday 14th April 2026
- Thursday 21st May 2026
- Thursday 17th September
Book your Place
You can book your place onto the training by completing the Booking Form (opens in a new window). Once we have received your booking, we will email you a confirmation along with the link to the e-learning which you will be able to log into straight away.
Cost of training in Angus
If you work for Angus Health and Social Care Partnership, the training is also free for you to attend, as it is funded as part of our contract with Angus Health and Social Care Partnership. This means anyone who works for Angus Council or NHS Tayside in Angus can attend the training for free.
If you work for another third sector or health and social care organisation (including private health care organisations) in Angus, the training costs £65 per person. If you work in the private sector (not care related), the training costs £85 per person.
If you work in a public or third sector organisation in another part of Scotland you can still attend the training, and the cost is £65 per person. If you work in the private sector (not care related) the cost of the training is £85 per person.
Sensory Loss in Care Homes
For staff working in Care Homes, we have a programme designed for you! Sensory Loss is far more prevalent in Care Homes than we might think and is often one of the factors the affects the decision for someone to go into care however it also often goes unrecognised and unsupported.
Our Sensory Loss in Care Homes training consists of a two-hour Visual Awareness session and a two-hour Deaf Awareness session. These are designed to explore the practical and emotional impact of sensory loss in Care Home residents in particular. The shorter sessions are designed to make it easier for Care Homes to organise staff attendance.
This training is free in Aberdeen, as we have funding form the See Hear Fund to pay for it.
If you work in a Care Home and would like to find out more about our Sensory Loss in Care Homes training, please get in touch .
Tailored Training and Talks
We can tailor our training to meet your particular needs and deliver it at a time and place to suit you – please get in touch (opens in a new window) to discuss your training needs
