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Help us to fund the British Sign Language (BSL) translation for the Zero Suicide Alliance’s new Autism and Suicide Awareness Training.
We want to ensure the Zero Suicide Alliance’s FREE online suicide awareness training stays FREE but is also accessible to the d/Deaf community. To do this we have created an appeal to raise £6,500 to help ZSA to translate the latest Autism and Suicide Awareness course into British Sign Language (BSL).
Why is a BSL translation important for the Autism and Suicide Awareness Training?
Did you know over 150,000 people use British Sign Language as their primary or preferred language in the UK?
The ZSA wish to empower and equip everyone with essential training and that means making this accessible to all. That's why all other ZSA training videos to date have been translated into BSL. Without sign language, the deaf community may be excluded from benefiting from the ZSA’s latest Autism and Suicide Awareness Training.
Deaf or hard of hearing students were more likely than hearing college students to have seriously considered suicide or attempted suicide in their lifetime, according to research (Fox, M. L., James, T. G., & Barnett, S. L. (2020). A separate study found that up to half of the deaf community in Britain experience mental health problems, with rates of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem almost double that of hearing people.
Ensuring the ZSA’s Autism and Suicide Awareness Training is accessible to the deaf community will ensure more people can be supported and benefit from the course.
ZSA’s new Autism and Suicide Awareness Training
ZSA’s new Autism and Suicide Awareness Training will launch on Tuesday 2 April, as part of World Autism Acceptance Week (2 to 8 April).
Suicide is a leading cause of early death for autistic people. Research has shown that autistic people are at a higher risk of suicide than non-autistic people, with around two-thirds (66%) of autistic adults having thought about suicide during their lifetime, which why the ZSA’s training is so essential.
About the Zero Suicide Alliance
The Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) is a suicide awareness and prevention initiative hosted by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and funded via Mersey Cares NHS Charity. Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust Charity; Registration1191576.
ZSA aims to empower, educate and equip individuals and organisations to support suicide awareness and prevention. We believe that one life lost to suicide is one too many and support the zero suicide ambition to empower, equip, and educate around suicide awareness and prevention.
ZSA's highly regarded online suicide awareness training courses have been accessed more than 2.5million times.
Your support, big or small to ZSA helps make an incredible difference
The ZSA is funded via the Mersey Cares NHS charity and your donation supports ZSA's ongoing work towards suicide awareness and prevention. Should we meet our target of £6,500 for this appeal, any further donations will help ZSA to:
- Keep our training free so more people can learn vital skills and confidence to talk to someone they may be worried about
- Sustain research and development of existing accessible digital suicide prevention resources and tools.
- Develop new training and resources to support suicide awareness.
- Keep the conversation going so that we can continue to challenge stigma and raise awareness of suicide and suicide prevention.
