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.

Deaf students interrogate party leads on education

It’s hard to read a newspaper these days without being reminded that this year there will be a UK general election, probably in May, and until then, I’m going to need to be very careful not to trip over any political dividing lines.

I’m with Winston Churchill when he said that “Democracy is the worse form of Government, except for all the others”. The general election is a big opportunity to hold politicians to account and tell them what our priorities are. And if you’re a parent of a deaf child or deaf yourself, chances are you're going to want to know what will be done to improve deaf children's life chances.

So with that in mind, the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) has recruited three young deaf students from Heston Community School in west London and given them a big mission: to come up with a list of questions on what they think are key issues for deaf children and young people, and to then take these questions to the key decision-makers in Westminster to get answers on what each party promises to do for deaf children.

Well, the students passed the mission with flying colours. Their questions ranged from funding of specialist equipment for deaf children, bullying, accessible transport and cinema subtitles. They also slipped in a question on how the MPs would celebrate if they won the general election. And over the past two weeks, they've been travelling over to Westminster to interview Diana Johnson (Labour Government Minister responsible for special educational needs), Michael Gove (Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Children, School and Families) and David Laws (Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Children, School and Families). The fruits of their hard work will be appearing on the NDCS website and in the magazine in March, and you'll be able to see what each party is promising to do and see if that influences your vote. The students were also filmed in action by a TV crew, so hopefully we'll be seeing them on TV as well. All very exciting and NDCS is very proud of the students.

Conservatives sets out education plans… but what does it mean for deaf children?

The Conservative party launched their draft manifesto on education yesterday. It’s not very long and makes for very interesting reading for those wondering what a Conservative government might mean for deaf children and other children with special educational needs and disabilities.

One of the most interesting points for me, that hasn’t really been picked up by the media, is the line that says: “We will call a moratorium on the ideologically-driven closure of special schools and end the bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools.”

What this might mean in practice? Are we likely to see a trend of more schools for the deaf opening under a Conservative government? How will any ‘bias’ towards inclusion in mainstream schools be addresssed? Lots of food for thought…

If you’re interested, NDCS has issued a statement giving their initial response to the draft manifesto. What’s your response? Be interested to hear your thoughts on their proposals…

One year anniversary of NICE report on cochlear implants

Image courtesy of Maíra Soares

It’s nearly a year now since NICE recommended that all severely to profoundly deaf children should be given the option of a cochlear implant in one or both ears – so now seems a good time to check again that local health boards in England are getting on with it.

The good news is that initial figures suggest that most of them are. Considering it’s a fairly expensive operation, this is no mean achievement. A pat on the back for these people seems well deserved

The bad news is that do appear to be a few malcontents popping up around the country. Whilst I don’t believe for a moment that it really is grim up north, I have to note that one of the worse offenders appears to be the Cheshire area in the North West where NDCS has supporting a family who wanted their deaf son to have a second cochlear implant (having already received one implant). The NICE recommendations allow this – and patients have a legal right to anything recommended by NICE. Despite this, this family were forced to go through lots of pointless bureacratic hoops and make several funding requests before the local health board caved in. Totally not on. The story got covered in their local paper, and hopefully the local health board won’t try it and pull a cheeky one again.

NDCS is keeping an eye out for similiar stories around England, and taking swift action where it does. Please get in touch if you have any specific examples to share, and we’ll get on the case.

Review of 2009 for deaf children… and predictions for 2010

Well, we’re already a week into the new decade / ice age, but for my first blog post of 2010, I’d like to look back at some of the highlights / lowlights of NDCS campaigns in 2009.

Highlights
The big one has to the campaign victory on acoustics, which dominated most of our campaigning activity from the past year. It was great to see all of our work, including a parliamentary event, briefings to MPs and mentions in parliamentary debates, reports on how lots of local authorities didn’t have a clue about the quality of acoustics in their new schools, all make a difference. The Government announcement in October that it would take action to require testing in new schools was a delicious moment which will make a big difference to the quality of education for deaf children.

Although it was quite a long time ago, the announcement back in January last year that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) would recommend cochlear implants as an option in one or both ears for all severely / profoundly deaf children was another biggie for deaf children. It follows lots of concerted and co-ordinated lobbying by NDCS and other deaf charities. A year on, nearly all local health bodies seem to be doing a good job with getting on with implementing the recommendations.

And although the dust hasn’t really settled on it yet, the Lamb inquiry into the special educational needs system offers the promise of lots of significant changes for deaf children and their parents. Laws are being changed as we speak by the Government to implement some of its recommendations.

For me, personally, the highlight is supporting and watch deaf young people campaigning in action for NDCS, whether at party conferences or our parliamentary events. It’s always good to see parliamentarians walk away realising what deaf children can achieve, providing they’re given the right support. It was also great to see Louis Kissaun, a deaf young star, on Shameless, the Channel 4 programme, this year.

Lowlights

The continuing failure by the BBC to provide access to its online news content continues to be depressing, especially on news stories that feature deaf children and young people. Quite a few people clearly seemed to have skipped class the day they were covering disability awareness training at the BBC.

And the continuing problems with Phonak Naida hearing aids are also a bit of a worry, though it’s good to see that the powers that be are working hard on this problem as we speak.

Predictions for 2010?

Apparently, there’s going to be a general election in a few months. Whatever the result, there are going to be a lot of new faces in Parliament and lots of new ideas for how schools and hospitals should be run. NDCS will be busy getting to grips with the new political landscape and making sure deaf children are high on the agenda.

It also looks as if we’re going to be doing a lot more campaign work around audiology services this year. More to follow on this, but a range of issues are cropping up, for example, on the training of audiologists. NDCS will be on alert making sure deaf children get the audiology services they need.

Here’s hoping it’s a good new year for deaf children and NDCS campaigns. Please do keep sending in your comments, thoughts and any stories about how deaf children in your area are doing. We’ll do our best to respond and incorporate into our campaign work. Happy new year!