Holland & Barrett develops first official guide for British Sign Language and the menopause

Around 188,000 people use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language - yet there’s no agreed guidance on the signs to describe menopause in the UK.

No wonder then that 90% of deaf women have no awareness of menopause treatment options and how they work.

Now, retailer Holland & Barrett has partnered with My Menopause Centre and charity BID Services to create a first BSL video resource for women experiencing menopause.

The Holland & Barrett Menopause Hub now hosts an online resource guide including, videos explaining different terms, common symptoms, healthcare and lifestyle advice, using aligned set of signs for the menopause.

Debbie Lang, Sensory Services Manager for BID Services, says:

“BSL isn’t a direct translation of English and for many D/deaf women, English is their second language. Many women told us that when they were given medical leaflets and websites to look at, they reported difficulty in understanding them.

“English terminology used to describe menopause and its symptoms doesn’t always have corresponding signs and words are spelt out using individual letters, where there are signs, these can vary from region to region or even person to person, meaning it is a difficult landscape to navigate.

“By creating these resources in collaboration with the Deaf community, D/deaf women have told us they will help empower them to have these conversations and will improve their health outcomes by increasing understanding around the menopause and bringing together commonly used signs and their meanings.”

The partnership comes following a study by the University of Wolverhampton that revealed a majority of D/deaf women (60%) do not have sufficient access to menopause health information in British Sign Language (BSL). More than half of D/deaf women (55%) are not aware that the symptoms they are experiencing could be attributed to the menopause, and 90% of D/deaf women have revealed they have no awareness of treatment options.

Women whose first or preferred language is BSL often experience health inequalities and due to inaccessible services and information, many lack access to help and support. Until now D/deaf women only had access to secondary interpreted content which often does not come with explainers of the signs and terms associated with the menopause.

Lina Chan, Director of Women’s Health, Holland & Barrett says:

“One of our key missions at Holland & Barrett is to support women and their individual health journeys. Through our recently launched Women’s Wellness Commitment we are committed to increasing equity of access to information and services to all women. After focus groups with D/deaf women it was clear that it wasn’t enough to have interpreted content and there needed to be a deeper and tailored glossary of BSL signs around menopause that explain the signs and meaning.”

The new information will sit alongside Holland & Barrett’s menopause information which is available in five other additional languages including Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati and Hindi.

Helen Normoyle, co-founder My Menopause Centre says,

“The menopause transition can be a positive but also challenging time – even more so if you’re D/deaf or hard of hearing. Our work with BID, in particular the series of face to face workshops we ran with D/deaf and hard of hearing women in their community, brought to life the challenges that women in this community face in awareness and understanding of menopause symptoms and the ways to manage them. The goal of our partnership with BID and Holland & Barrett is to address this inequality by empowering women who are D/deaf or hard of hearing with accessible, evidence-based resources to help them on their menopause journey, and GPs with the knowledge and tools they need to deliver high-quality, inclusive care to all their patients navigating menopause.”