Start of the DGfT-project "handfest."
At the beginning of 2023, the German Society for Deafblindness gGmbH launched the new project "handfest. Peer Academy for Deafblind People" was launched.
The main task of "handfest." is to promote and strengthen self-help for hearing impaired and deafblind people in NRW. The project team members are peers and will develop and offer target group specific information events and empowerment trainings for the target group in the next three years.
The project team members and other experts and trainers will impart specialist knowledge and offer perspectives in small groups or in individual discussions. The offering is flanked by supplementary information events that take place online and in person. The goal is the sustainable strengthening of deaf-blind and hearing-impaired peers, their relatives and contact persons. Active participation in social life is to be improved for this group of people by showing them ways to resources and new possibilities for action.
The project will run for three years and is funded by AOK NordWest and AOK Rheinland/Hamburg until the end of 2025.
The websites as well as other graphic works of "handfest." are developed and implemented by the SignGes team at RWTH Aachen University. From the beginning, the design is adapted to the needs of the deafblind users by involving them in the development process. All texts on the websites are presented in German written language and German sign language.