Campaigning for deaf children at the Conservative party conference: day 2

One of the ways a charity can punch above its weight at the party conferences is go to lots of fringe meeting and ask a question to the speakers at the end. It gets you noticed and gets you attention as a player in the game. It also means people know who you are afterwards, and can lead to all sorts of new connections. This is advice that our Director of Policy and Campaigns has been taking up at virtually every single opportunity throughout the party conference. And today, in a very interesting fringe meeting hosted by RNID, Treehouse and NUT on special educational needs and inclusion, he took the opportunity to ask about the tension between national standards and local autonomy. In other words, people often talk about the importance of delegating funding and decisions to schools – but does this make it more difficult to ensure that deaf children still get the support they need and expect across the UK? It’s a good question, and triggered an interesting debate and, I suspect, some thought-provoking, in the audience.

Apart from lots of fringe meetings, we’ve also met with a few MPs, either pre-arranged or we’ve grabbed them as they passed by. As with the other party conferences, all MPs have been supportive of our aims to ensure the best possible start for every deaf child and keen to help in whatever way they can. One MP seemed keen to start hosting parliamentary meetings on our behalf which was a very welcome suggestion.

But our time at the party conference is now pretty much over. We head back to London tomorrow to start all the follow ups and all the thank you letters for everyone we met with, importantly, details for them of what practical things they can do to support us. I, for one, am absolutely knackered. One party conference is tiring. Three in a row is exhausting. So whilst its been fun, I’m more than happy to be returning to my bed back in my flat. Once I’ve had a good night’s sleep, I’ll be doing a post mortem of the past few weeks and a summary of what we’ve achieved. And asking the question whether our near-exhaustion was worth it.

Oh, and I’ll also be doing an in-depth comprehensive analysis of the freebies on offer. Don’t miss it.

Campaigning for deaf children at the Conservative party conference: day 1

The travelling circus has now moved to Birmingham where the Conservatives are finishing off the party conference season. As we’re still knackered from the last two and as we have a busy day tomorrow, we took today a bit easy – but still managed to go along to two fringe meetings and meet some of our fellow charity campaigners on the travelling circus to see what they’re up to.

Our first fringe meeting was on the role of schools in promoting well-being in children, an issue we’re likely to be looking at in more detail in the near future in relation to deaf children. There was a lot of discussion about the well-being needs of children with special educational needs. I came dangerously close to becoming an angry deaf man when one man, a school governor, suggested that the needs of children with special educational needs shouldn’t overshadow a focus on the needs of gifted children. My immediate thought was that many children with special educational needs would be gifted if they had the right support and focus on their needs! It was a disconcerting point of view to hear. On the plus side, after the meeting, we managed to persuade a leading MP to come and visit a school for deaf children. And the hamburgers served up during the meeting were quite nice.

Later on, we went to the Every Disabled Child Matters fringe meeting. They’re campaiging on disabled children having more places to go and play – and have produced a very excellent video of disabled children talking about their own experiences and frustrations. It had a powerful impact, and reminded me that campaigns tend to pack a more powerful punch when it gives a voice to the people directly impacted.

A packed day tomorrow, and lots of MPs to stalk. Watch this space.

You don’t have to be mad to work here…

… but you should be able to demonstrate a willingness to become mad and reach a level one standard of madness within a year. You should also be willing to engage in activities that will make the other campaigns officer – me – appear less mad than he already is.

NDCS is recruiting for a new campaigns officer to join our growing campaigns team. If you’ve got the experience and love stalking MPs, why not apply and have a go at changing the world for deaf children?

Deadline is 6th October.

Campaigning for deaf children at the Labour party conference: day 2

We may have peaked too soon but today at the Labour party conference was relatively quiet compared to yesterday. We had arranged to meet one MP but he forgot about it and rang us later in the day to apologise profusely. Oh dear, but as he asked to arrange something after the conference, we’re not complaining too much.

And then later in the day, the conference pretty much grinded to a halt for the Prime Minister’s speech. I watched it on a big screen alongside lots of other lobbyists / stalkers of MPs and a TV cameraman who kept shoving a camera in people’s faces to get a ‘reaction’ shot only to find that most people’s reaction was along the lines of “why is there a camera lens peering up my nostril?”

Instead, we took the time to tour the exhibition stands (and get more freebies). The exhibition stands are an opportunity for charities and other organisations to show off their work. It does cost money though – someone mentioned a cost of £13,000 for the space and for their banners – and more if you for a big garish displays to entice in the punters and MPs. The value for us is that it allows us to chat with other organisations working with children to see what scope there is to work together. Action for Children had a particularly interesting stand where MPs had been invited to say what they wanted to happen for children. Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, had written:

Every child has potential and every child can succeed whatever the barriers with the right help and all our support.

A very neat summary of what our Close the Gap campaign is all about – so quite nice to see it written down by a Government minister.

Although we haven’t met as many MPs as with the Liberal Democrats, this is to be expected since we don’t have the draw that Laura provided – after all, who wants to meet a boring old campaigns officer when they could meet a sparky clever 15 year old girl? But it’s still been a useful way of making connections and getting ourselves noticed. We’ll be using thank you letters to futher bind these new connections.

But back to London tomorrow to get ready for the Conservative party conference in Birmingham – where we have more networking to do and, importantly, more freebies to get hold of. So watch this space.

Campaigning for deaf children at the Labour party conference: day 1

There is a cloud hanging over the Labour party conference in Manchester. But that’s what you get when you hold a party conference up north, rather than by the seaside. Today was day one for us at the Labour party conference, being held amidst lots of gloom about Labour’s future prospects. There is also, of course, that metaphorical cloud hanging over the conference. That said, day one has gone much better than I thought it might.

We don’t have a Laura anymore, but we do have a Jan, our campaigns officer for Scotland who has been busy telling everyone about her work for NDCS Scotland. Collectively, we had arranged meetings with 2 MPs and managed to accost a further three, plus the Children’s Commissioner for England, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, and the Head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips. Result.

Highlight of the day was Anne McGuire, who is Minister for Disabled People. Warm and friendly, she seemed very interested in our campaign work, across UK and in Scotland. She took away a copy of our campaign report, Must do better! and promised to support our campaign work in Scotland. One we’ll be following up.

We also went to a very inspiring fringe meeting held by Every Disabled Child Matters, where two Ministers spoke, plus two MPs. But, as always, the star of the show was a Corey Scott, a young disabled person who spoke about his own perspectives.

But party conferences are not just about meeting MPs and attending fringe meetings. They are also about collecting as much kitsch as you can. A lot of exhibitors are giving away lots of free stuff and, with my latent magpie tendencies, I have been collecting as much of it as I can. When the party conferences are all done, I’ll do a rundown of the best freebies from the party conferences.

More meetings tomorrow and a ridiculously early start for a 8am fringe meeting…

Campaigning for deaf children at the Lib Dems: day 3

It’s been a windy day, as evidenced by my lame attempts to take a photo of a Liberal Democrat flag. But, despite the disappearance of the sun, it’s been another successful day of lobbying Lib Dem MPs. We met three today – Norman Lamb, Malcolm Bruce and Bob Russell. Again, Laura did a fantastic job of explaining to MPs some of the challenges she’s faced. She won effusive praise from Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Health, who seemed impressed with her confidence and her ability to explain what it’s like to have a cochlear implant and some of the challenges faced in getting one. Malcolm Bruce, who is Vice-President of NDCS and has a deaf daughter himself, also took the time to learn about some of Laura’s thoughts on deafness. Having met ten MPs over two days, I’m exhausted but pleased that it’s all gone so well. Laura has done a fantastic job – and she’s not even 16 yet. She still wants to be a social worker though, so I don’t need to worry about my job being stolen by a young upstart…

We also took the opportunity to catch up and share notes with other charities, including RNID, who have also been lobbying in force at the conference for deaf children and adults.

But it wasn’t all hard work – we took some time out to play some crazy golf! Or, in my case, I took some time out to be comprehensively humiliated and beaten at a game that involves tapping balls into halls by a 15 year old… Darn kids.

So that’s Bournemouth. Next week, the NDCS campaigns team head to Manchester to lobby Labour MPs at their party conference.

Campaigning for deaf children at the Lib Dems: day 2

Today has been an exhilirating day at the Liberal Democrat party conference with meetings with not one, not two but seven MPs. Star of the show though was Laura, a local young deaf person who we brought over to the conference as a experiment, to try and prove our point that deafness is not a learning disability and if deaf children are given the right support, there is no reason why they should not achieve just as well as their hearing peers. Laura, being incredibly bright, articulate and confident proves our point perfectly. And received a lot of support from a very early age, from a teacher of the deaf and her parents. Besides, who better to explain the challenges that deaf children experience growing up than a deaf child herself. All the MPs seemed pleased to meet her and seemed to go away feeling impressed with her achievements and a clear message that deaf children can do well, if given the right support from the very beginning.

All the MPs were great, but Annette Brooke, an influential MP who has been very supportive of NDCS in the past and who has taken a close interest in how the education system serves children with special educational needs stood out as a highlight. All MPs have an incredibly busy schedule but Annette really took the time to learn in detail about Laura’s experiences and her thoughts on various issues.

We updated MPs on the latest issues realting to our campaigns and asked them to support us in various ways going forward. Then we took some photos which we’ll be sending to local media to raise awareness across the UK about our campaign.

Laura seemed to really enjoy and it was good experience for me too. I am now, though, completely knackered and am writing this to you with an IV drip on my arm, giving me a constant drip of caffeine…

One more day to go with a few more key MPs to meet…

Campaigning for deaf children at the Lib Dems: day 1

Well, our day one at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth has gone well, even though we didn’t really plan to get going until tomorrow.

Highlights include:

* Managing to – very briefly – speak with Nick Clegg, the leader of the party, as he walking through the exhibition hall.

* Attending a fringe meeting on inclusion of children with special educational needs, hosted by the Royal National Institute for Deaf people, Treehouse charity for autistic children and the National Union of Teachers. A leading MP, Annette Brooke, came and spoke of her anger that disabled children were being let down by a failure to provide specialist support. My boss, Director of Policy and Campaigns at NDCS, asked the panel whether they thought teachers should be given a statement of entitlements if they work with deaf children – like an entitlement to work in a classroom with good acoustics, specialist support staff with the right qualifications, and with adequate training on working with deaf children. The point seemed to go down well and the NUT seemed keen to follow it up.

* Doing a tour of the exhibition stands and making links with other charities and organisations – including the Royal National Institute for Blind people, CentreForum think tank and the Liberal Democrat Education Association.

* Attending another fringe meeting, run by Every Disabled Child Matters campaign organisation, which managed to attract 3 Liberal Democrat MPs. Reforming Disability Living Allowance benefit was mentioned as a priority by several of these MPs. Families with disabled children shouldn’t be living in poverty as a result of having to care for a disabled child, or buy accessible childcare or buy special equipment. A pertinent point to us given the evidence out there indicating that families with deaf children are also disproportionately in poverty.

The main highlight of the day though had to be seeing celebrity MP, Lembit Opik, in action campaigning for segways to be allowed on the road - by publicly riding it up and down the hill outside the conference centre. If his effort was to prove how safe it is, he probably didn’t count on my Director of Policy and Campaigns getting in the way and nearly being run over by a MP on a segway.

Much busier day tomorrow as Laura comes to town to help us campaign for better education for deaf children.

Getting ready for the party: final preparations for the party conferences

The party conference beckon ever closer. And like all good parties, I have been spending absolutely ages getting ready for it – though without the prospect of having a sausage on a stick to nibble on at the end of it.

I find myself nervously wondering if the party will go well. But we’re quietly optimistic. For the Liberal Democrat party conference, we’re doing a little experiment by inviting MPs to meet with a local young deaf girl called Laura. At the time of writing, ten MPs, including some senior Liberal Democrat bigwigs, have signed up to hear more about some of the experiences that deaf children face directly from a deaf child herself. One MP can make a powerful difference for us in the Houses of Parliament. So, with ten, we may even be able to change the world for deaf children and do ourselves out of a job.

As well as looking up biographies of all the MPs we’re meeting and sorting out logistical arrangements, we’ve also been thinking carefully about some of the points we’re going to impress on MPs. We want to tailor our messages around the particular interests of the MP but we’re also definitely going to be banging on about NDCS’s campaign to close the gap in attainment between deaf children and their hearing peers and our campaign report Must do better!. Three priority areas for us will be:

* Phonics and deaf children: getting the message out that phonics are inappropriate to many deaf children.

* Specialist support: the lack of skilled staff available to support deaf children in many parts of the UK.

* The need for better data on how deaf children are doing in schools at a local level.

At the risk of sounding like a self-important hyperactive TV news journalist, I’ll be blogging from the party conferences at the heart of the action, giving you regular updates on the top events. So look out for that next week as we head down to the seaside in Bournemouth.

Update – BBC’s online video content: where are the subtitles?

A nice man from the BBC emailed me very quickly after I complained about the lack of subtitles on an online video story about deaf children and cochlear implants, which I talked about in my most recent blog. Here’s what they had to say:

I’m afraid we simply don’t have the technology to provide subtitles on online videos, although I know that a limited pilot project is still under way. We could and should have added a transcript but that’s really down to lower staffing levels.

This has been discussed in the past and I admit not much progress has been made. The simple answer is for the people who make the reports in the first place – this one came from Nottingham – to be aware of the issues and to make a copy of their written scripts etc available. Interestingly this is the second complaint on this topic I have dealt with today.

I will take this up and will speak to my colleague who looks after disability issues to see if there’s some way of communicating to all our journalists the importance of providing a more accessible multimedia version of stories such as this.

Many thanks for raising it.

On the one hand, at least they recognise the problem and sound sufficiently contrite.

Still… its depressing that even after at least three people have complained about it, there is still no transcript on the webpage accompanying this story. Deaf children and adults are still being denied access to a story about deaf children, and denied a right of reply if they disagree with the report. And there remains the principle of access to all online video content, and not just those which are of particular interest to deaf people.

Accessibility of online video content is going to be an issue I suspect will crop up again and again. It’s now on NDCS’s campaigns radar and is something I hope to do some research into.

In the meantime, we’ll be keeping an eye out for more examples of inaccessible online video content.

Yours,

A still disgruntled viewer from Bermondsey