Conference Updates:

9 December 2009
Please click here to download Minutes of our AGM held on 9 December 2009.

26 January 2010
Presentations from our Personalisation Conference held on 26th January 2010 are available to view below, please click on required presentation (pdf format only).

Martin Cattermole, David Challis, Mike Adamson, Hilary Grime, Philip Gerrard, Simon Shaw,
Christine Lenehan, Tom Noon, John Adams

Please click here for the Speech to Text Report

January 2010 Bulletin:

Ageing with Sensory Loss Conference Our December Conference held at the Resource Centre, Holloway Road, London was very well received.  Ageing with sensory loss is a critical issue for us all.  The challenging for today and indeed beyond is how do we ensure healthy and independent lives go along side that increased life expectancy, which was the main theme for the day.  It was a hugely thought provoking conference that inspired the delegates to develop specific action plans to develop and enhance what they offer to older deaf and deaf blind people.   The speakers who in different ways invited us to think about how we can address the short comings they have identified in a strategic way, so rather than just stating the problems what might we do about it in a more strategic way to now thinking about engaging the service planners.  We heard about the importance of building links and partnerships and of building up compelling evidence.  We need to encourage policy makers, to think about people not simply in terms of their mobility or whether they can wash or whether they can cook a meal or not, but in terms of the whole range of their needs, the needs that they have in order to live a fulfilling and socially included life.  

The closing remark by our Chair of the day, John Adams was "what I would invite you to think about and take away with you is to go back to your areas and challenge those with influence and with responsibility, to design strategies, to design policies, to design plans that are really joined up and really do address social inclusion in the fullest sense and particularly address this - what do you expect at your age - attitude".

Thank you to all our speakers, exhibitors and sponsors all of whom contributed to the days success.

During the lunch break we held our AGM. 

We are pleased to announce that Joff McGill was elected to the Board and below is an introduction:-

I have worked for Sense for nearly 17 years.  I have recently been appointed Director of Information, Advice and Research responsible for developing our services deafblind people will be able to better deal with the issues they face and be empowered to make their own decisions.  I will also be developing activities in the research and technology areas ensuring we monitor and influence new knowledge and technological developments so deafblind people can benefit.  Finally I ensure members are at the heart of the organisation and that we provide the benefits they need.   

I live in the New Forest and am currently a trustee of a local pre-school.  In the past I have been a trustee of CHANGE, an organisation led by and for people with learning disabilities and sensory impairments

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