UK Council on Deafness

December 2001 Bulletin

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !

New Full Member

Welcome to Christian Deaf Link UK who have recently become a Full Member of the Council. The aim of CDL UK is to meet the social and spiritual needs of Deaf people through innovative Christian work. Contact details: CDL UK, The Olive Tree Centre, 1st Floor, 69 High Street, Rayleigh, SS6 7EJ. Tel: 01268 743261 Text: 01268 743180 Fax: 01268 743261 Email: deaflinkjp@aol.com Web: www.deafchristian.org.uk

If your organisation is a charity or professional body working in the field of deafness and has an interest in national issues you may be eligible for Full Membership of the UK Council on Deafness. Please contact us if you wish to be considered for Full Membership.

New Affiliate Membership Scheme

We have recently introduced 3 new categories of Affiliate Membership for Voluntary, Public Sector and Corporate Organisations. Please see the enclosed Affiliate Membership Application Pack, or contact us, for details.

UK Council on Deafness Events

In the 1st week of March 2002 we will be hosting a seminar on the Article 13 Race and Employment Directives on behalf of the DTI. This will be an afternoon Open Meeting for deaf people to engage in the consultation process. It will follow a Full Council Meeting in the morning. Details of Article 13 can be found at www.dti.gov.uk/er/equality . In late March we will be holding a training day on the principles of good practice in fundraising and in late April a conference Human Aids to Communication which will lead to a re-writing of the 1992 Report of the Commission of Enquiry into Human Aids to Communication. The dates, venues and full programme for these events will be published early in January.

UK Council on Deafness AGM

The AGM, held on 12th November 2001, was attended by about 60 people who were given an insight into the vision for UK Council on Deafness for the coming 3 years. After the AGM there was a very interesting presentation by Ben Kernighan, Director of Membership Services at NCVO and then the launch of the publications resulting from the very successful Deaf Action Project. They have been written by deaf people and are an invaluable source of information for public, voluntary and private service providers and individuals campaigning for better access to services. The publications are:

• Good Practice Guide - Providing access to public services for deaf people
• Setting up a Deaf Users' Forum
• Guide to the DDA 1995 (pack of 3 leaflets):
  
  • Introduction
  • Employment
  • Goods, Services & Facilities

Please use the enclosed Order Form if you wish to purchase any of these publications. The date of the next AGM is Tuesday 12th November 2002.

Campaign for the recognition of BSL

UK Council on Deafness are co-ordinating a meeting to be held on 31st January with Maria Eagle, Minister for the Disabled, to raise government awareness of the need to officially recognise BSL. We will be inviting leaders of deaf organisations that have been involved in the campaign to join us at the meeting to present a clear, unified case for recognition. If you would like the delegation to raise any particular issues do please contact us.

CAF Annual Conference

The CAF Annual Conference held on 8th November looked at the future for voluntary organisations with seminars ranging from efundraising to social enterprise. The seminar A Market in the Making - Investing in Social & Charitable Enterprise highlighted the innovative work being done by a small number of funders to develop sustainable income. The Social Investment Task Force has developed a new type of funding called Programme Related Investment, which can be an interest-free loan to establish a project which will become self-funding, thus enabling the funder to re-use the money available many times over. World In Need is pro-active in setting up new charities providing funding and management input for a number of years. Further details from these websites: www.enterprising-communities.org.uk www.world-in-need.org.uk www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sfp

NCSC Regulation Response

The government has listened! Our joint submission, led by Sense, to the National Care Standards Commission has persuaded the Department of Health to add Sensory Impairment as a registration category for care homes. This will mean that for the first time the communication environment will be an issue for homes wishing to register to cater for people with a sensory impairment.

Free professional help for charities

The Home Office has produced a report Free for All? - A study of free professional help available to voluntary and community organisations. It gives detailed advice on how charities can access services such as accountancy and legal advice. Copies of the report are available from the Active Community Unit on 020 7217 8400 or accessed on www.homeoffice.gov.uk and follow the Volunteering link.

Payphones to meet social need?

Oftel have issued a consultation document to get feedback on the provision of Payphones. Future Regulations are being reviewed which will regulate the provision of payphones to meet social need, the re-siting and removal of payphones and incoming call barring. If you want to register your views you can get a copy of the consultation document from www.oftel.gov.uk . The deadline for submissions is 18th February 2002.

NHS digital hearing aids

MPs have urged the Government to speed up its commitment to help the country's two million hearing aid users. Currently the aids are only available from 20 health authorities taking part in a Government pilot scheme. The issue came up for discussion during Health Questions in the Commons on 13th November. Tim Loughton, a Tory health spokesman, said: "Digital hearing aids work and clearly bring enormous benefits to people with hearing difficulties." John Cryer (Lab, Hornchurch) said there was a queue "a mile long" for digital hearing aids in his constituency and asked the Government to speed up the process. Jacqui Smith, a junior health minister, told MPs that by March 2002, 18,000 people were expected to have been given a digital hearing aid on the NHS. A decision would be made about future funding soon. Charles Hendry (C, Wealdon) asked: "Isn't it time for the Government to stop posturing, to push ahead faster in the trials, and particularly in this coming year, to allocate the funds which are desperately needed to tackle this problem?" One MP who uses a hearing aid is Peter Pike (Lab, Burnley), who said: "The present NHS hearing aids give you all the noises you don't want to hear and you find it very difficult to hear the people who are talking to you, so we really do need to do something about it." Gwyneth Dunwoody (Lab, Crewe and Nantwich) said that listening to a patient was a key element in caring for them and it was essential that patients received a "very clear pattern" of aftercare treatment.

Why not ask your local MP what they are doing to get digital hearing aids available on the NHS?

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