About Us
Deaf Access Bedfordshire provides services predominantly in Bedford Borough, but with services users traveling to us from Dunstable, Luton, Milton Keynes, Central Bedford, St Albans, Olney, Northampton, Leighton Buzzard and occasionally across from Cambridge and up from London. As a charity serving a minority community, we know that the deaf world is a small world - we welcome visitors and friends from beyond Bedfordshire as an important opportunity for our service users to access their deaf culture and society.
2013
A group of friends established a community group and youth social group for the deaf and hard of hearing community in Bedford, determined that their community should have better access to services, events, activities and education.
2014
Access Bedford was registered as a charity, and began working with local partners such as Health Watch and the Police to improve communication with the Deaf community, as well as holding a fully BSL-accessible Hustings for the candidates for the 2015 General Election, going on to hold Casino nights and Balls for fundraising and awareness events and setting up a social meeting to support older deaf people in the community.
2022
Access Bedford appointed the first paid member of staff dedicated to the charity and to promoting its aims. This came about as the ripples of the Covid-19 Pandemic were still being felt. Contacts with partner organisations had moved on, people were still nervous to come to social events, and fundraising efforts had been on hold for two years. The focus was on stability in preparation for growth.
2024
After consultation with service users, partner organisations and allies, the decision was announced that Access Bedford will become Deaf Access Bedfordshire - putting Deaf first and reaching more of the people who need us. We are very proud to have been able to grow our reach, to support 100s of service users and to have delivered BSL and Deaf Awareness training to over 2000 people in the last 4 years. We celebrated a decade of commitment to change at our AGM in May 2024 reflecting on the successes of both individuals we have supported and of the charity as a whole.
KEY FACTS
Some key facts about the community we serve:
18 million deaf adults
50,000 deaf children
There are estimated to be over 18 million deaf adults and approximately 50,000
deaf children in the UK today.
Deaf Access Bedfordshire serves an
area with a total population of
675, 599
Districts of Bedfordshire
With 1 in 5 people in the UK having some form of
hearing loss, that gives us a potential regional
population of 135,000 deaf and hard of hearing people.
We want to ensure that every deaf and hard of hearing person in our region knows where they can get support, knows how to find community and commonality and shared identity, and that they feel proud to live in Bedfordshire, confident that they will be included, welcomed and understood wherever they go and who ever they meet.
Size, Diversity & Living Standards
Bedford
Population
173,237
Central Bedford
Population
285,931
Luton
Population
218,045
75% white British population
25% non-white British population
90% white British population
10% non-white British population
45% white British population
55% non-white British population
51% non-deprived household
49% deprived household
54% non-deprived household
46% deprived household
41% non-deprived household
59% deprived household
Luton, Bedford and Central Bedford rank 109th, 110th and 111th most deprived out of 326 regions across England. We have multiple barriers to access in our community, compounded by socioeconomic challenges, spoken language barriers, the cost of living crisis and generational trauma. The average deaf child leaves school with a reading age of nine. We need to support service providers across our region to understand these challenges and to do better.
There are countless challenges for our D/deaf communities, and as a charity run by and for the community, we are very aware of where those struggles lie. However, it is important to recognise the opportunities, the positive developments in society and the strength, abilities and resilience of our community as we make plans for our place in Bedfordshire in the coming years.
Our ambition for Bedfordshire is to be a region where deaf people can live, work, study, visit and age well. For it to be a place where inclusion is automatic, not asked for, and where the D/deaf and hard of hearing community are recognised for the value they bring and the contribution they make to our society.