UK Council on Deafness

New Affiliates

Welcome to new Affiliate Organisations joining this month:

· Becoming Visible Communication
· Transport for London
· Portsmouth City Council
· Deaf Essential Ltd
· The Highland Council

Full contact details can be found in the Directory of Affiliated Organisations at www.deafcouncil.org.uk/affil.htm

Affiliation is open to Voluntary Organisations, Public Sector Bodies and Companies that work with or want to be accessible to deaf people.

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness AGM

At the AGM held on 5 July 2005 the officers
re-elected were:

Chair: Malcolm Bruce
Vice-Chairs: Tom Levitt
Tim Loughton
James Gray
Baroness Wilkins

Malcolm Bruce outlined some of the achievements of the Group in its first year, covering a wide spectrum of topics such as British Sign Language, Education, Employment and Communications. The guest speaker was John Low, Chief Executive of RNID who informed the members of the progress made in modernising the NHS Audiology Services. The full verbatim record of the meeting is available on the group’s website at

www.appg-deafness.org.uk

The next meeting will be in October 2005. The Officers of the group will be meeting soon to set the priorities for the coming parliamentary session. Organisations wishing to suggest priorities should do so by email to the Clerk at

j.isaac@deafcouncil.org.uk

New Technologies Conference

Sponsored by the National Association of Deafened People.

Being held on 4 October 2005 at the Britannia Street Conference Centre, Kings Cross. Presentations include:

Professor Roger K Moore, University of Sheffield Speech and Hearing Research Group, on ‘Progress, Promises and Prospects for Automatic Speech Recognition’. Martin Davies from the BBC on live subtitling using Voice Recognition. Frances Dobson on using Voice Recognition to provide Speech To Text services. Tabitha Allum from STAGETEXT on recent advances in captioning technology, with a particular focus on arts and entertainment venues. Christopher Jones, Managing Director of Teletec International Ltd on their Remote Communications Support Service, including text telephony. Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq from Deafax will be providing a general overview on new technologies in communication including information about their latest projects. Bill Ware of the University of Portsmouth demonstrating a prototype of the Virtual Cuer and giving an overview of the Oral, BSL, Cued Speech, Lipreading and Synthetic Phonic systems, 3D Virtual and Augmented Reality and C-LES, the 3D Virtual English Cued Speech Head. Jeff McWhinney of Significan’t on videophone technology offering deaf people communication over long distances. The new video call centre offers sign language users attending hospitals and local authorities guaranteed access to BSL interpreters within 1 hour. Professor Jim Kyle from the Deaf Studies Trust on the use of video technology to provide information, and for direct person to person communication for elderly deaf people. Alan Brooker of BT Age and Disability Action Team on their strategies, including the development of innovative technology to achieve effortless inclusion for all. Sgt Glen Barham, Police Link Officer for Deaf People (PLOD) Hampshire talking about the first non-registration emergency SMS service plus the development of one free national number for all services.

This programme is currently being developed and is subject to change. For more information please contact Jenny Hitchen j.hitchen@deafcouncil.org.uk

2005 Annual Deafness Conference

Tuesday 1 November 2005 at Britannia Street Conference Centre, London.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The conference will feature the latest research, the findings of recent surveys, showcase innovative projects and give examples of collaborative initiatives from across the full spectrum of deafness, resulting in a better understanding of the diverse activities of the many organisations working with deaf people across the UK.

Organisations and individuals wishing to present at the conference must send by email a brief outline of their presentation to j.isaac@deafcouncil.org.uk by 31st August 2005. There is also an opportunity to exhibit at the Conference. For further details contact Jenny Hitchen j.hitchen@deafcouncil.org.uk

More Choices for You

DH has recently worked with Sign to produce More Choices For You, a DVD in British Sign Language and subtitles, which sets out some of the progress that the NHS has made with the Building on the Best strategy (DH, 2003), as well as how relatively small changes to working practices can make a big impact on service delivery. The DVD is principally for the deaf and hard of hearing community but is also suitable for wider audiences. You can place an order for the DVD by post, telephone, fax or email: Department of Health, PO Box 777, London SE1 6XH. Telephone: 08701 555455 Fax: 01623 724524 Email:doh@prolog.uk.com

Free Applications for Disclosure

As part of an ongoing commitment to quality communication services, RNID is delighted to be able to offer free, enhanced CRB checks. These will be available to CACDP registered BSL/English interpreters, registered Level 3 lipspeakers, registered deafblind interpreters, registered STTR's, and notetakers -both manual and electronic - that hold the CACDP Level 2 certificate. This offer is open until March 2006 and interested LSP's should contact Louise Murphy at RNID on 0207 296 8272.
Towards Equity and Access Implementation Panel

The Department of Health have set up a panel to oversee the implementation of the recommendations made in the Towards Equity and Access Report into the provision of mental health services for deaf people. The panel is being hosted by the British Society for Mental Health and Deafness. Roger Hewitt has been appointed to the panel representing UK Council on Deafness, whose role will be to enable those member organisations not on the panel to be informed of the panel’s activities and to contribute their expertise in particular areas. Organisations wanting more information about the panel should contact Roger Hewitt at r.hewitt@deafcouncil.org.uk

Department of Health Consultation on Independence, Well-being and Choice

Independence, Well-being and Choice is a consultation paper setting out proposals for the future direction of social care for all adults of all age groups in England. The policies and proposals contained within this paper are not fixed and the Department now welcome your views on the framework set out in this consultation. Deadline for responses is 28 July 2005. Full details available at www.dh.gov.uk/consultations/liveconsultations

Please make your responses to: Paul Richardson, Wellington House, 133-155 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8UG

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