UK Council on Deafness

June 2003 Bulletin

In this Bulletin

• New Members
• Affiliates
• Deaf People and the Legal System Conference - 1st July 2003
• Youth Work and Summer Camps Seminar - 17th July 2003
• Deaf Awareness Week 2003
• BSL Update
• Criminal Records Bureau
• Brent Deaf People's Group
• New member of staff
• 'Reaching Deaf Minds'
• Deaf People's Access to Health Services

New Members

Welcome to this month's new members:

Cambridgeshire Deaf Association acts as a base and resource centre for Deaf people living in Cambridgeshire. Contact Jamie Billam, Centre for Deaf People, 8 Romsey Terrace, Cambridge, CB1 3NH. Telephone 01223 246237, Text 01223 411801 Fax 01223 411701. Email cambsdeaf@btinternet.com Web www.cambsdeaf.org

Co.deaf (County Durham Equal Access Forum) promotes and upholds social, educational, communicative, legal, medical and welfare nights of all deaf people who live in County Durham. Contact Mrs Suzie Maine, Chair, P.O. Box 356, Durham. Email codeaf2000@yahoo.co.uk Web www.codeaf.org.uk

Cumbria Deaf Association provides a comprehensive range of services for deaf people and their families in Cumbria, including social work, interpreting, technical equipment, youth, care packages, sign language classes, learning and skills and deaf awareness training. Contact John Brown, Chief Executive, 3 Compton Street, Carlisle Cumbria, CA1 1HT. Telephone 01228 606434, Textphone 01228 606434, Fax 01228 606433 Email cumbria.deaf@virgin.net Web www.cumbriadeaf.co.uk

Affiliates

And welcome to this month's new Affiliated Organisations:

• Oak Lodge School
• The Nugent Care Society
• The Oldham College

Affiliation is open to Voluntary Organisations, Public Sector Bodies and Companies that work with deaf people. Please contact us if your organisation would like to affiliate.

Deaf People and the Legal System Conference - 1st July 2003

This conference will cover every aspect of accessing the legal system; accessing advice and getting representation; from arrest, through the trial procedure, imprisonment and release. Exploring the solutions to discrimination and highlighting examples of best practice, speakers include Simon Robinson the Legal Officer at RNID, Shobha Edgell from the Disability Sub-Group of the Bar Council, Dr Mary Brennan from University of Edinburgh, Brenda Mackay from Just Sign, WPC Lynne Fanton and PC Brian Dixon, Police Link Officers for Deaf People at Hampshire Constabulary, Steve Richardson the Prison Project Manager at BID and Fred Bayliss, Disabilities Liaison Officer at HM Prison Stafford. To book your place contact Sylvie Say s.say@deafcouncil.org.uk

Youth Work and Summer Camps Seminar - 17th July 2003

This seminar is an opportunity for Youth Workers to meet each other, compare activities planned for the summer and learn from examples of new and innovative ideas for young deaf people. Speakers include Sally McMahon, Head of Training at NDCS, Stuart Harrison, Head of Community Development at NDCS, Sandra Barefoot, Education Director at Travelling Light Theatre, Helen Thew of the Tyneside Deaf Youth Project and Frances McAndrew from the Prince's Trust. To book your place contact Sylvie Say s.say@deafcouncil.org.uk

Deaf Awareness Week 2003

The LOOK AT ME awareness campaign in May was a great success. The posters and leaflets proved very popular and about 100 events taking place across the UK were listed in the Diary on the DAW website www.deafawarenessweek.org.uk . This was the first all inclusive national Deaf Awareness Week and the results of the evaluation will contribute to the planning process for next year, which will start very soon. Deaf Awareness Week 2004 will be on 3rd - 9th May. We would welcome any suggestions you may have to help make next year's campaign even more successful.

BSL Update

Following the announcement recognising BSL in March the government has now set up the Advisory Panel to help set priorities for the £1million funding that is available to support the announcement. Initial meetings have taken place and the first full meeting of the panel will be on 2nd July. It is hoped that it will be a quick process so that the money can be allocated as soon as possible. We are a member of the panel and would welcome any suggestions that member organisations may have regarding the priorities that they would like to see for promoting the use of BSL.

Criminal Records Bureau

The CRB has announced that it is increasing its fees for Disclosure from 1st July 2003. The fees will increase from £12 to £24 for Standard and £29 for Enhanced Disclosures. For the time being the CRB will continue to make no charge for volunteers. We are registered with the CRB as an 'umbrella body' and are able to countersign applications. We provide this service free of charge to Member Organisations. If you would like further details about accessing Disclosures through us then please contact Jonathan Isaac j.isacc@deafcouncil.org.uk

Brent Deaf People's Group

Congratulations to Brent Deaf People's Group who have recently been awarded a grant of £195,561 by the Community Fund for the continuation and expansion of their existing project with Deaf People and Mental Health.

New member of staff

Welcome to Robert Deluca who joined us recently as Information and Communications Officer. Robert will be responsible for developing and integrating all of our information services including the website, the monthly Bulletin and the weekly Parliamentary Report. He will also be working with Vodafone to develop Mobile Text Information Services.

'Reaching Deaf Minds'

A new campaign has now been launched by Sign to reduce the risk of deaf people developing mental health problems by improving their access to primary care services. 'REACHING DEAF MINDS... for healthy deaf lives' aims to call on the Department of Health to challenge discrimination against deaf people in the NHS.

Please visit www.reachingdeafminds.org.uk to give your support to the campaign.

Part of the campaign aims to encourage partnership working between charities that provide preventative services for d/Deaf people and generic mental health charities.

Deaf People's Access to Health Services

Proceedings of the Conference held in April 2003 are now available priced at £10 including post. Speakers included Peter Hindley, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at National Deaf Services, Sabina Chowdry from the Deaf Parenting Project, Dr Alice Thacker of St George's Hospital Medical School, David Reeves, Research Fellow and Statistician at the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, University of Manchester, Frances Chinemana, Access and Health Protection Project Manager at NHS Direct and Adam Beckman, Project Audiologist, MHAS Team.

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