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Human Aids to Communication Conference
More than 80 people from throughout the UK attended the Human Aids to Communication Conference hosted by UK Council on Deafness in London on 25th April 2002. Many of the original 1992 Commission of Enquiry attended including the Chair of the Commission, Lady Mary Marre.
Delegates were given an update on progress over the last 10 years by Bob Peckford and Roz Chalmers of CACDP and Anne Worsfold from the Cued Speech Association. The 1992 report contained 82 recommendations covering 8 topics, some had been met and real progress had been made towards others but many needed further work.
An insight into the day to day problems faced by users of HACs was given by Ruth Myers who uses SSE and Helen Beaumont who is deafblind. Dawn Marshall, manager of the Newcastle Interpreting Agency explained the problems that she has in finding Interpreters with the appropriate skills in specialist settings.
After lunch, delegates caught a glimpse of the future with presentations on Instant Captioning from Teletec International; Access to the Arts using Subtitling from STAGETEXT and BSL/English Interpreters by Videophone from Mike Knight of the Leicestershire Centre for Deaf People.
In the final session David Brien spoke about his research into the Organisation and Provision of BSL/English Interpreters in England, Scotland and Wales carried out for the Department of Work & Pensions. Rosanna Preston gave details of the work that RNID are doing to train more interpreters and Martin Colville spoke about the newly formed Independent Registration Panel of which he is the first Chair.
The terms of reference for the 1992 Commission of Enquiry were to "Consider the full range of human aids to communication between all deaf and hearing people and make recommendations for the improvement in the quality and quantity for both the short and the longer term...". Much more detailed work will need to be done now to provide a comprehensive update on the report, and the conference has provided much food for thought for the new Commission to consider. There will be a comprehensive consultation process shortly. Anyone wishing to submit evidence to the Commission can find out how to do so by contacting UK Council on Deafness.
Thank you to all of the speakers for making the conference so successful and to the Department of Work & Pensions and to Radiate Videocommunication Ltd for sponsoring the event.
Affiliate Members
Welcome to this month's new Affiliate Members:
Affiliate Membership is open to Voluntary Organisations, Public Sector Bodies and Companies that work with deaf people. Please contact us if your organisation would like to become an Affiliate Member.
Disclosure
Registering as an umbrella organisation with the Criminal Records Bureau has not been straightforward by any means! However we are now registered and able to handle Applications for Disclosure. We will be doing so for Full Member Organisations only and we will be making no charge for this service. All those members who expressed an interest in making Disclosure applications through us will be sent an information pack shortly.
Full Council Meeting
The next full council meeting is on 23rd May and papers are being sent out to member representatives this week. The programme starts with an update on ongoing work, including the re-writing of the Human Aids to Communication Report following the very successful conference in April, the campaign for official recognition of BSL and the Genetics & Deafness Policy paper. There will then be a number of presentations by some of our new members, this is an opportunity to promote their work to our members and to publicise their organisation. The main debate of the day will be about the new Deaf Awareness Week in 2003 and to discuss the principles of running a joint awareness campaign. The final session will be a presentation from our guest speaker, Candy Whittome who is the Co-Director of the British Institute of Human Rights.
Attendance at Full Council Meetings is free for representatives of Full Member Organisations only. 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.
Deaf People at Work Seminar
A few places are still available at the Deaf People at Work seminar being held in London on 9th May. The programme includes Tony Sheill of RAD presenting their Deaf & Hearing People Working Together Policy, Chris Harrowell of Amey Property Consulting talking about deaf-friendly buildings, Basil Rodrigues and Stephen Butler, managers of Access to Work Business Centres who will be explaining what sort of support you can get and how to do so, Jonathan Gibbons of Handzon.co.uk whose presentation is called "Access to Work v. Access in Work" and Mark Chacksfield, the Director of Employment, Learning & Skills at RNID talking about the support they offer to deaf people seeking work and in work. Please contact us urgently if you haven't booked your place yet.
Care Management Video
With this bulletin you will find an order form for the Care Management Video produced by West Midlands Deaf & Deafblind Forum. The video provides information for deaf and deafened people about social service departments, community care assessment and the care management process. It is a BSL Video with Deaf presenters, it has voice over and subtitles and includes role play using deaf people. We are very pleased to be distributing the video on behalf of the Forum and recommend that you order your copies now. 20% discount available for members of the Council.
Some dates for your diary
25th June: Helplines for Deaf People Seminar
11th July: Mental Health & Deafness Conference
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