Lipspeaker UK

04/09/2026

Next week is Lipreading Awareness Week.

If you’ve ever tried to lipread, you’ll know it isn’t as simple as watching someone’s mouth.

Some words look the same. Some sounds can’t be seen at all. Context matters. Facial expression matters. Knowing what the conversation is about matters. And even when all of those things are in place, things can still be missed.

Yet for many deaf and hard of hearing people, lipreading is an important part of how they communicate every day.

So next week, we want to spend some time talking about it.

About what lipreading is really like. What makes it easier. What makes it harder. The misconceptions that still surround it. And the communication access available to people who rely on it.

It’s Lipreading Awareness Week from 7–11 September.

Visit the website: www.lipreadingawareness.org.uk



Alt text: Graphic for Lipreading Awareness Week, featuring the official blue and pale blue logo on a white background. Below, text reads “7–11 September”. A curved dark red shape sits in the bottom right corner.

03/09/2026

As an approved provider of communication support for students receiving Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), our clients are certainly keeping us on our toes!

We’re busy getting everything finalised for students starting and returning to university over the coming weeks.

For deaf students, having the right communication access in place can make a huge difference to how they access lectures, seminars and the wider university experience.

And no two students are necessarily going to need the same thing.

Some may use lipspeakers, some BSL interpreters, some notetakers or other communication professionals, and some a combination depending on the setting.

So behind the scenes, there’s a lot happening right now to make sure communication access is ready when term begins.

Here’s to a busy September and an exciting new academic year! 🎓

Video description: A student with short dark hair sits at a desk, with the corner of a laptop visible. He signs about the everyday communication access deaf students may need at university, including simple ways to improve access and the different communication professionals they may use.

02/09/2026

September is here, and we’re slipping into autumn with a very busy diary. 🍂

We’ve got lots of deaf awareness training sessions booked in between now and the end of the year, and it’s one of the parts of our work we really love.

Every workplace is different. Every team starts from a different place. That means every session brings different conversations, questions and those moments where someone suddenly sees communication access from a completely different perspective.

For us, good deaf awareness training isn’t about memorising a list of dos and don’ts. It’s about understanding why things matter and giving people the confidence to put that understanding into practice.

We’re looking forward to meeting lots more teams over the next few months.

If deaf awareness training is on your organisation’s list before the end of 2026, get in touch.

27/08/2026

Over the next couple of weeks, students across the UK will be heading back to university for the start of a new academic year.

For deaf students, that also means making sure communication access is in place from the very beginning.

DSA can be incredibly important for deaf students. But it isn’t a magic wand.

In this reel, Seb, a deaf university student, talks about the role Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) can play in communication access at university, and why responsibility for access doesn’t stop there.

DSA may fund communication professionals, but universities still need to make sure their own systems and processes enable them to do their job effectively.

That can mean making teaching materials available in advance so they can be shared with communication professionals for preparation, rather than expecting access to simply happen once someone has been booked.

Effective communication access needs both.

DSA can provide important resources. Universities still have a responsibility to make sure their teaching and processes are accessible.

Video Description: Seb, a young man with short brown hair wearing a denim shirt, sits in a library in front of a bookcase. He speaks to camera about DSA and universities’ responsibilities for communication access for deaf students.

26/08/2026

A gentle reminder that our office will be closed from 5pm on Thursday 27th August, reopening at 9am on Tuesday 1st September.

If you have any bookings you need to make or arrange with us, please get in touch before we close on Thursday so our team can help.

We’ll be back as usual from Tuesday morning.

25/08/2026

Lipreading Awareness Week is coming! 👄

7–11 September 2027

Lipreading is an important part of communication for many deaf and hard of hearing people, but it is often misunderstood.

Lipreading Awareness Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of lipreading, the people who rely on it, and the things we can all do to make communication easier.

Help spread the word by sharing this post and putting the date in your diary.

24/08/2026

Why might someone choose a Lipspeaker?

For someone who lipreads, communication access can be about much more than knowing the words that were spoken.

A Lipspeaker can provide access to emotion, tone and intent. They can retain emphasis, rhythm and changes in delivery, as well as helping someone follow incidental comments, reactions and what is happening around them.

Crucially, lipspeaking also allows someone to access spoken language through lipreading, rather than converting that communication into written text.

That distinction matters.

Different deaf people access communication in different ways. For some, lipspeaking provides access to more of the whole communication experience.

Find out more about lipspeaking and what a Lipspeaker does on our website.

Video Description: Black and white image of a person with a deeply concentrated expression. The title reads, “Why might someone choose a Lipspeaker?” Text pop-ups highlight different reasons, including access to emotion, tone, incidental information and the wider communication experience.

20/08/2026

A deaf woman went to her GP surgery for a flu vaccination. She left having been given a Covid vaccine she had not consented to.

Samantha’s first language is BSL. No BSL interpreter was provided. Despite showing staff a note on her phone saying “flu jab only”, the wrong vaccine was administered.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found that the practice had failed to identify and act on her communication needs.

It is a shocking story, and one that deserves to be heard in its own right.

It also demonstrates just how serious the consequences of inaccessible healthcare communication can be.

For Samantha, the communication access she needed was BSL. For another deaf person, it could be a lipspeaker, speech-to-text, accessible written information or another form of communication.

Not all deaf people use BSL. There is no single adjustment that makes healthcare accessible to every deaf person.

That is why the Accessible Information Standard matters.

Healthcare services should identify, record, flag, share and meet an individual’s communication needs. When that does not happen, the consequences are not simply inconvenience or a poor patient experience.

People can be left without the information they need to understand their healthcare and make informed decisions about it.

Samantha’s experience shows just how serious that can become.

Full BBC News article below.

An ombudsman report says disabled people are being let down by a lack of accessible communication methods.

19/08/2026

We’re delighted to be supporting Deaf Women’s Day 2027, hosted by Deaf-initely Women!

Taking place on Saturday 6 March 2027 at Derby Conference Centre, the event will bring deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing women together for a day of connection, information and celebration.

We’re really looking forward to being part of it and joining Deaf-initely Women and everyone attending on the day.

Tickets will be released later this year, so keep your eyes peeled for more information. We’ll be sharing details as soon as they’re available!

18/08/2026

A little advance notice for our clients and colleagues.

Our office will be closed on Friday 28 August, reopening on Tuesday 1 September.

If you need to make a booking or arrange communication support around this time, please contact us in advance so we can make sure everything is in place before the office closes.

And the reason for the closure is a very happy one! 💍

We’ll be celebrating the wedding of our General Manager, Jay, and Fede.

We’re very much looking forward to celebrating with them and wish them both a wonderful wedding day. ❤️

Alt text: Jay and Fede pose playfully on a cobbled square in front of a large ornate cathedral with domed green roofs. Jay wears a dark navy suit, white shirt, green tie and sunglasses, and points towards Fede. Fede wears a long sage green wrap-style dress and poses with one arm raised. The sky behind them is bright blue.