At the beginning of the year, we held our first-ever Internet Safety event for the Bristol deaf community. We wanted to equip the community with essential knowledge and tools to navigate the internet safely.
Organised by our Head of Practice James Gallen, the event welcomed members of the Bristol deaf community to engage in a discussion vital to their online well-being. Held at the fantastic offices at Immersive Labs, the atmosphere buzzed with anticipation as participants gathered to delve into the intricacies of online safety.
We were fortunate enough to have two knowledgeable speakers, with Andi Hudson (Security Consulting Partner at Kyndryl) and Jason Stanton (Cyber workforce Equipping Lead at Immersive Labs) sharing their expertise. Drawing from their wealth of experience, the speakers shared various aspects of online safety, from protecting personal information with safe passwords, how to spot a phishing email, best practice in protecting their emails and online accounts and more. Their insights provided invaluable guidance tailored to the unique needs of the deaf community, ensuring that every attendee left equipped with practical strategies for staying safe online.
This event wouldn’t have been possible without the two interpreters and two captioners who were on hand throughout the event, ensuring that information was conveyed clearly and inclusively to all participants. This commitment to accessibility fostered an environment where every individual could fully engage and participate.
One of the reasons behind this initiative is due to James Gallen, he shares a personal connection to the cause as a Child Of Deaf Adults (CODA). Motivated by a desire to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), James recognised the lack of resources addressing online safety within the deaf community—a gap he was determined to bridge through this initiative.
The success of the event was made possible through the collective efforts of numerous individuals and organisations. Immersive Labs provided a welcoming space with the fantastic Camille Mallon and Miranda Grattan on hand to help set up, while partners such as Mark from the Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing facilitated access to the community and arranged the vital interpreters and captioning services. Additionally, the contributions of Harriet Walker, our Marketing Manager, meant the event ran smoothly.
Beyond the discussions on online safety, pizza and cake added to the welcoming atmosphere, further enhancing the experience for all involved.
As the event drew to a close, it was evident that the deaf community valued having an event like this to help guide them online, showing interest for future events. For us it truly marked a significant milestone in the journey towards inclusivity.
We are keen to continuing to provide valuable resources and opportunities for the deaf community and others to thrive online safely. We’re even looking for sponsors to get involved, if you’re a company or an individual who might be interested in getting involved with our future cyber awareness events, please contact marketing@infosecpeople.co.uk.
InfoSec People is a boutique cyber security and IT recruitment consultancy, built by genuine experts. We were founded with one goal in mind: to inspire people to find the careers that inspire them. With the success of companies fundamentally driven by the quality of their people, acquiring and retaining talent has never been more important. We believe that recruitment, executed effectively, elevates and enables your business to prosper.
We also understand that cyber and information security recruitment can genuinely change people’s lives, that’s why we take the duty of care to those we represent very seriously. All our actions are underpinned by our core values:
- Always do the right thing
- Be the best we can be
- Add value
We work with businesses in the cyber/tech arena, from start-ups and scale-ups to FTSE100 and central Government, many of whom are always looking for great people.
Call us directly on 01242 507100 to discuss opportunities or email info@infosecpeople.co.uk.