Sensory Impairment Awareness for Practitioners

Sensory impairment can affect any age group within a population and it is important that practitioners can recognise the signs of people who may be developing a sensory impairment, or a decrease in the impairment they already have. Early intervention from specialised sensory services team can, at times, reduce the condition from progressing to damaging stages as we can signpost to the relevant services required or introduce our own specialised rehabilitation officers. Intervention from the sensory team can help reduce isolation, educate the individual and their family on the prognosis and what to expect moving forward, we can provide access to our support worker service and rehabilitation to support the individual to lead an independent life.

Practitioners can provide advice, assessment, referrals and practical interventions to people with sensory impairments from the first interaction with the individual. Having awareness can help reduce individuals being overseen or their sensory impairment being overlooked and can help identify barriers individuals may have due to their sensory impairment.

The Sensory Services Team can support individuals by offering services to meet assessed needs. Services provided are…
• Translation every Wednesday afternoon
• Duty Worker Service every day
• Blind Registration
• Visual Impairment Officers
• Deaf Rehabilitation Officer
• Assessor/Technician Officer
• Specialised Support Worker Service
• Social Care Officer
• British Sign Language Interpretation

We work closely with NHS Forth Valley ophthalmology and audiology staff, as well as the Social Work locality teams. This means there is a “joined up” service across health and social care services.

Here you can access the Falkirk Council Sensory Services page

Here you can access information about Stirling Council and the Forth Valley Sensory Centre

If, as a practitioner, you have any questions or concerns relating to a sensory impairment you can contact:

Sensory Service Team

Forth Valley Sensory Centre

Redbrae Road

Falkirk

FK1 4DD

01324590875

sensory@falkirk.gov.uk

British Sign Language Interpretation Service

Our British Sign Language Interpretation Service can be accessed by anyone who needs a British Sign Language Interpreter for official Council business, which can include services such as Social Work, Housing or Education.

To book an interpreter for Falkirk or Stirling Council business please email:
signlanguage.interpreter@falkirk.gov.uk or download the Interpreter Now app using this link.

British Sign Language (BSL) users can also contact contactSCOTLAND-BSL direct.

Interpreter Now

During the COVID-19 crisis this is how Falkirk & Stirling Councils are offering interpretation rather than face to face.
With InterpreterNow as our partner in delivering Video Relay Service (VRS) and Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) services, access for deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL) is opened beyond expectations.
If you require access to an interpreter for Falkirk Council business, this can be done by downloading the InterpreterNow app, by clicking the link below you can access a video which gives more information…

How to install the Interpreter Now app

ContactSCOTLAND-BSL

contactSCOTLAND-BSL is a Scottish Government service that connects deaf BSL users throughout Scotland through an online BSL interpreting video relay service (VRS) with all of Scotland’s public authorities and voluntary organisations (Third Sector) and now beyond. From March 2019 contactSCOTLAND-BSL now provides VRS For All. This now means that Deaf BSL users can contact any service that relies on telephone contact with their service users or customers. This includes public, third and private sectors within Scotland.

contactSCOTLAND-BSL is primarily aimed at deaf people who use BSL as their first or preferred means to communication. When you call contactSCOTLAND they can put you in contact with deaf people who are already contactSCOTLAND registered users – and are ‘online’ at the time.