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In this Bulletin
2006 Annual Deafness Conference
Tuesday 7 November 2006 at Britannia Street Conference Centre, Kings Cross, London.
We are delighted to announce that Bruce Calderwood has accepted our invitation to give the Keynote Address at the conference. Bruce Calderwood is the Head of the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) and the Director for Disabled People and Carers in the Department for Work and Pensions. He leads the team of advisers who support the Minister for Disabled People. Bruce is a career civil servant who specialises in social policy. He has worked in the private offices of two Secretaries of State, and as a policy adviser to the Premier’s Department in the State of Victoria in Australia. He led the cross-Government reviews that resulted in the creation of Jobseeker’s Allowance and of Supporting People.
The ODI works with all government departments to develop and improve services for disabled people, and in particular with the departments responsible for health, transport, education and skills, work and pensions, trade and industry, and for communities and local government.
Guest speaker - Father Cyril Axelrod. This fascinating talk will explore how to identify a difference between Deafblindness and Deafblindhood; the natural causes of deafblindness and deafblindhood based on culture, language and health; and a classification of different groups of people relating to deafblindness and deafblindhood, for example, what is the difference between people acquiring deaf and deafblindhood. Supporting presentations include: Fit for the Future - Bob Peckford, CACDP. Welcome Hear! - Miriam Marchi & Linda Isaac, Royal Association for Deaf People. Counselling Training - Trudi Collier & Teresa Brasier, Scottish Council on Deafness. ICT in Education - Kirsty Crombie-Smith, Deafax.
The UK Council on Deafness AGM will take place during the lunch-break. During the conference the ACE Campaign Report will be launched and the conference debate will help to identify the next coordinated campaign for UK Council on Deafness members.
Exhibitors include Forest Books - Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre - Deafness Research UK - Cued Speech Association UK - The Ear Foundation - Teletec International - UK Deaf Sport - STAGETEXT - DSPG.
To book your place or for further information contact admin@deafcouncil.org.uk
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All Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness
Please note the meeting with Anne McGuire MP, Minister for Disabled People planned for 21 November is going to be rescheduled because the Minister is no longer available on this date. Further details will be announced shortly.
Full details of all of the group’s activities can be found at www.appg-deafness.org.uk
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New Affiliates
Welcome to our new Affiliate Organisation joining this month:
· TRI UK Ltd
Full contact details can be found in the Directory of Affiliated Organisations
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New Staff
We have recently been joined by two new members of staff. Clare Long is the new Office Manager and is the main contact person for enquiries. Clare’s email address is c.long@deafcouncil.org.uk .
Ali Redgewell is the new Book-keeper and is the person to contact for finance enquiries. Ali’s email address is a.redgewell@deafcouncil.org.uk
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Forest Books recruiting Manager
Forest Books Ltd will become the Trading Company of UK Council on Deafness in 2007 and is seeking to appoint a dynamic and commercially astute Manager to work alongside the present Managing Director until his retirement and then, after the transfer of ownership, to develop and grow the business to ensure long term viability. Forest Books is the largest supplier of publications, DVDs, Videos and software relating to sign language and to the full spectrum of deafness and has publishing, trade distribution and direct sales departments.
The position will suit someone with a sales and marketing/general management background with experience of successfully managing a customer focused business. You must be able to demonstrate previous contribution to significantly increasing turnover and profitability and have energy, persistence, self-motivation and excellent communication skills. Experience of working with the diverse range of deaf people, skills in communicating with deaf people and a personal understanding of the deaf communities and deaf issues would be a distinct advantage.
Deadline for applications:
13 November.. Full details at www.forestbooks.com.
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Teletec Announces New IP-Based CapTel Relay Service
WebCapTel, expected to be available in January 2007, offers people who are deaf or hard of hearing a convenient and flexible way to interact on the telephone without the need for a communication support worker or special phone equipment. The new technology uses a combination of telephone and Internet connections to provide word-for-word, real-time text captions throughout telephone conversations, using any Internet access device such as a PC, Smart-phone, or PDA. The caller logs onto the website and enters their phone number and the number they want to call. The service connects to the caller’s phone and then dials the other party. When the other party answers, word-for-word, real-time captions of the conversation can be viewed in a window on the caller’s Internet browser.
The service is made possible by Teletec’s Remote Communication Support Service, where a trained operator listens to the telephone conversation and revoices what is being said into a speech recognition system, turning what is being said into real-time text. Damian Barry, CEO of Hearing Concern, said: “This new development is certainly going to benefit those who cannot hear what is being said but can still speak on the phone. Our research indicates there are between 400,000 to 1.2million people who could use this service.” For more information and to sign up for this service, e-mail the Teletec Remote Communcation Support Service at captioning@teletec.co.uk
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Supporting Deaf People – online Conference – 6th/9th November
The conference is split into two themes. Theme One (6/7th November): Interpreting. Key note presentation: on Giving Voice: Sign to Voice Interpreting for Deaf Students in Public School Settings by Richard Brumberg. Supporting presentations: Interpreting in the workplace - a collaborative approach? Jules Dickinson; An Exploration of Deaf and non-Deaf Sign Language Interpreters Nigel Howard and Liz Scully; Video Remote Interpreting Mary Lightfoot Mutual support between deaf professionals and interpreters: A case study Jemina Napier, Andy Carmichael & Andrew Wiltshire; “I like it/him/her because…”: An exploration of practitioner and consumer attitudes towards signed language interpreting in the community Jemina Napier. Theme Two (8/9th November): Deafhood/ Deafnicity Keynote presentation: Deafhood Paddy Ladd. Supporting presentations: Hearing children of Deaf Adults (Codas) - A Question of Identity Sue Adams; The Social Life of Saudi Deaf People Hend Al-Showaier; Imaging the Deaf Brain Ruth Campbell; Deaf professionals and the Deaf community - the refinement of the subaltern concept Maartje De Meulder; Deaf in Cyberspace Maria Mertzani; "We Are Not Alone - Walk with Me along the Journey of Late Deafness" Lauren E. Storck.
For further information on how the conference works and to register for the event go to www.online-conference.net or contact Direct Learn Services Ltd at judithm@directlearn.co.uk
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Exam decision reversed
The public body responsible for regulating exams has reversed a decision affecting deaf students. The QCA, has responded to a campaign by NDCS, RNID, Sense and BATOD and announced a reversal of its decision to ban reasonable adjustments currently in place. In September 2005 the QCA removed the arrangements to assess deaf candidates' abilities without requiring them to be able to hear. The move reflected a complete misinterpretation of new disability equalities legislation. Until this change, deaf children unable to hear speech were not required to sit listening components of exams, but were awarded a grade marked as a “certificate indication”. Some deaf candidates also used oral communicators to enable them to lip-read sections of a listening module, or interpret some of the language. Both these adjustments enabled deaf students to demonstrate their competence in a different way to their hearing peers without penalising them for their disability.
The QCA made a decision to remove both certificate indications and oral communicators without consulting disabled people or organisations representing them. Whilst the QCA has now reinstated certificate indications, it has so far refused to reintroduce oral communicators. Deaf candidates will therefore no longer be able to compete with their hearing peers on an equal footing. Instead, the QCA have announced a review of oral communicators which will not complete its work until “autumn 2006”.
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STAGETEXT launches new film on theatre captioning
STAGETEXT has produced a new film to raise awareness of theatre captioning among deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people, and theatres. The 10-minute DVD, titled An Introduction to Theatre Captioning, is presented by award-winning TV journalist John Suchet and includes interviews with Michael Grandage, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London, and other theatre personnel. There are also personal testimonies from deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people who, thanks to captioning, have been able to return to the theatre after many years’ absence, plus vox pops following a captioned performance of Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London. A theatre captioner talks about preparing for a captioned performance, and a technician explains what is involved when setting up the captioning equipment. The film also includes some short ‘staged’ scenes showing captioning in action.
Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people are encouraged to show the film at meetings and events to raise awareness of captioning. It will also be useful for theatres that are thinking about starting to offer captioned performances as well as those already providing the service. The DVD is subtitled and has an option to select British Sign Language interpretation. If you would like a free copy, please email Lynn Jackson, lynn@stagetext.org and you can order additional copies at £6.50 each, go to www.stagetext.org for further details.
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Please submit information for the next UK Council on Deafness Bulletin by 6 November 2006.
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