Business-minded students at the Deaf Academy in Exmouth have won a regional award for enterprise and praise from HRH The Princess Royal after publishing their own accessible comic book that includes British Sign Language (BSL).
The Academy’s college students, aged 17-18, worked hard to write, design and edit the story, with QR codes included in the artwork for each page which link to sign language translation videos.
Students used the theme of Jack and the Beanstalk and adapted it, based on their own personal experiences as Deaf young people. They worked as a team on the project, setting up as a company which they each took equal share in. Skills developed included digital editing, translating, business management, marketing, finance and leadership.
After successfully getting through Young Enterprise’s first round before Christmas and the Devon finals last month, the team then headed to Taunton on 5th May for the South West finals. There, they had to deliver a presentation, attend an interview, and explain to the judges about their inclusive project and the hurdles they had to overcome as they used their entrepreneurial skills to produce their comic book.
As a result they won Young Enterprise’s Inspiring Company Award and have now got through to the national finals, to be held in Cardiff on 3rd June.
Their initiative also attracted praise from HRH The Princess Royal when she recently joined the Deaf Academy charity for its 200th anniversary celebrations on 8th May. She stopped to look at the book during her tour and was keen to learn more and talk to students about its production.
On winning the regional Award and meeting HRH, student Grace explained why the comic book is so important and the positive impact it will have on Deaf young people. “When I was growing up I never saw books with QR codes that linked to BSL. Deaf children find most books hard to understand and they cannot hear their parents reading to them,” she said. “So we wanted to make a book that was accessible for Deaf children.”
The comic has now been printed and published and shall be available to buy on our shop for £5.
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