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…

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…

Young deaf celebrity pops into NDCS office

I caused a minor frission of excitement in the office on Wednesday when Louis Kissaun, who had a leading role in the Channel 4 programme, Shameless, earlier in the year, came into the office. My colleagues hadn’t been so excited since the Helpline team bought some Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

What was he doing here? After a successful turn last year by Laura Bolter, we were thinking a few months back what young deaf person we could bring along to the party political conferences this year. And then Louis turned up on Shameless and the answer fell into our laps. We contacted his school and the rest is history.

It was great to meet Louis and to have him on board. It’s clear he’s going to do a great job. We know that MPs are going to be keen to meet with him to learn about his experiences growing up deaf and, of course, being on Shameless.

Our prep for the party conferences now starts in earnest – so look out for more details in coming months.

NDCS campaigns at the party conferences: freebies

It feels like ages now since the party conferences took place, but I think about them often. Such a great opportunity to meet other influential figures of politics and policies. To share and discuss ideas. And more importantly, to collect as many freebies as possible.

The freebies do serve an important function – to publicise the charity or organisation, especially if they are memorable and useful little things. With my inherent magpie tendencies to collect and hoard anything that looks shiny and new, I ended up collecting quite a few freebies. So, with that in mind, here is my top 5 of freebies accumulated from across the party conferences.

5) At first, it looks like nothing more than a little blob of plastic. But if you fold it, it then becomes a useful device to put phones in on your desk! Though my professional photographer couldn’t quite capture it, a little LED light also flashes on the front, thereby making it doubly useful for people who can’t hear the phone ring. A very useful freebie from the teaching union, NASUWT.

4) MIND is a national charity that campaigns for better mental health. And one of their freebies was a lollipop. Well, it made me feel better.

3) Not content with having produced the handy little phone holders (number 5 above), NASUWT struck again with an entry at number three, with something that seems to be designed to help teachers keep in touch with their inner child: a slinky!

2) It can be hard work being a campaigns officer, as the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) realise. Cups of tea are essential to get by during busy days. But where to put them? Well, thanks to the RNIB, I now have these rather cool coasters with images of the party leaders on them! It serves another useful function in reminding me what the leaders look like in case the stresses of the day become too much.

1) Finally, my favourite freebie was something from Action for Children (formerly known as NCH). At first, it took me a while to realise what this freebie was – a little something in a small round pouch. But twist the object and it folds out to become a freebie frisbee.

Warning: Do not open this object if you are surrounded by serious policy people and prone to screaming when something flies out in your face unexpectedly.

So there you have it, the final definitive statement on the party conferences. If you have any suggestions for freebies, quirky or serious, that NDCS can be giving out next year, please feel free to let us know.

NDCS campaigns at the party conferences: a post-mortem

The party conferences are now over and I’m back in London, oddly excited by the prospect of spending a whole 5 days in the office.

So was it all worth it? My considered view is yes. I think we, as a small-ish charity, punched above our weight and made a range of new connections that we can now follow up in the coming months. Having tallied the number, we met or accosted 23 MPs, 6 MSPs, the Children’s Commissioner for England, the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, and many other key figures. Of the 23 MPs, we met several senior figures, including the (then) Minister for Disability, Anne McGuire, and shadow Ministers in the Liberal Democrat and Conservative party. We have also have a long list of people to meet in coming weeks who weren’t able to meet with us at the party conference. On the whole, MPs have been receptive and keen to hear from us – and there is a sense that the NDCS ‘brand’ is increasingly better known in political circles.

And, of course, having a young deaf person at the Liberal Democrat party conference made a huge difference. It’s an experiment we’ll be looking to repeat in future years.

But how was it really? The Guardian has an interesting article (warning: this article contains naughty words) on this quotes a man comparing it to a freshers’ week

“Quite exciting, but quite stressful,” he added. “You keep thinking, am I having a good time? Or do I actually want to go home now? You never feel quite sure if people like you or not. And you keep wondering if you’re missing something better going on somewhere else.”

I can sympathise. It’s a very odd feeling to be on edge all the time, like a meerkat looking to see what’s going on 24 hours a day. It’s also a pretty tiring experience to do three times over three weeks. I refer to the conferences as the travelling circus, purely because you to get to meet many of the same lobbyists and charities again. And again. And again. It’s like Groundhog Day. But it was still all very enjoyable. Now that some time has elapsed I’m nearly looking forward to doing the same thing all over again next year!

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.

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.

Party conferences: NDCS’s plans to stalk MPs

The political party conferences are coming up in September. There are where all the MPs and members for each party get together. Depending on the political mood in the party, MPs will be talking about how wonderful it is that the general public seem to like them or wondering what poison to put in their leader’s tea. They have lots of meetings and speeches and debates and pass motions and talk about policy.

The party conferences tend to be in seaside towns, giving MPs the opportunity to stock up on their ‘Kiss-me-quick’ hats. But this year, only the Liberal Democrats are going for a seaside feel by hosting their conference in Bournemouth. Labour are heading to Manchester and the Conservatives are in Birmingham.

As all the MPs for each party are all in one place, it is the best opportunity any campaigns officer gets to lobby lots of people at once. So the party conferences are also full of people like me who go in the aim of persuading key decision makers to support their campaigns. It sometimes rather feels like stalking. Last year, I took this to a new level by going to three meetings where one particular MP was speaking before finally nabbing him as he was leaving the third meeting and asking him to table a motion in Parliament about deaf children and education. I’m pleased to say that my stalking paid off.

And we’ll be doing the same this year. Right now, I’m currently sorting out all the arrangements for this – arranging meetings with MPs, looking up the list of seminars that key MPs will be speaking at, deciding what our key messages will be, sorting out travel/hotel stuff and so on. To complicate things, I also have to sort out the arrangements for my interpreter, who will be accompanying me this year to help with communication support, as well. It makes me long for the gift of time. Or a PA. Or some chocolate biscuits.

To make things a bit different this year, we are taking along a young deaf person with us to one of the party conferences – she is called Laura and you may have been watching this space for her after I blogged about meeting her quite recently in Newbury. The idea is that we give MPs the opportunity to hear from a young deaf person directly about some of the things that matter to them. We’ll see how it goes this time and try and do it all the time in the future. I’m pretty confident that Laura will do a great job and am looking forward to seeing what she thinks of it all.

Look out for more blogging updates on the party conferences and I’ll let you know how it all goes.