HIPEN carried out surveys (2008/2009) in the partners' countries in Europe in order to investigate the situation of deaf and hearing impaired people in society and in employment. These surveys indicate:· Little or no training, or at best inadequate training, of people to meet the needs of deaf and hearing impaired people in public services, employment, and in most of society.· Little or no understanding by the public of the needs of people who are deaf or hearing impaired, and that services and businesses are unaware of how to deal with their hearing impaired or deaf clients and employees.· That deaf and hearing impaired people face barriers to communication and no understanding by services and employers.This project therefore seeks to address these issues and at the same time to respond to recent EU legislation of equality and anti-discrimination and to enforce policy in members' states.This is an innovation project in continuing professional development, there being no other example in the EU.To help the public and businesses to meet the requirements of anti-discrimination laws our consortium seeks European funding to put in place the teaching and knowledge needed to address the needs of deaf and hearing impaired people in society.Therefore, to develop opportunity and accessibility for deaf and hearing impaired people in the public domain and world of work, we aim to develop a toolkit and guidelines for employers and employees to address these issues. These will: · Meet the needs of accessibility for deaf and hearing impaired people across Europe.· Develop awareness, professional knowledge and skills across public and business sectors and provide equal opportunities for deaf and hearing impaired people.· Enable deaf and hearing impaired people to be active European citizens.