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In this Bulletin
Welcome to this month's new Affiliate Organisations
Full contact details can be found in the Directory of Affiliated Organisations at www.deafcouncil.org.uk/affila.htm . Affiliation is open to Voluntary Organisations, Public Sector Bodies and Companies that work with or want to be accessible to deaf people.
Deaf People from Overseas Conference - 5th April 2005
Deaf People arriving in a foreign country, whether as Refugees, Asylum Seekers or Students, have unique needs and the challenges they face are made even more complex by the absence of appropriate communication support. This conference aims to highlight some of the issues specific to deaf people from overseas and enable professionals working in Health, Social Services and Education to develop an understanding of ways in which mainstream and specialist organisations can address these issues. Chaired by Asif Iqbal, a Trustee of UK Council on Deafness. Including presentations from Penny Beschizza, deaf skills lecturer at Southwark College, on developing good practice and more joined-up services from authorities to ease the difficulties most BME and overseas deaf people face during their initial stay in the UK; Shafait Aslam and Jackie Powell from the London Ethnic Minority Deaf Association focussing on deaf-friendly approaches in dealing with complex issues experienced by BME deaf people; Peter Merrifield, Headteacher at Oak Lodge School, about their unique strategies for developing their BME pupils' access to education; Bharti Patel, Head of Policy at The Refugee Council who will give advice and information on services for all refugees and asylum seekers; Sabina Iqbal, Westminster City Council Social Services about the difficulties that deaf refugees and asylum seekers face in accessing services; Jan Cook, Nurse Advisor on Social Inclusion with Hillingdon PCT will discuss the journey of exile and its impact on the physical and mental health of asylum seekers; Asif Hussain, Project Manager at Asian Disability Network about their joint project with Hearing Concern in Bradford and how they are working for the social inclusion of hard of hearing people of all communities. To book your place contact Sylvie Say s.say@deafcouncil.org.uk
Health Promotion for Deaf Communities Conference - 10 March 2005
To be held at Britannia Street Conference Centre, London. For health professionals, PCTs, Social Services, project managers and professionals working with deaf people. An opportunity to find out about different methods of delivering health promotion to deaf people. Including presentations on the development of a Deaf Healthy Living Centre in London; Carly Munro, Manager of the Scotland Cancer Awareness Project at Deaf Connections in Glasgow with Paul McCusker, Heart Health Development Worker; Healthy Deaf Minds, a series of talks about a wide range of health issues; Herbert Klein, Project Manager at SIGN about the Deaf Patient Involvement Project; Martin Bell, YMCA Fitness Centre Manager, Lorna Bailes, from Newcastle Deaflink and Tina Stewart, Contact Development Coordinator with deafPLUS on the Y Slim project - a pilot weight management/ lifestyle programme designed for the deaf community; John Walker, Chair of the Brighton and Hove Deaf Equality and Access Forum, on their work to provide a user perspective and develop relevant services through consultation; Shehla Khan at Minority Ethnic Women's Network, about their health promotion projects amongst BEM communities in Swansea. To book your place contact Sylvie Say s.say@deafcouncil.org.uk
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness
The full report of the visit to Oak Lodge School is now available on the website at www.appg-deafness.org.uk . Following the visit members of the group are calling for an urgent review of proposed changes to GCSE English which will significantly disadvantage deaf pupils.
On 12 January Stephen Carter, Chief Executive of Ofcom, addressed a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness. Members were given an overview of the extensive brief of the new Regulatory Body and raised concerns on issues including sub-titling and sign language transcription on television and access to telephone relay services. The report is now available on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness website.
Ofcom review of the Universal Service Obligation
Ofcom have launched their review of the Universal Service Obligation, which includes the provision of telephone relay services. The existing relay service is rooted in traditional voice telephony technology. With the exception of the recent introduction of TextDirect, the service has not kept pace with other technology developments. There are now a number of new platforms on which similar relay services could operate, which might provide major benefits in terms of ease of access and use. Some of these are already available in other countries. For example Captioned Telephone services, are being rolled out in the USA - as are IP based relay services, which are accessible to anyone with a PC connected to the internet. Video communication is rapidly getting cheaper and easier to use, video relay services for sign language users are available in Sweden and the USA. Relay services available on mobile phones via SMS could also have potential. To participate in the review your comments must be sent to Ofcom by 21 March 2005. A consensus response is being prepared by TAG who would welcome your input, please send any contributions to tagenquiries@hotmail.com. Full details of the review process are available on the Consultation page.
A new organisation was launched on 29 January. Children of Deaf Parents UK has been established to provide networking opportunities for children of deaf parents and support to deaf parents. At the launch party the CODPUK.ORG.UK logo, designed by students at Kensington and Chelsea College, was launched by Teresa May MP, Shadow Secretary of State for the Family. For further details visit the website at www.codpuk.org.uk or contact info@codpuk.org.uk
BSMHD Annual Conference - Call for Papers
The 2005 British Society for Mental Health and Deafness Annual Conference will be held in Nottingham on Tuesday 24th May. Abstracts of papers for consideration by the conference committee are requested on any subject relating to Mental Health and Deafness. All presentations will be plenary sessions, presented in front of all conference delegates in a theatre style. The official languages for presentations will be English and British Sign Language. Simultaneous interpreting will be provided for all sessions between English and British Sign Language. All sessions will also have a verbatim speech to text transcription service. Abstracts must be submitted by email attachment (.doc, .txt, .rtf) to conference@bsmhd.org.uk by 11th March 2005. Full papers will be required by 13th May 2005 in order for interpreters to prepare for your presentation. There will also be a small exhibition attached to the conference, organisations interested in booking exhibition space please contact Sylvie Say, the conference organiser, at s.say@deafcouncil.org.uk.
Acquired Profound Hearing Loss Research
In 2002 The LINK Centre, in collaboration with the University of Greenwich, undertook a major three-year study into the impact of acquired profound hearing loss for Deafened People. Preliminary findings will be available in May 2005. A number of themes are already emerging such as the profound impact on couples' relationships, the difficulty for even close partners to make adjustments to communication and the importance of religious faith. At the end of the project LINK will be presenting the findings at a national conference and at various symposia to health professionals. For further information, please contact Maria Priestley at info@linkcentre.org
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