How the acoustics campaign victory woz won

Well, it’s been two weeks now since we won the campaign victory on acoustics and the Government announced a package of measures to improve acoustics in new schools. So how did it all happen? Having mused and reflected upon it, here are what I think were the five key ingredients behind the campaign success:

1) Getting good media coverage. We were fortunate that the Times Educational Supplement, which is read avidly by civil servants and Ministers at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, were keen to follow the campaign throughout the year and to keep highlighting the issue with stories popping up in January on the launch of the campaign, May about support from other disability charities and, more recently, in October about a new school with poor acoustics.

2) Getting the message out to MPs and peers. We invested lots of time and effort in making MPs aware of the campaign, encouraging them to sign a parliamentary petition and to write to the Department to demand action. We couldn’t have done this without our supporters taking action and writing to their MP to check they were on board. In total, nearly 600 emails or letters were sent to MPs and the Government on acoustics by our supporters. It helped that we had a simple message that was easy for MPs to understand and get on board, all of which ensured we had a cross-party army of supporters within Parliament…

3) Making sure deaf young people led the way. Of course, one of reasons why so many MPs were keen to support the campaign is that they had attended a parliamentary event we arranged in June and met with a group of deaf young people to hear about their own personal experiences of poor acoustics, and why action is needed. The same group also appeared on the telly on BBC2 programme See Hear to demand action. They made a powerful appeal for action which was difficult for MPs and the Government to ignore.

4) Making sure we developed a strong case for action. Whether it was doing our own survey of local authorities to confirm that too many new schools were being built with poor acoustics or commissioning research from a school in Essex to show the dramatic impact that improved acoustics can have, we were keen to make sure that our briefings to Government were backed up by a compelling set of facts, pointing to a problem that needs to be solved.

5) Negotiations over a possible law change. Having got lots of attention from MPs and peers, several were keen to try and get the law changed to improve acoustics. Baroness Wilkins, a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness, tabled an amendment to the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill. We were quite lucky in a way; the Government was already behind schedule on this Bill and were keen to reduce the amount of time spent on debates in the House of Lords. But a good campaign exploits any luck and opportunities that presents itself. And so we entered into a game of brinkmanship and a series of negotiations to agree to a deal whereby the Department agreed to acoustic testing in exchange for the amendment being withdrawn. We ended up getting a good package that surpassed our expectations of what we could realistically achieve.

All in all, a good result for deaf children and lots of lessons to take forward to the next big campaign! I can’t chose but any thoughts on which was the most important factor out of this five?

Minister rules out changes to Disability Living Allowance

After months of uncertainty and with nothing apparently being ruled in on out, Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for the Department for Health has now come out with a clear statement that there will be no changes to Disability Living Allowance as part of the Government’s green paper on social care. NDCS and lots of other charities had made it very clear that they didn’t want to see any changes that might disadvantage deaf children.

For parents of deaf children who were worried about possible changes to Disability Living Allowance, this is reassuring news indeed.

So what was all the party conference fuss all about?

When the party conferences finished a few weeks back, I was at a stage when I couldn’t look at a MP on the TV without screaming “No! No more!” and looking wide-eyed for a hill to run up. Happily, I’ve now recovered enough to look back and attempt a sum-up of the NDCS experience at the party conferences 2009, bookending all of the daily blogs I did here last month.

Looking at the numbers, altogether, we met 57 MPs, peers and candidates for election. Of these, 27 were Ministers or Shadow Ministers, including:

* Lead on education for each party, and another four junior education ministers.
* Minister responsible for Building Regulations.
* Minister for Disability, and his Conservative counterpart.
* Minister responsible for audiology services.
* 11 prospective parliamentary candidates who are likely to be influential in the next Parliament.

Not bad, if I say so myself. All of these chin-wags helped us achieve cross party support for our campaign on acoustics which, in turn, helped us achieve our recent campaign victory and the new package of measures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families. In fact, the conferences came at just the right time for us, allowing us to do some precision lobbying at the moment it mattered.

Part of the reason why so many MPs wanted to meet with us was Louis Kissaun, our deaf young person with us, who was able to explain the issues in a more direct way to MPs. After all, it’s young people like Louis who suffer most from rubbish acoustics. Louis seemed to enjoy himself: you can read our little interview with him here.

More than anything, the conference was a chance to chin-wag, muscle in on conversations, network and have an informal chat about our work and concerns, which is something you can’t really put a price on. It was one big Mastercard priceless moment if you like. Lots of unexpected opportunities arose during the conference, like a chance encounter with a journalist from ITV Yorkshire, think tank academics working on special educational needs, other charities concerned about new schools, and so on. And not forgetting all the fringe meetings. We attended around 30 and tried to sneak in a question at every one.

By August next year, I will have forgotten how tiring three weeks of schmoozing is, and will be raring to go again…

The Spud of Love

If anything is guaranteed to get your attention as you stumble into work on a gloomy cold Tuesday morning, then it’s a an amusingly shaped potato.

In true Esther Rantzen style, I bring you a spud shaped like a heart. It’s quite possibly the most romantic thing, I’ve seen all year. If you’re been thinking about proposing to your loved one, I can think of no better way to guarantee a positive reply.

The lovely Becky Needs is auctioning the potato for charity on ebay, and NDCS will be one of the beneficiaries. The auction ends on 24th October – so get bidding!

Campaign victory for deaf children on acoustics!

Happy day!

After months of lobbying and weeks of nail-biting negotiations, the Government has today announced a new package of measures to improve acoustics in new schools. We’ve been calling for a new legal requirement for all new schools to be tested. What we’ve got is:

* A new contractual requirement for all secondary schools to be tested as part of the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.
* A new condition of funding – no more money for local authorities for new schools unless they can show that recently built schools are compliant with government standards on acoustics.
* An intention to consult on a legal requirement for all new schools to be tested in the future.

So, in practice, nearly all new schools will end up being tested. We’ve been promised a list of the small number that aren’t captured by the above – so we’ll know their names, and where they live…

Lots of follow up work to do now to spread the word… But come back soon for the insider info on how it all happened.

Running the Royal Parks Half Marathon for NDCS

Image courtesy of www.ndcschallenges.org.uk

On Sunday, I did something I swore I would never do again. A long distance run. A few months back, I signed up to the Royal Parks Half Marathon to help raise money for the National Deaf Children’s Society. Despite having done very little training in the last month due to the party conferences and having a sniffly cold, I decided to go ahead. Off I headed to Hyde Park Corner in the early hours of a cloudy Sunday morning to take my place among thousands of other runners.

First couple of miles went OK. Lots of weaving in and out of other runners. Throat feeling rather dry. Came close to a massive pile up at the first drinks station. After four miles, the novelty wore off and I started to think “I still have an awfully long way to go”. After around 5 miles, I started to feel a little queasy. Maybe a month of breakfast fry-ups at party conferences wasn’t the best training plan to adopt. Was I approaching the wall?

Then I ran into Hyde Park to the sight of lots of people cheering everyone on. I saw the NDCS flag! Some lovely volunteers and colleagues there to cheer me on. I got a second burst and felt revitalised and picked up speed again. This is just like my normal run in the park with lots of nice golden autumn leaves around.

Then around 7 to 8 miles, I began to flag again. How big is this pesty park? How can I still be running in it?! A convulated run in and around the park, avoiding conkers and squirrels. Squirted some carb gel into my mouth to give me energy. Didn’t help. In fact, felt queasy again. Maybe a mantra would help? Something to repeat over and over again in my head to keep me going. Then gave up on that when I realised I was singing Bob the Builder’s “Can we fix it?” in my head.

Still around 4 miles to go… Legs beginning to feel like lead. Headache developing as I pound the ground. Maybe I could stop to walk for a little bit? Just for a little while? Voices in my head start to have an argument on whether to keep going. I begin to speculate that running is making me mad. But then I see some stranger holding a poster saying that you’ve only failed, if you quit trying. I decide to keep trying.

Getting to the eleven mile mark. Not that long to go… maybe I can do this after all? I keep my head down and focus on staying in a good rhythm. Twelve mile mark. Nearly there. Hang on, one of my colleagues has just run past me! I pick up speed once again. Never going to pass her, but definitely not going to let her finish miles ahead of me!

Then I see the finish line, around half a mile away. I look at my watch and see I’m just under two hours. There’s nothing for it. I slowly pick up speed. Getting faster and faster. Before I know it, I’m sprinting to the finish line, legs screaming in agony and lungs on the verge of collapse. And then it’s all over. I’ve done it. 1 hour, 59 minutes and 2 seconds. Phew.

Then comes the best bit of all. The sense of achievement. A warm glow inside of you, that masks everything else. Knowing that you set yourself a goal, worked hard for it and did it. That alone is worth it, but also knowing that I’ve helped raise a little bit of money for charity. And got a pretty little medal too.

Two days later, I still can’t do stairs and I’ve now officially retired from long distance running. If anyone in the office asks, I tell them I never want to do it again. But I probably will, maybe in around a year when I’ve forgotten about all the pain. Maybe I will actually train properly next time. At the end of the day, the post-run euphoria is like nothing else.

If you want to set yourself a challenge, NDCS has lots of events for people, from short runs to trekking up mountains. And if you want to reward me for my agony in the park, then I have a sponsor page at justgiving.

See you at the start line next year!

Lobbying Conservatives on deaf children: day 3

Last day at the party conferences! The travelling circus is coming to an end for NDCS tomorrow morning when we return to London. And hibernate for a month to catch up on our sleep.

But not before another busy day of meetings between our deaf young supporter, Louis Kissaun, and a range of Conservative MPs and candidates standing for election. Of which a surprising number have a deaf father or grandfather (three, at the last count). One of the highlights for Louis was meeting Mark Harper MP, who is the Conservative Shadow Disability Minister. Mark really took the time to engage with Louis and ask lots of questions. Gratifyingly for us, we had very little need to lobby Mark on our concerns on acoustics and access to examinations for disabled people – he already set out his position, nearly identical to ours, before we’d even said anything. Lovely, I thought.

Louis also met the MP for his school, Mary Hare school for the deaf. Richard Benyon MP was also very clued up on the needs of deaf children, realising that noisy classrooms will be exhausting and frustrating for deaf children, forcing them to concentrate twice as hard as everyone else. Another supporter signed up in Westminster.

The only downsides of the day were my failure to a) find an opportunity to ask what the Conservative’s think of Access to Work. Alas. Something to take up on our return to London… And b) take decent photos. I don’t think I’ll be giving up the day job.

It’s been a tough two weeks for Louis. But he has really excelled in representing other deaf children and young people, posing for lots of photos and being extremely patient with everyone. Apparently, he hasn’t ruled out a career in politics. So, watch this space…

Lobbying Conservatives on deaf children: day 2

If I’ve learnt one lesson today, it is not to travel to Manchester without a very good umbrella.

It’s been a wet day at the Conservative party conference. But also another good opportunity for MPs, Lords and prospective parliamentary candidates to hear from a deaf young person that deaf children can achieve anything – providing that Government takes action to break down the barriers holding them back. Once again Louis Kissaun has been spreading the word about why good acoustics are so important, and the impact that poor acoustics had on his English grades. And some of the key figures he’s been meeting include:

Michael Gove, the Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and someone who’s been very supportive of NDCS in the past. In fact, he told Louis how much he admired NDCS and our campaign work. We won’t let it go to our head. Well, maybe a little bit.

Baroness Verma, who is the Conservative lead on education in the House of Lords. She told Louis how she had a child with a unilateral hearing loss. She also expressed Tory support for the amendment on acoustics currently in the House of Lords. Gratifyingly, she already seemed familiar about our acoustics campaign.

Tim Loughton, Shadow Children’s Minister, who is the Conservative lead on safeguarding and social care, and was given a quick update on our concerns that deaf children are falling through the net when it comes to social care services.

We also took some time out to meet some bright young stars standing for election next year, including Priti Patel and Nick Boles, both of which had lots of questions about our work and lots of useful advice and suggestions for our campaign.

Overall, another positive day of campaigning for deaf children. Tomorrrow though, is our last day at the conferences and we still have a bit more stalking to do…

Lobbying Conservatives on deaf children: day 1

The NDCS campaigns team has arrived up north to Manchester for the Conservative party conference – and I already have a mission for the rest of the conference: to find out what the Conservatives plans are on Access to Work, and what they think of the fact that disabled young people doing voluntary work or unpaid internships cannot claim Access to Work.

I got asked to raise this via my Twitter, so I duly went to a fringe meeting with Theresa May, the Conservatives Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and asked a question about Access to Work. And got no reply. To be fair, the moderator also took around 9 other questions at the same time so it may just have been overlooked. But still… I will now be stalking Shadow Ministers until I get an answer!

And we’ll also be introducing our guest deaf young person, TV star, Louis Kissaun to Conservative MPs and candidates from tomorrrow. As always, you can get the latest via the c4dc twitter account, and from this blog.

Tweeting with Ed Balls

I’ve been tweeting for around a month now and still finding my way around it all. But one of the things that I’ve been wondering about is who does the tweeting for the Ministers and MPs who have their own Twitter accounts?

I have now received not one but two tweets from Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Childrens, Schools and Families. Which certainly livens up my office on a Monday morning. But the cynical part of me couldn’t help thinking that it wasn’t really him and was surely just a work experience student in his office…

Well, my cynicism is ill-founded this time. At Channel 4′s first ever “twinge” at the Labour party conference, Ed Balls said that everybody doubts the authenticity but that he does in fact do all of his own tweets.

An unexpected benefit of Twitter; direct access to Ministers…

I don’t quite have the kudos of Ed Balls, but if you want to be in with a chance of a tweet from me, I’m at www.twitter.com/c4dc!