NDCS campaigns at Labour conference 2009: day 4

On our final day at the Labour party conference, on a day the sun disappeared, we were on the hunt… for someone to take responsibility for building regulations.

Our Sounds good? campaign on school acoustics has got the attention of Ministers and officials at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), but to get what we want – a requirement for acoustic testing in all new schools – there needs to be a change to the building regulations which govern how school buildings are built. Which is the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG).

Sadly, though, having spoken to four Ministers who work at the Department, including the Secretary of State who in theory has overall responsibility for everything in his Department, none of them seemed entirely sure who was responsible for this issue. It was slightly worrying. In the end, one of them agreed to look into it further and get back to us.

Otherwise, the day was spent networking and going to more fringe meetings. Overall, there have been some really interesting fringe meetings over the past week. Some of the highlights include:

* The Every Disabled Child Matters meeting which featured four ministers in total. Our acoustics campaign got a mention when someone else asked about the accessibility of new school buildings. I raised a question about whether Access to Work, to pay for additional help for disabled people in the workplace, should be extended to disabled people doing unpaid internships, to help them get up the career ladder. The answer from the Minister for Disability, Jonathan Shaw, was that he would like to, but there wasn’t really any money for it. So that was that.

* At a NASUWT fringe meeting, we asked a few questions about acoustics. DCSF Minister Vernon Coaker, who used to be a deputy headteacher, asked my boss to “come and see him afterwards”. Fortunately, it was not for a detention or corporal punishment but to convey his desire to see this problem sorted out as soon as possible. He said he would ask officials to update him.

* And at a fringe meeting by Action for Children, with Baroness Morgan, Children’s Minister, in attendence, we again raised the concerns that the social care needs of deaf children are being overlooked.

Overall, it’s been a busy few days getting NDCS mentions here and there, introducing Louis Kissaun to MPs, and raising awareness of the needs of deaf children. Now we’re going to get busy drafting letters and doing all the things we promised MPs that we would do, before the next conference for the Conservatives in Manchester…

Any points you want us to raise at the Conservative conference about deaf children? Leave a comment and let us know.

NDCS campaigns at Labour conference 2009: day 3

Louis has continued today in his determination to make campaigns look easy, lobbying a further three MPs today on acoustics in schools. The MPs were:

Virendra Sharma

Sharon Hodgson

Iain Wright

Virendra Sharma: Louis’s local MP in London who affectionately described Louis as an “Ealing boy”. Virendra seemed particularly shocked about what we had to say on acoustics in schools – the reaction we were looking for – and has promised to raise this issue with the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Sharon Hodgson: A strong supporter of NDCS in the past and an even stronger advocate for children with special educational needs, Sharon asked Louis lots of questions about his deafness and his experiences. Louis and Sharon also had a detailed discussion about the merits of Twitter and Facebook!

Iain Wright: Another DCSF Minister, this time responsible for policy for children aged 14 to 19. Iain is familiar with our acoustics campaign having previously worked at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Again, Iain asked lots of question and also took the time to listen to our simulation of poor acoustics in the classroom. He seemed shocked by how difficult it was to make out what the teacher was saying.

With all MPs, we’ve been preparing local press releases to send out in the hope of getting some local media coverage highlighting our concerns on acoustics. Despite being camera shy, Louis has gamely posed for lots of photos with MPs!

As Louis has been a superstar, we took some time out from the conference to treat him to a game of crazy golf on the seaside in Brighton. For someone who has never played before, he managed to beat my interpreter and get a hole in one. Worringly, there seems to be no end to his talents…

Louis has now headed off back home, but we have another day of lobbying to do at the Labour party conferences tomorrow, so pop back tomorrow for another daily update.

NDCS campaigns at Labour conference 2009: day 2

Louis Kissaun with MPs Ed Balls and Mary Creagh

Every now and then I get paranoid that deaf young people want to steal my job… Louis Kissaun has now joined that list of people to fear. Here’s what Louis had to say at lunchtime today about his first morning of the Labour party conference:

“I am Louis Kissaun, a 17 year old student who is now studying his last year of A levels at Mary Hare School for the deaf. I am studying Art, English Literature and Media Studies. I have also recently taken an opportunity to work and appear in a TV series called Shameless on C4.

Because of my experience of Shameless, I have been asked by the National Deaf Children’s Society to act as a representative for deaf children and young people at the Labour party conference. They have also chosen me because I went to a mainstream primary school before Mary Hare which had very bad acoustics which affected my English and Maths grades. So it’s nice to campaign for something and help others like me avoid the same struggles in lessons.

My first morning has been interesting at times. Particular the first moments with the MPs which was quite nerve racking. At one point, we met with 3 MPs at the same time, one of which was Ed Balls, the Children’s Secretary. After a few moments, I felt more relaxed and confident in explaining why acoustics is important. I feel that almost all the MPs agreed with the issues we talked about. I think we have certainly got a few more MPs on board with the campaign.

We are meeting more MPs today. I feel tired but am looking forward to it!”

What makes me fear Louis even more that he’s being somewhat modest. He did a fantastic job of explaining to MPs what it’s like for deaf children to be in a classroom with rubbish acoustics, referring back to how he used to get headaches because of the noise in his primary classroom and how he had to move to a specialist school for deaf children to be able to listen and learn effectively in the classroom.

Impressively, in a chaotic morning with MPs either being late or early, he managed to hold court with three MPs at the same time. And one of them was the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, and another was the Minister responsible for special educational needs, Diana Johnson. Louis also later met Jonathan Shaw, Minister for Disability and Phil Hope, Minister responsible for audiology services. And if that wasn’t enough, he also met two other MPs and two people likely to become MPs at the next election. All of them seemed interested in our work and campaigns, thanks in no small part to Louis. We feel pretty confident that it will help move our campaign for better acoustics in schools forward in a big way.

Thanks to Louis, my role was pretty much limited to fetching the tea. Pah! Not bad for a 17 year old… A few more meetings tomorrow where I shall be watching out to see if Louis goes for the kill…

NDCS campaigns at Labour conference 2009: day 1

The travelling circus has now arrived in Brighton for the Labour party conference. It’s been a fantastically sunshiny day which has put the whole NDCS campaigns team in a good mood in advance of our meetings with MPs tomorrow.

I will be backing off a bit to let our special star guest, young deaf person, Louis Kissaun, take centre stage. Louis will be telling MPs about his own experiences growing up deaf and what he wants the Government to do to make things better for deaf children. He will be too modest to talk about it, so I will be butting in to mention his fantastic starring role in the Channel 4 programme Shameless and his academic success so far. I’m looking forward to it and am certain he will really hammer home the point to MPs that deaf children can achieve anything they want, providing the Government makes sure the necessary support is provided. It will hopefully have a big impact on our campaign.

Image courtesy of www.eastsideboxing.com

And we’ll also be doing a bit of celebrity spotting. Totally unexpectedly, we saw the boxer Chris Eubank in the conference pass office earlier. Maybe he’s here to challenge Gordon to a fight? You heard it here first…

As always, we’ll be blogging and tweeting throughout so come back for regular updates.

Why we need you to contact the England Children’s Minister

So, just to recap on NDCS’s Sounds good? campaign for better acoustics in schools in England, Baroness Wilkins has joined NDCS in calling for a change to the law on acoustics. NDCS has been calling for all new school buildings to be tested for their acoustics before they open, to ensure there are incentives in the system for everyone involved in building a new school to make sure the school doesn’t just look good, but sounds good too. After all, what is the point of spending millions on a school if it’s too noisy inside to learn? And so Baroness Wilkins has proposed a change to the law – or an “amendment” that does just that – makes acoustic testing a legal requirement.

The Government is resisting the amendment. They say the case for action is unproven, even though we’ve shown that currently lots of schools are not being tested and those that are, are failing the tests. Even though independent research shows acoustics benefit all children, not just deaf children and help teachers manage behaviour in the classroom. Even though the cost of an acoustics test is peanuts, compared to the cost of fixing rubbish acoustics. Even though over 15 diverse organisations agree that urgent action is needed. Even though after months of consideration, hardly any voices of objection have been raised by builders.

I feel like the only people who don’t want to take action is Government. It feels like things are stuck in a bureaucratic inertia by people who care more about processes than taking action that will make a real difference. We want to get the law changed now to stop the scandal of new schools being built with rubbish acoustics as I type. Not in some indeterminate future after “further investigation” and “careful consideration” where things fall into a governmental black hole and never reappear.

If you agree that urgent action is needed now, then contact the Children’s Minister for England, Baroness Morgan. She’ll be representing the Government when the amendment is debated in the House of Lords. It’s being debated on October 19th, so we need lots of people to get writing asap to show how much people want this change. We need your voices to be louder than those of the nay-sayers.

As always, our website makes it quick and easy for you to do this. Just fill in a few details about yourself and your email is off within around 3 minutes. 100 people have taken action already so you’re in good company.

If you’re still unconvinced, then watch the BBC 2 programme See Hear and listen to the deaf teenagers explain why good acoustics are so important to them. At the end of the day, it is deaf children who will benefit most from this.

Campaigning for deaf children at the Lib Dem conference 2009: day 2

Day two of our Bournemouth Liberal Democrat party conference adventure started with a morning of meetings on the patio of a cliffside hotel in the beautiful morning sunshine. It sounded like perfection at first. Two hours later, we were stumbling off the patio, blinded by the sun and with a deep tan on the half of our face facing the sun.

But the meetings went well. We met Baroness Garden, who works on children and education in the House of Lords for the Lib Dems. I got asked lots of questions about childhood deafness which put me on my toes but was quite nice since it showed an active interest in deafness and a desire to find out more. She was aware of our work to get the law changed on acoustics which was positive. Our message is getting out there before we’ve even come to party conferences…

We also met with Annette Brooke who also asked lots of questions and made a few requests for further information. She raised a new issue – how we do make sure that deaf children who are home educated get the right support from their local authority? A good question and something we’ll be coming back to her on.

There were lot of other charities there all waiting to meet MPs too. At times, it felt a bit like a political form of speed dating with MPs moving between different tables to talk to different charities. All that was missing was a little bell ringing at the half hour mark.

Once that was done, the afternoon was spent stalking MPs and getting their views on our simulation of acoustics in the classroom. One MP said she thought it sounded like a baby listening to the world from the womb!

And then finally, we ended the day with an impressive fringe meeting hosted by Every Disabled Child Matters. This was the best fringe meeting I went to, primarily because it had two young disabled people interrogating two shadow Lib Dem Ministers – David Laws MP (who looks after education) and Steve Webb MP (who looks after benefits) – on what the Lib Dem manifesto will have for disabled children. The highlight for me was when one of the young people was asked if her teachers had low expectations of her. She replied that her teachers told her that she would only ever end up working in a fried chicken takeaway, and how this motivated her to prove her teacher wrong. Her advice to others was simple: don’t give up. She also suggested she did end up working in a fried chicken takeaway, she would get her revenge by spitting in the food! It was a very spunky and inspriring reply.

And that was it. Time for a late night train back to London to reflect on a good two days with the Lib Dems. Now the travelling circus moves to Brighton for the Labour party conference next Sunday…

Campaigning for deaf children at the Lib Dem conference 2009: day 1

We were fashionably late, but today, the NDCS campaigns team arrived at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth. It’s the second year running they’ve come here. I can only conclude that their leader, Nick Clegg, loves the local opportunities for crazy golf.

David Laws MP

Anyhow, we hit the day running. Highlight of the day for me was meeting the Lib Dem lead on children and education, David Laws, who’s been a warm supporter of NDCS in the past. As always, he was keen to ask lots of questions about our concerns, had lots of suggestions and was happy to support our work on acoustics and accessible examinations for disabled children. He also took the time to listen to our simulation of what it sounds like for a deaf children in a school with poor acoustics.

We also met Dan Rogerson, the Lib Dem spokesperson for Communities and Local Government who has agreed to put pressure on the people responsible in Government for the Building Regulations which set out the acoustic standards on schools.

And we also met Bridget Fox who is the Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for Islington in London. If she wins, NDCS’s headquarters will be in her constituency. She seemed really interested in provision for deaf children in London, particularly in the quality of new school buildings and their acoustics.

Everyone we met was unfailingly helpful, keen to learn more and willing to support us – which is always very gratifying and welcome. It warms my heart without the need for a costly Costa coffee.

We also got to attend a couple of fringe meetings, which provided another highlight of the day – a chance to meet Floella Benjamin, children’s TV presenter from years back. I was amazed by how little she has aged since I was year. She was chairing a meeting about safeguarding children, which randomly started with me explaining that the man sitting with his back to her was not being rude, he was my interpreter! Later, I took the opportunity to ask whether more needs to be done to safeguard disabled children, to which the panel agreed. Indeed, one Lib Dem peer is quite keen to talk with us more about this issue tomorrow morning.

Overall, a good first day. We’ve got more meetings tomorrow where we’ll be aiming to get more key MPs and peers supporting our work.

New 999 text system means deaf young people no longer need Lassie

Image courtesy of www.smh.com.au

One of the few things that has – up to now – annoyed me about my deafness is that I would probably be pretty useless in the event of an emergency. Not because I’m the kind of guy who would run around screaming, just begging to be slapped to my senses. But because there is no real way I could call 999 if I was out and about. I would either have to hope that someone else is around who could dial for me. Or just dial 999 and not say anything and hope that someone turns up (which I’ve never found very reassuring). For deaf children and young people, the absence of an accessible alternative is not something which helps them develop a sense of independence and self-reliance. In the absence of a Lassie-type creature to convey the need for assistance through a knowing look at strangers, deaf young people as as as disabled and helpless as they can be. Which I don’t like.

So I’m very happy about the news that a new 999 text system is being trialled. You have to register first but after that you can get help by texting 999 and a message will be passed to the emergency services. Their website has more information about how to register and what to say in a text in the event of an emergency. If the trial is a success, it will be properly launched in 2010. It’s a really important step forward. Here’s hoping it’s a success.

Prep for the party conferences 2009

Image courtesy of www.schooley.net

I’m getting quite excited – the travelling circus will soon be coming back to town. Yes, the party political conferences are upon us once again. Did it ever really leave? It doesn’t feel that long ago from last year when I was feeling dead proud of Laura Bolter for showing firsthand to MPs that deafness shouldn’t hold anyone back and also being overly excited by a freebie Slinky, courtesy of NASUWT.

As always, a lot of work has gone into preparing for the conferences. Sadly, it’s not just a merry jaunt around the UK to talk politics over cocktails. Some of the key elements of our preparation have included:

1) Arranging meets. The real value for a small charity like NDCS is the opportunity to get to meet lots of MPs in a relatively short space of time. So for the past month, my colleagues have been busy writing letters and chasing MPs on the phone. Whilst I’m wary of naming any at the risk of jinx-ing it, we are set to meet some of the big beasts. And this year, we’re also meeting some of the would-be MPs, otherwise known as Prospective Parliamentary Candidates. The aim is to make sure that the next generation of MPs are familiar with our work when they take up residence in the halls of power.

2) Getting our ‘asks’ right. One of the early lessons I learnt as a campaigner was to always have something to ask a MP to do. So we’ve been thinking how to tailor our wish list of actions for MPs to do to support us as appropriate. For most MPs, we’ll be focusing on our Sounds good? campaign and encouraging MPs to support the call for mandatory acoustic testing. But we’ll have different asks for MPs who are interested in, for example, health and social care issues.

3) Planning which fringe meetings to go to. These are not actually a chance to discuss the most stylish haircut length over the forehead but, in essence, seminars on a range of topics, normally set up by a charity or organisation to promote their cause (or themselves). Normally, a senior MP will come along to speak so it’s always interesting to see what he/she has to say. And normally there is also a questions and answer session at the end, giving charities like NDCS an opportunity to flag up an issue.

4) Working out which stalls to visit. This is the bit where the conferences feel more like a student fair. Lots of charities and organisations will have a little area in the exhibition centre to promote their cause/themselves. It’s a good opportunity to network and make new friends. Many give away freebies, which I may have got a bit carried away with last year…

And that’s our prep to stalk MPs 2009 in a nutshell. The Liberal Democrats are first up and we’ll be heading to Bournemouth to see them next Monday. You can follow the latest here at this blog, and also via Twitter.

So what does it sound like for a deaf child in a school with rubbish acoustics?

As a campaigns officer, we’ve used a range of tools in our attempts to cajole Government into taking action on acoustics in schools for deaf children as part of the Sounds good? campaign. Two things, in particularly, have worked particularly well…

1) Deaf children explaining the personal impact of poor acoustics in their own words. You can now see the BBC2 See Hear feature on acoustics on youtube. Some of the children’s comments are really powerful – like how poor acoustics makes them feel lonely and left out in the classroom. Recommended viewing.

2) A sound simulation of what it sounds like for deaf children when they’re in a classroom with poor acoustics. We used this to powerful effect at the parliamentary event we did back in June where a group of deaf children demonstrated the simulation to MPs. The simulation is now available on our website for everyone to listen for themselves. It is just a simulation – but it gives a powerful indication into how much harder it is for deaf children to listen and learn in the classroom. As one of my colleagues said, it’s a real “ear” opener.

The campaign is now moving into a new phase, and there’ll be new campaign action soon. Watch this space…

UPDATE! (11/9/09) We’ve just launched a new campaign action. We’re asking our supporters to contact the Children’s Minister, Baroness Morgan, to agree a change to the law on acoustics. We want to make sure all new schools get tested for their acoustics before they open. So if you want to help make sure deaf children don’t feel left out in the classrom, take action now!