Introduction
For many years the Deaf learner and the educator of the Deaf have been denied access to high quality educational material in all learning areas but specifically in that of HIV/AIDS and Life Orientation.  As a Deaf organisation, SLED is delighted to have created, filmed, produced and edited these Life Skills, HIV and AIDS Education for the Deaf Learner videos and written materials for the national Department of Health. 
This is not just another adaptation of existing materials to ‘suit’ the needs of the Deaf but an original and innovative project specifically aimed at the Deaf learner at school. 
The materials consist of Learner’s Activity Books, Teacher’s Manuals, Posters and SASL Videos for Deaf learners from toddlers to adults.  The Deaf community and educators of the Deaf, both nationally and internationally, have applauded these materials for their creative content, unique use of South African Sign Language and a ‘hands-on’ understanding of the obstacles regarding written language development that are faced by Deaf learners.  The Minster of Health, Dr M. Tshabalala-Msimang, and the former Minister of Education, Prof K. Asmal, officially launched this project in March 2004 at a high profile event in Eldorado Park.

In 2005
For over a year SLED has been hosting training workshops, aimed at empowering educators, Deaf teaching assistants and caregivers of Deaf learners with the necessary skills to be able to use the Life Skills HIV and AIDS Education for the Deaf Learner Programme effectively.  These workshops have encouraged educators to re-look at the way we teach Deaf learners and many regard the workshops as the turning point for themselves and their schools.  SLED has run these workshops at most of the schools for the Deaf in South Africa.  This year workshops were held in August at the Dominican School for the Deaf in Hammanskraal, Northern Gauteng, where over 45 educators and hostel mothers attended.  In October at Filadelfia School for the Deaf and Blind in Northern Gauteng over 30 educators and hostel mothers attended the 3 day Life Skills Workshop.
In April we were delighted to host a training workshop specifically designed for the social workers and Deaf auxiliary workers working in the South African Deaf community.  This was very different for us because we were seeing for the first time how the materials that we had developed could be used with Deaf adults who had already left school.  The response was staggering and materials have now been distributed to DeafSA’s provincial offices around the country.
In July, Atiyah Asmal and Nazereen Bhana, two Deaf members of the SLED team, thanks to the kind sponsorship of the IDCS presented a paper entitled “Education for Life for the Deaf Child in South Africa: Perspectives from both sides of the desk” at the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf in Maastricht in the Netherlands.  This allowed us to establish valuable international contacts and to raise SLED’s international profile.
During the 3rd World Conference on Mental Health and Deafness at Worcester in October we were invited to present a day’s workshop on Life Skills, HIV and AIDS education for the Deaf learner.  This was attended by over 50 local, African and other international delegates.  Two members of the SLED team were also asked to present to the Special Interest Group focusing on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and their families.

In 2006
In February we ran Life Skills, HIV and AIDS workshops at two schools for the Deaf in the Western Cape: Mary Kihn School for the Hearing Impaired and Dominican School for the Deaf in Wittebome.