New study into dementia within the Deaf community

UCL's Deafness, Cognition and Language research centre is part of a project to improve early diagnosis and management of dementia among Deaf people who use British Sign Language. The research, funded by the Alzheimer's Society, will examine how to identify dementia in Deaf people and explore how they might best cope with the condition. The study will also investigate how to provide support services for the Deaf community and will develop assessment tools in British Sign Language (BSL). Professor Bencie Woll is Director of UCL's Deafness, Cognition and Language research centre (DCAL), where the BSL assessments will be developed. She said: ?Early identification of dementia brings many potential benefits, including access to medications, more time for people with dementia and their families to make decisions about care and support, and the potential for a better quality of life. ?For Deaf people, the current lack of information in BSL and poor awareness in the Deaf community about dementia, combined with no diagnostic tools in BSL, means early identification is unlikely to happen. This research project aims to resolve that problem.