How you can help stop cuts to audiology training

Image courtesy of www.childhealthbc.ca

For the past month, the National Deaf Chidren’s Society (NDCS) has been looking into what’s going on with the Government’s plans to reform audiology training. What have we found out?

1) The cuts are definitely happening. We’ve seen a letter (though we weren’t meant to) from civil servants at the Department of Health saying that “in the current financial environment, this [Government plans] inevitably will mean some reductions in commissions”. We know that local health bosses in one strategic health authority is cutting the number of audiology training places by half. Others are telling existing students that they may not be able to finish the course.

2) The Department of Health consulted on changes to audiology training last year. The consultation closed in March 2009, but government Ministers still haven’t cleared a statement on a way forward nor explained how they’re taking into account views from the consultation. Yet the cuts are going ahead anyway…

3) Audiologists are up in arms. Nearly 2000 signed a petition (now closed) saying how unhappy they are about all this. That’s a lot of angry audiologists.

4) Even though the cuts are happening in England, feedback from professionals is that this is going to have knock-on effects for audiology services across the UK because many audiologists train in England.

5) Digging through audits from the newborn hearing screening programme, one of the most commonly cited problems is lack of audiology capacity. I read one report for an area in west London where 35 babies may been misdiagnosed by audiologists and “inappropriately discharged” because of there not being enough trained staff.

Crikey. With all this in mind, NDCS has decided to launch a campaign to stop the cuts. It’s called Hear for the Future (pun intended) and the aim is to ensure we don’t put audiology services for deaf children at risk. Deaf children need the best possible start in life to achieve their potential and be independent. They need more, not less audiologists, so they can be quickly assessed, fitted with hearing aids, and get the ongoing support they need. Personally, I would say that cutting the number of highly trained audiologists is, on balance, a pretty stupid thing to do.

So what is NDCS doing about it?

1) A letter has been sent to the Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham MP, to set out our concerns.

2) Letters have also been sent to strategic health authorities across England to get confirmation on their plans for audiology training and appeal to them to stop any cuts.

3) MPs are being briefed and NDCS hopes to get a few questions raised in Parliament on this issue.

And how you can help? Well, NDCS has set up a new campaign action where NDCS supporters can email their MP to ask them to support the Hear for the Future campaign. It’s dead easy – bang in your postcode, the website works out who your MP is and pulls up a template letter for you. If you’re happy, click on send, and Bob’s your uncle.

The more people who take part, the more the Government will take notice and stop the cuts before it’s too late. So please do get involved. And please do also spread the word to everyone you know.

Funding for deaf access to cinema to be cut?

Image courtesy of www.ukfilmcouncil.com

I spotted last week that the UK Film Council are doing a consultation on their future priorities, and I’m glad I did.

There’s no mention of access to the cinema for deaf children and adults in it. For a moment, I suddenly thought that we now live in a world where deaf children and young people can go and see any film they like with subtitles at any time whenever they like . But then I saw the pigs flying by the window and I realised I hadn’t missed an important memo somewhere. We don’t live in such a world and cinema access for deaf people, whilst much better than it used to be, could still be a lot better. So it’s pretty depressing to read that it’s not a priority for the UK Film Council.

And it’s get worse. There’s no mention of funding for existing initiatives that aim to widen access. As I understand it, existing UK Film Council funding for the award-winning one-stop shop YourLocalCinema.com website is being cut. If I didn’t have access to the YourLocalCinema.com website, it would be a lot harder for me to work out what subtitled films are showing where. I probably wouldn’t bother in the end. On top of that, capital funding to allow cinemas to buy equipment to show subtitles is also being cut. In fact, according to the consultation, only around 0.5% of the UK Film Council’s future expenditure will go towards “diversity and inclusion”, and there is no mention of anything of direct benefit to deaf children and young people. Nada.

I know I’m not alone when I say there is insufficient choice of subtitled films at convenient times at local cinemas. A lot of cinemas seem to think that deaf children’s schools are quite relaxed about them bunking off to watch a film judging by the times they schedule some subtitled films. Instead of making cuts, shouldn’t the UK Film Council should be looking at ways to widen access, by funding research into on-demand technology for subtitled films?

The consultation closes tomorrow so if you’d like to respond to their online survey, you need to be very quick. NDCS’s response can be dowloaded from here.

Be good to hear your thoughts. Are you surprised / disappointed that the UK Film Council are not making access to the cinema for deaf children and adults a priority? Leave a comment below to say what you think.

Deaf students being denied funding support at university?

Image courtesy of http://students.shu.ac.uk

I was suddenly transported back in time around 12 years yesterday. Sadly, it’s not because I’m the Doctor’s new assistance. It was all due to a glance at a news story saying that 12,500 disabled students, two thirds of applicants, are still waiting for their Disabled Students Allowance. The allowance funds specialist equipment and costs of support so that disabled students are on a level playing field at university. I would guess that a large number of the people waiting are deaf, waiting for money for interpreters, notetakers, laptops, etc.

In the spring of 1998, I was putting in my application for university. There was a little box that asked if I was disabled. I ticked it. My lovely teacher of the deaf said the council would be in touch to assess my needs for university. Did my exams. Got the grades I wanted. Bought some tins of baked beans and got all packed up and ready to go to university. And then it hit me. The council never did get back to me.

I got my Mum to call them. “Oh. We didn’t notice he’d ticked that box. Sorry about that. I’m afraid it will have to be next February before we can arrange an assessment.”

In retrospect, I should have made more of a fuss to get things moving with a greater degree of urgency, and should have called on the help of the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) Helpline or a NDCS Family Officer. But I was a nervous deaf young person, about to leave home for the first time and really didn’t want to make a fuss.

With the benefit of hindsight, I can now also say that the assessment, when it finally happened, was rubbish. We had a cursory chat, and they gave me what I thought I wanted, not necessarily what I needed. I didn’t get a full and thorough assesment. I didn’t get any information on what my options were. I wasn’t told that there was such a thing called a palantypist (I probably would have thought it was a dinosaur), or given the opportunity to meet deaf role models. University staff were well-meaning but didn’t know that much about deafness. As far as I could tell, I was the first deaf person in my college in my university. I ended up being plonked in the wheelchair-accessible room in the Halls of Residence. My bathroom was larger than most people’s bedrooms.

It was after Easter when I finally got my first Disabled Student Allowance cheque. I got a good degree at the end of it all so I can’t complain too much. But looking back, how much did I miss in the first two terms? How many lectures did I go to where I didn’t have a hope in hell of being able to lipread for an hour? Too many.

And how much is this happening right now for deaf students? It’s pretty outrageous and I hope heads are rolling.

On top of the whole access to exams saga, it doesn’t feel like a good time to be a deaf student right now. Do you know of anyone having difficulties in this area? If so, leave a comment below or email us at campaigns@ndcs.org.uk.

Update: BBC online still failing deaf children

Back in December, I conducted a little experiment on BBC online and found that most video stories featuring deaf people were not accessible. Transcript? Nada. Subtitles? Nada. I fired off a complaint, and finally got a reply the other day from the Head of the BBC newsroom, no less.

It was contrite and apologetic. The examples I pointed out were of “great concern” and staff have been reminded about the need to provide subtitles and/or transcripts with all news video and audio material that might be of interest to deaf audiences.

Apparently, the problem still largely lies with BBC regional teams. So the overall editors of the news website are going to be working closely with the regional teams to ensure they are more consistent.

It was good to have this engagement with the BBC, and at such a high level. However, we have been here before, as they noted. I’m going to keep checking the BBC online website from time to time to make they finally get on top of the problem. If you come across any examples of video news stories about deafness not being accessible, please drop us a line.

Downing St petition on Government’s failure to ensure equality in exams

I am still angry about the debacle over the Equality Bill last week when the Government decided that, actually, you know equality in exams and qualifications for disabled people, isn’t all that important, like.

So angry, that I have created a No.10 Downing Street petition to vent my anger.

If you’re angry too, please add your name as soon as you can to the petition. And tell your friends, families, random acquaintances, pets, etc.

The more people who sign it, the more the Government will realise that they cannot, in the 21st century, get away with denying full access to GCSEs, A Levels and other general qualifications for deaf and other disabled people.

I’m off to find a barracade to chain myself to.

PS The Downing Street website will send you an email to check that you want to sign the petition – so please check your email afterwards!

Ofsted failing to inspect education for deaf children?

Image courtesy of www.cartoonstock.com

Tomorrow, a recurring issue around Ofsted inspections will be under the spotlight again in Parliament…

The issue? Why Ofsted inspections of schools that cater for deaf children, for example, those with a unit or resource base, so often seem to be inspected by people with zero expertise in deafness? Parents of deaf children already get very little information about education for deaf children, so I imagine many feel patronised that Ofsted inspectors don’t seem to think it’s important enough to comment on their children’s specific needs. Or they send someone who can’t even communicate with the deaf children at the school.

The National Deaf Children’s Society submitted evidence to the Lamb inquiry on the problem so it was great that the final report recommended that Ofsted change the way it looks at education for children with special educational needs (SEN). Some other good news came when Ofsted announced it would change its inspection framework, as of September last year, to make sure that inspectors of provision for children with SEN actually have expertise in that SEN.

So it was pretty disappointing to hear towards the end of last year from a father that his deaf son’s school, which has a unit, had just been inspected, and that the inspectors didn’t engage with the deaf children at all. Only after persistent chasing, was the father able to get Ofsted to confirm that none of the inspectors had any expertise in deafness.

Tomorrow, the House of Commons will be looking at a section of the Children, Schools and Families Bill which covers the Lamb inquiry recommendation on Ofsted. We’re supporting this section of the Bill and we hope that MPs will be able to confirm with the Government that Ofsted really is going to improve the way it handles these types of inspections.

Have you got any views or experiences of Ofsted inspections of education for deaf children? If so, please have your say and leave a comment below.

No equality for disabled people in exams

I thought the Government had a goal of equality for disabled people by 2025 but, when it comes to exams, it turns out that just “minimising disadvantage” is the highest goal the Government will aspire to.

Yes, I’ve slipped back into angry deaf man mode. On Tuesday, Lords were debating the issue of accessible exams for disabled people and possible new laws as part of the Equality Bill. NDCS, Skill, Afasic, RNIB, the Disability Charities Consortium and the Equality and Human Rights Commission all wanted the Government to strengthen the law. But the Government decided to side with the views of exam bodies. The same people who removed all support for disabled people in 2005 on the basis that reasonable adjustments were unfair and took marks away from deaf students when they were unable to hear tapes in oral exams. If a deaf person wanted a test on ability to hear, I think most of us would prefer to go to an audiologist. Anyhow, NDCS led a coaition to get that support reinstated but still, we come across sporadic examples of problems. Anecdotally, my colleagues report still going to meetings where exam bodies discuss whether someone reading out text for blind people is “unfair” to non-blind people.

The Equality Bill now provides exam bodies and the exams regulator with a range of “get-out” clauses to avoid having to provide full access, even though there are lots of safeguards already in place to make sure that the exams are still rigorous and not watered down.

Perhaps the most offensive thing of all is that the Bill says the regulator only needs to “minimise” disadvantage faced by disabled people in exams. If you’re going to be slapped around the face unnecessarily, it’s not much consolation to be told that the Government did try to “minimise” any harm to you.

You can read NDCS’s statement on this issue here. We’re having a think about next steps. If you’ve got any thoughts on the issue or any ideas on next steps, please do leave a comment below or email NDCS at campaigns@ndcs.org.uk.

UPDATE: There’s now a Downing St petition on this. Find out more…

Debating ‘new politics’ at NCVO campaigns conference

Originally uploaded to flickr by Benjamin Ellis

I spent most of yesterday at a conference by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations – or NCVO – all about campaigns. With such a heavy concentration of campaigners all in one place, I half expected the universe to collapse in on itself.

It was all the first conference I’d been with Twitter all around. Behind the main stage was a screen where people in the audience were tweeting their thoughts on the key issues of the day: such as why the vegans in the room were given chicken for lunch and speculating if any of the party manifesto leads might, just for a change, announce they’re standing on a platform of inequality, hopelessness and injustice? Lots of sarky anarachic comments. All of this behind the speaker’s backs. I felt like a naughty school boy.

But, more seriously, it was great to hear thoughts on campaigns trends for the future and the election. I got lots of ideas from the day which I need to take back to NDCS and have a think about how to put into practice. To pick a few…

Firstly, the need to make campaigns local and have campaigners on the ground, as a means of engaging MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates as we approach the election. But, also, if future Governments go ahead with greater decentralisation with budgets held at a local level, our key campaign targets are going to be decentralised too.

Secondly, the importance of social media. Several speakers spoke about how campaigns had gone from nought to 20,000 followers in weeks via Facebook, Twitter and blogging. There were some admirable examples of how they’d got media attention and putting the Government on the defensive on relatively obscure issues. It means charities have to ‘let go’ in terms of control over messages, etc. but it could result in campaigns have a greater impact.

Thirdly, it’s good to take risks, be provocative and stir up trouble once in a while. That message came from Peter Tatchell, who gave a very impressive and inspiring speech about his life of campaigns. He spoke about how his acts of civil disobedience had been controversial at times, but had always been a last resort and had been shown to be successful in changing long-term attitudes. It got me wondering that maybe I need to think more about taking direct action for deaf children when all reasonable approaches to decision makers don’t seem to be working. To the barricades, comrades?

A fun day out. Any other campaign trends to watch out for or new ways of campaigning to consider that I’ve missed? Leave a comment below to have your say.

Are social care services meeting the needs of deaf children?

There was a striking story in the papers yesterday about a NSPCC statement that at least 60 children are sexually abused a day. It reminded me of separate statistics suggesting that deaf children are at least twice as likely to be abused than other children – not because they’re deaf, but because the communication barriers that deafness imposes may make it harder for deaf children to say what is happening or because they may be perceived to be an ‘easy target’. Fortunately, it’s still very rare.

NDCS is doing lots of work in the first half of this year over social care services for deaf children – not just to prevent abuse, but to ensure deaf children and their families get the support they need. For example, to get specialist equipment like flashing fire alarms and arrange communication classes for the whole family. Research to be published in late February is expected to show that most don’t, despite the fact that deaf children are recognised in law as “children in need”.

Five years ago, the Government recognised this and recommended that Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards conduct a review of local social care services for every deaf child in their area. To NDCS’s knowledge, to date, none of them have done so. NDCS has had some initial conversations with officials with Department for Children, Schools and Families about how we can make sure these reviews happen, five years on, and hopefully this is something we’ll be working together on. There’s also a couple of consultations NDCS intends to respond to.

If you’ve got a deaf child now, how much contact and support have you had from social care services? Does the support meet your needs? NDCS is looking for examples – good and bad – of how social care services work with families of deaf children. If you’d like to share your experiences in confidence, drop us a line at campaigns@ndcs.org.uk or leave a message below.

Lack of access for deaf people on the tube

Image courtesy of www.creativereview.co.uk

I slipped into angry deaf man mode last week after a debacle at a tube station left me waiting 45 minutes for a train…

My local tube station is served by two lines: one that takes me straight to work and another that’s a more complicated journey. The information board only tells you when a train is coming about a minute before, which is particularly unhelpful because if I know that my desired train is a long way off, I can get to work quicker to get on the other train via the other route. This particular morning, a “good” service was promised but no train for my line turned up. After waiting so long, devoid of information, I became grumpily obstinate that the next train must be the one I need. All the time, the tannoys were blasting various announcements. Whilst I could tell that something was being said, I didn’t know what being said, leaving me feeling spectacularly useless. And, of course, there was nothing in the way of written information to explain what was going on.

One the priorities identified by the group of young deaf students who were interviewing key decision-makers this month was the need for more accessible transport and information to be displayed in written forms on information boards. They said that they often had to rely on hearing adults for information about what was going on, and this made them feel powerless. They didn’t like it and they wanted the Government to sort this out. This inspired me to kick up a fuss and make a formal complaint to Transport for London.

Their reply was contrite and apologetic. But there was an unhelpful reference to induction loop systems, which may be helpful to some deaf people but they’re not a magic wand for all deaf people, and not for me. And whilst the point about the need for more visual information was accepted, the suggested solution wasn’t particularly helpful. When does Transport for London hope to have a solution to the problem of only being told on the information board when a train is coming less than a minute away? By 2018. 8 years to wait for information on when the next train is coming!

And what makes me feel particularly angry? The tube station is closed every other weekend for “improvements”. Pah!

A reminder that there’s still a long way to go before public transport is fully accessible for deaf children and adults.

Have you had similar experiences? Be good to hear about it; leave a comment below.