Meet the group supporting Northern Ireland's deaf community in employment.
Adapt NI launched on July 1 when Alex Leslie and Laura Murphy-Sloan responded to the change of strategic direction of their previous employer, RNID.
The pair, who have a combined 32 years of experience in supporting the deaf, hearing loss, and tinnitus communities in Northern Ireland, wished to continue providing them with specialised employment support.
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Over 450,000 people in Northern Ireland, or about one in Four of the population, are deaf or hard of hearing. Levels of deafness or hearing loss can range from mild deafness, where people may have difficulty following speech in noisy situations, to profound deafness, where people often use sign language as their preferred means of communication.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Laura explained that during her 10 years of working with the deaf community, society has come a long way in becoming educated about potential hurdles they face.
She said the pandemic in particular highlighted this, as more people began to wear face coverings and tinnitus became a reported symptom of coronavirus.
"Before coronavirus, the only time you would have seen interpreters on the news would be the 1pm news on BBC One or on BSL channels," Laura explained.
"But this changed during Covid. Then Rose won Strictly, she's profoundly deaf, there was a girl on Love Island who was profoundly deaf.
"A side-effect of Covid has been tinnitus and hearing loss, some places still have masks in the workplace which is a major barrier if someone can't read your lips. But there are different things that can be done to help anyone struggling.
" Dropping of masks, well lit areas, repeating what you are saying, asking for understanding and meeting the communication needs of the person with hearing loss.
"I genuinely think there's a lot more awareness now. The only thing a deaf person can't do is hear, they're fully capable of doing anything else with the right adjustments in place. That's one thing we're quite aware of and keen to support both employee and employer to meet this need."
Alex and Laura officially launched Adapt NI in July with the help of Antrim & Newtownabbey Council's Go For It Programme.
Now, they offer their specialised employment support through the Department for Communities funded Workable NI, a range of long-term support to help people with disabilities who have barriers to employment find and keep work.
Laura added: "WorkableNI offers pan-disability support, with each organisation involved having its own specialisation. Our responsibility is to ensure those who are deaf, have hearing loss, or tinnitus have the opportunity to register on WorkableNI and avail of the specialist support.
"It initially offers one year of support, both for the employer and employee. The aim of Workable is to ensure equal access in the workplace.
"It's very unique to the person. It includes things that will help on a day to day basis, helping employees communicate with their co-workers in an informal way across the office. It's those informal conversations and relationships we all enjoy the most in work."
Currently, Adapt NI have 16 people registered to avail of their services, but are hoping to spread the word that the support is still there for anyone who needs it.
Laura said: "If you're struggling in the workplace and are thinking of reducing your hours, or you're thinking about early retirement; if you would want to stay in work if things were different, we're here and happy to help put things in place to keep you in work.
"Our ultimate aim is that people stay in employment and they continue to progress within that, and their hearing loss is not a barrier to them progressing. The coping mechanisms are in place so both the employee and employer feel confident that they're doing everything they can."
If you’re a disabled person who is keen to explore the support available, or an employer who would like to understand more information on the Workable NI Programme or how to recruit and retain disabled staff; contact the SES team workable@sesni.org.uk or the AdaptNI team info@adaptni.co.uk
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