Newsletter Summer 2012

Transcription

1 Iform Newsletter Summer 2012 Fife s first Diversity Week New partership to trasform sesory services Deaf with Demetia project Bumper Deaf Awareess Week i Scotlad

2 CONTENTS News Fudig to make Self Directed Support (SDS) accessible New partership to trasform sesory services The importace of Healthy Deaf Mids Fife s first Diversity Week Improved accessibility i Perth Traiig i Digwall We are Ivestors i People Lotto wi i Aberdeeshire Iteratioal Coectios News from North Korea Services We wat to talk to you! Cookig up a storm i Fife Visitig Dr Doolittle at Dubar Sciece Festival Deaf with Demetia project Welcome to our Summer Iform 2012 What a year 2012 is shapig up to be; we re developig services i Aberdeeshire, itroducig ew courses at our Learig Cetre ad cotiuig to raise awareess throughout Scotlad. Ad so far this year we have bee doig lots to raise awareess ad keep sesory eeds at the forefrot of everyoe s mid; we celebrated a bumper Deaf Awareess Week, see page 11, participated i Fife s first Diversity Week, page 5, ad facilitated a itesive two week traiig sessio with medical studets i Dudee, more details o page 11. Our members of staff are kept very busy at all times so it was extra ice to be awarded a Ivestors i People accreditatio this year too! You ca read all about that o page 6. We do hope you ejoy our suy Iform editio, as always, we welcome all your feedback ad iput. Please do get i touch if you would like to share ay ews for our ext editio; cotact Jea Burke, Marketig Officer at jea.burke@deafactio.org or Commuity Developmet Free courses debut i Argyll & Bute Out & About with Soud Sese Drivig i BSL Makig a differece i Aberdeeshire Social Eterprise Bumper Deaf Awareess Week i Scotlad Traiig with medical studets Cograts to our ewly qualified iterpreters Comig Up New courses Social work duty chages Voluteer with us You ca also keep up with all of our ews ad evets olie at or fid us o Facebook, Twitter ad YouTube. Help us to embrace greeer optios by requestig your future copies of Iform via . If you o loger wish to receive a copy, please let us kow ad we will remove you from our mailig list. 2

3 News New fudig to make Self Directed Support (SDS) accessible Big chages are happeig withi the world of social care with the itroductio of the Self Directed Support (SDS) Bill. SDS offers people greater choice i the services ad care that they receive. Deaf Actio, workig together with Fife Society for the Blid, is developig a atiowide traiig programme for people with sesory eeds throughout Scotlad to icrease kowledge ad uderstadig of self directed support. I order to support the atioal strategy for SDS i Scotlad, Deaf Actio ad Fife Society for the Blid will implemet a three-proged approach to eablig people with a sesory loss to direct their ow support, this icludes: creatig accessible resources, traiig advocates to provide peer support ad developig a iformatio helplie, staffed by traied people with sesory eeds to provide support ad deal with queries. The fudig will also allow the orgaisatios to promote a wider awareess of SDS throughout Scotlad for those with sesory eeds by offerig traiig to care ad iformatio providers ad orgaisatios that will be carryig out assessmets for SDS Liz Scott Gibso, Chief Executive of Deaf Actio, commeted o the fudig award: We are delighted to be part of a cosortium to lead awareess ad kowledge of the very importat Self Directed Support Bill. It is vital that deaf, blid ad deafblid commuities are give full access to the rage of materials already available o SDS. SDS is the persoalisatio of health ad social care services ad will affect everyoe who curretly receives some form of support from their local coucil. It is imperative that all members of the commuity, icludig those with hearig ad sight loss, are fully aware of ay chages beig discussed or implemeted. 3

4 News New partership to trasform sesory services Deaf Actio is lauchig a ew Joit Sesory Partership together with RNIB Scotlad that will ehace idepedet livig for key groups of people with a hearig or sight loss across Ediburgh ad Lothia. Workig closely with NHS Lothia ad the regio s four local authorities the service will address sesory eeds i ethic miority groups, childre with sesory loss ad their families ad hidde sesory loss experieced by, for example, people who have a learig difficulty, demetia, stroke or people livig i a care home. The service will raise awareess of sesory eeds ad develop traiig for commuity groups ad health ad social care staff, i additio to producig a toolkit with advice ad iformatio o local support groups. Deaf Actio ad RNIB will also work with employers, jobseekers ad employmet agecies across the regio to ehace the job prospects of people with sesory loss. Support will iclude cofidece-buildig, developig IT skills, ad helpig with CV ad job applicatios. Nic Goodwi, Head of Services, commeted: This Sesory Project will greatly ehace the stadard of livig for a huge variety of people i additio to promotig idepedece ad a joied up etwork of support. The importace of Healthy Deaf Mids Deaf Actio was pleased to host Scotlad s first Healthy Deaf Mids (HDM) evets. The meetigs took place i Ediburgh ad Glasgow i November, Jauary ad March. The HDM project, fuded by see me ad orgaised by Helga McGilp, focused o establishig a commuity group iterested or ivolved i metal health to ru ope meetigs. A iitial meetig itroduced the project ad set the agedas for future evets. The first topic focusig o me s metal health, titled Are me allowed to cry?, was very well received with several attedees sharig their ow persoal experieces. The secod meetig looked at how deafess ca affect your health, called Does beig Deaf make you ill?, it reiforced the importace of accessible iformatio ad clear commuicatio. Feedback from the evets highlighted the eed to establish HDM as a regular meetig. It is hoped that more fudig will be secured to see the project cotiue i Scotlad. We ll keep you updated o future developmets. 4

5 News Fife s first Diversity Week Fife Sesory Impairmet Cetre, which icludes Deaf Actio, hosted a Diversity Day i March to coicide with Fife s first Diversity Week. The evet ecouraged visitors to lear more about various commuicatio formats. Staff were o had to demostrate Braille, tactile graphics, audio formats, British Sig Laguage ad other forms of commuicatio. Brya Marshall, a Deaf BSL user workig at Deaf Actio, commeted: Havig access to commuicatio support ad accessible iformatio is crucial for deaf people. Evets like this are brilliat at brigig people together to fid out about the array of services that ca help people live idepedet lives. The Diversity Week, orgaised by Fife Coucil ad other orgaisatios icludig NHS Fife ad Fife Costabulary, was created to showcase services ad promote ad celebrate diversity i Fife i additio to challegig perceptios. We re already lookig forward to takig part i ext year s evet! Improved accessibility i Perth Earlier this year local Perth residets Hazel Murray ad Roald Burs were istrumetal i itroducig subtitles to their local ciema, the Perth Playhouse. They wated to access their ow local ciema so decided to do somethig about it! We asked Hazel ad Roald to share their successful campaig with us. How did the Perth Playhouse respod to your request? They were kee to fid out more about subtitles ad how to go about makig a start. At the first meetig we explaied what it is like to be deaf, how each perso is differet with differet levels of deafess ad why subtitles are importat. After that we kept i touch ad evetually they got the techology! What differece do subtitled films make? Subtitles are importat to all deaf people o matter what the level of deafess. Just imagie what it s like to watch films ad ot uderstad what s happeig. Imagie lipreadig Spiderma? His whole head is covered! What about lipreadig a aimated fish such as Nemo? Quite ofte deaf people will just watch the pictures ad guess the stories or wait util the DVDs are out because DVDs have subtitles. Loop systems may work for some people but ot always. Subtitles ecourage more deaf people to visit their local ciema. Do you have ay tips or advice for other people that would like to ask their ow ciema for subtitles? We get a idea, we discuss what to do ad take actio. Do your research, type up ad gather materials eeded to support what you wat. Have the cofidece to approach people ad get the ball rollig. We approach people ad make chages rather tha wait for someoe else. You ca do aythig if you put your mid to it. Oce you ve achieved somethig, spread the word! We got i touch with the local ewspapers ad we used facebook to cotact deaf frieds, groups ad orgaisatios. Well doe to Hazel ad Roald, we re sure there are may people i Perth ejoyig subtitled films! 5

6 News Traiig i Digwall We have bee workig with approximately 20 school childre, both deaf ad hearig, from Digwall Academy. We orgaised traiig sessios to focus o deaf awareess, commuicatio support, workig with a iterpreter ad bookig commuicatio support. The traiig for school-goers aged has received very positive feedback ad we are i the process of orgaisig regular traiig sessios at the school. Digwall Academy was the first school i Scotlad to offer British Sig Laguage (BSL) as a alterative to the traditioal laguage optios; it also offers courses i deaf studies to develop uderstadig of deaf culture. We are Ivestors i People The past few years have bee very busy for us; we ve expaded ito ew regios, developed ew services ad icreased the variety of traiig courses we provide, all of these developmets would ot have bee possible without our dedicated staff! Followig a assessmet i March this year we were delighted to receive the Ivestors i People (IIP) Broze Award Sice 2003, Deaf Actio has bee accredited with Ivestors i People Stadard, which is built o four priciples: commitmet, plaig, actio ad evaluatio. All of these priciples are i lie with our policies ad esure that Deaf Actio keep focused o our overall aims. Lotto wi i Aberdeeshire IT Traiig, Soud Advice, First Aid ad Health ad Safety are just some of the courses soo to be delivered i Aberdeeshire. With fudig from Awards for All, a Lottery grats scheme, we will preset a diverse ad iformative programme of courses specially desiged for deaf, deafeed ad hard of hearig people. A huge part of stayig coected i a moder world meas gettig coected olie. Computers ca be ivaluable i accessig services but remai a dautig prospect to may, which is why a IT course has bee created for hard of hearig people. The course, delivered by people with a hearig loss, will cover all the basics eeded to get people workig cofidetly with computers ad explorig the Iteret. It is estimated that there are over 41,000 people with a hearig loss i Aberdeeshire. Susa Gibso, Commuity Services Maager at Deaf Actio, commeted: We are delighted to be extedig our services ad are hopig to reach aroud 100 people with our programme of free courses ad evets. Aother such course is Soud Advice, ot oly ope to people with a acquired hearig loss but also to frieds, family or carers, the course will tackle subjects such as commuicatio tactics, hearig aids, access to work, commuicatio support ad cofidece buildig. I additio to these courses, Deaf Actio will facilitate a series of evets for Deaf British Sig Laguage (BSL) users. These evets will cover a variety of topics for example: Healthy Eatig, Fire Safety i the home ad First Aid. For may BSL users throughout the shire it will be their first opportuity to atted a class i their first laguage i their ow local area. 6

7 Iteratioal Coectios News from North Korea I July 2010, Liz Scott Gibso i her capacity as the Presidet of the World Associatio of Sig Laguage Iterpreters accompaied the the Presidet of the World Federatio of the Deaf (WFD) Markku Jokie to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK - North Korea) to meet with represetatives of the Korea Federatio for the Protectio of People with Disabilities (KFPD) ad members of the Deaf commuity. Sice the, with the support of the British Embassy i Pyogyag, ad the Germa o govermetal orgaisatio TOGETHER Educatioal Cetre for Deaf, Blid, ad Nodisabled Childre Hamhug, work has bee o-goig to establish sig laguage ad iterpreter traiig i the DPRK. I February 2012, Liz was ivited to joi the DPRK delegatio o their visit to Helsiki, Filad to sig a Memoradum of Uderstadig betwee the KFPD ad the WFD. It was a historic ad memorable occasio ad the documet which was siged highlighted the importace of co-operatio to the mutual beefit of deaf commuities throughout the world. Liz was able to take some iterpreter teachig materials to pass o to the DPRK traiers ad would like to thak her colleagues i Scotlad who kidly doated them. Work o iterpreter traiig is developig very fast i the DPRK ad we are delighted to wish them every success. Deaf with Demetia project Followig from Deaf Actio s Demetia ad Deafess Study published i 2005; our social work team are delighted to have bee ivited to participate i a study to improve early diagosis ad maagemet of demetia amog Deaf people who use British Sig Laguage (BSL). The project is maaged by The Uiversity of Machester. Frakie McLea, Deaf Actio s Social Worker, sits o the steerig group for the project ad told us more about it. Services There are three studies associated with the project: A study of ormal ageig amogst Deaf BSL users A study of Deaf people with a diagosis of demetia ad their carers to explore their experieces of livig with the illess A study to explore the uderstadig ad attitudes towards demetia i the Deaf commuity Frakie will keep us updated o how the project progresses. We are hopeful the that the fidigs of the project will lead the way for better services ito deafess with demetia, ad look forward to further developmets. 7

8 Services We wat to talk to you! Did you kow that our specialist equipmet team are dedicated to raisig awareess ad orgaisig free talks ad presetatios? Throughout the year we visit commuity groups, icludig lip readig ad hard of hearig groups, sheltered housig complexes ad orgaisatios. These friedly ad iformal talks help to raise awareess about hearig loss. Topics iclude hearig aids, the impact of deafess, specialist equipmet ad services available to improve the quality of life for deaf people. Over the last year we have give 25 talks with 455 people attedig. If you are part of a church, volutary or commuity group, get i touch with us ad we will happily arrage a talk for you. Cookig up a storm i Fife Sice our last ewsletter we have held cookery classes from our Kirkcaldy office. We held three classes i British Sig Laguage that ecouraged people to thik about healthy eatig ad to demostrate how easy ad ejoyable cookig ca be. There was a differet focus for each class icludig fish, curry ad vegetables. The course proved popular with a fiished meal to ejoy at the ed of every class. Visitig Dr Doolittle at Dubar Sciece Festival I March some staff ad cliets from our Support Services took a trip to the Dubar SciFest at Dubar Primary School. The sciece festival was otable for its accessibility features; the orgaisers were kee to make the festival accessible for deaf people ad arraged iterpreters for stage shows ad talks. Deaf preseters also participated at the SciFest givig talks o Galloway Wildlife Park ad chemistry shows. Our group were lucky eough to atted the presetatio give by Deaf Dr Doolittle, Joh Deerley, ad the presetatio about the Galloway Wildlife Park. The talk proved very educatioal; we leared all about the red padas ad about how two of them had escaped whe a tree blew dow i a storm. We held peacock ad pheasat feathers ad heard that sakes shed their ski every moth. The talk was very well atteded by deaf people ad has ispired us to hopefully pla a trip to the wildlife park later this year. 8

9 Out & About with Soud Sese Commuity Developmet Free courses debut i Argyll & Bute From March to May this year we itroduced two ew free courses to Argyll ad Bute. Our Soud Advice traiig, suitable for people with a acquired hearig loss, took place i Duoo ad Helesburgh. The course allowed people to get together to discuss their hearig loss i additio to providig advise ad support o carig for your hearig aid, fidig out about equipmet ad practisig commuicatio tactics. Workig with Visability, a charity that supports visually impaired people, we delivered our Positive Steps course i Duoo, Helesburgh, Campbeltow, Oba, Lochgilphead ad Bute. Both courses gave people the opportuity to come together ad meet people with a shared experiece. We offer a befriedig service throughout Dudee to deaf people aged 16+ who are experiecig difficulties or isolatio. Befrieders are voluteers that receive specialist traiig ad support from us ad will provide compaioship to people whe eeded. We recetly orgaised a day out for our befriedig group ad ejoyed a fu filled day at Dudee McMaus Museum. The voluteers ad cliets were treated to a walk aroud the recetly refurbished buildig ad the exhibitios iside. The museum is very accessible ad provided a fasciatig look ito the history of Dudee. Barbara, oe of our voluteer befrieders, was surprised to discover such a promiet coectio betwee Dudee ad Idia. Davia, Soud Sese cliet, praised the display of Old Dudee ad was amazed at the pictures of the city she kew as a child. I am astoished at the pictures of Dudee, it was like beig youg agai. I m so thakful to the project for helpig me come to see the museum; it has brought back some fod memories of my childhood. The day was a great success ad ejoyed by all. Drivig i BSL From our Learig Cetre i Ediburgh we are excited to itroduce a ew free course for Deaf BSL users; Drivig Theory i BSL. This 15 week course bega i April ad takes place each Friday. The course will cover a rage of topics icludig: alertess, safety, hazard warigs, vulerable road users, types of vehicles, motorway drivig, rules of the road, accidets ad road ad traffic sigs. We have also arraged a umber of guest speakers to share their kowledge, for example, Lothia ad Borders Police will discuss the law, drivig safely ad drik ad drugs ad The Chartered Isurace Istitute will look at the basics of isurace, the differece betwee a cover ote ad the schedule of isurace ad the certificate of isurace. We look forward to receivig feedback from our attedees! 9

10 Commuity Developmet Makig a differece i Aberdeeshire At the ed of March, we celebrated two years of workig i Aberdeeshire. Earlier this year we asked Tia Stephe about how our service i Aberdeeshire works for her; here she shares her experiece with us. How did you fid out about Deaf Actio? I previously had cotact with Aberdee Deaf Cetre ad was t aware that the cetre had closed. I had bee tryig to cotact them for over three years ad I was a little frustrated. Whe I was speakig to my solicitor she looked it up ad foud Deaf Actio s website; she phoed ad discovered the local office i Iverurie. I was the cotacted via about a appoitmet. I did t receive ay support at all before Deaf Actio ad was oly give a Textphoe but that has bee broke for over three years ad I had bee tryig to get that replaced. What Deaf Actio services have you used? Deaf Actio staff have come to visit me to see what help I eed. They offered to replace the Textphoe, doorbell ad fire alarm. I fid it very helpful ad I am happy with the icreased security i my home for my childre s beefit; they are my umber oe priority. Ca you tell us how you use this equipmet? It helps to build my cofidece by havig a Textphoe where I ca deal with equires; it meas I do t eed to ask my older so to speak o my behalf. I ca type/speak ad get thigs resolved quickly by myself. But I do get agry whe some people hag up the phoe if they ca t deal with the operator speakig while I type o scree. The fire alarm helps me with security ad my family s safety which is importat for me. The flashig doorbell ad phoeflash makes me aware if someoe is at the door or if the phoe rigs ad I ca take this with me to the top bedroom or outdoors. I would like the whole house to have flashig lights istalled. Are there ay services you would like to see i your area? I would like to meet with others oce a moth but at the momet the time is t suitable for me. Ad I would like to help set up group for get togethers i the eveigs or outigs. Thaks Tia for sharig your story with us! Share your story If, like Tia, you would like to share your story with us please do get i touch. We love to fid out about the people we work with ad we hope it ispires others to use our services ad talk about their experieces. We are curretly lookig for people all over Scotlad to tell us how they use our service; you may eve feature o our ew website or perhaps you will be the star of our ext ewsletter! To fid out more about sharig your story cotact: Jea Burke, Marketig Officer at jea.burke@deafactio.org or

11 Social Eterprise Traiig with medical studets Bumper Deaf Awareess Week i Scotlad We were delighted to celebrate a bumper Deaf Awareess Week 2012 which took place from 7-13 May. To highlight the week we took our Deaf Actio Iformatio Stall out ad about to educate people ad we held two BSL taster sessios to get people sigig. Towards the ed of May we facilitated a two week traiig course for medical studets from The Uiversity of Dudee; we have bee providig this traiig for over five years. Fourtee studets participated i a programme that icluded a itroductio to British Sig Laguage (BSL), a visit to the deaf base at a local school, traiig o how to work with a iterpreter ad a sessio o the importace of commuicatio support. The traiig also itroduced equipmet for deaf people ad gave the studets the opportuity to meet with members of the Deaf commuity to lear about persoal experieces of accessig medical care i Dudee. Feedback o our medical traiig course is always very positive, here is what oe attedee had to share: I was able to use my BSL last week durig the cliic. A child came i with a cochlear implat that he does t like wearig whe visitig the doctor, so he had take it off. I the bega sigig to him, itroducig myself ad askig what age he was ad where he lived. The doctor was very impressed ad commeted that the approach had made the patiet relax. Deaf Awareess Week is all about ecouragig people to thik about commuicatio ad cosider the 1 i 5 people throughout Scotlad that live with some degree of hearig loss. Over 30 people atteded our Ediburgh ad Dudee office to participate i a free itroductio to British Sig Laguage (BSL). We held stalls at two housig complexes, oe hospital, oe shoppig cetre, a voluteer cetre, four libraries ad oe bigo hall! Staff haded out iformatio, aswered queries ad helped people uderstad a little more about deaf awareess all i all a very triumphat week! Cograts to our ewly qualified iterpreters Cogratulatios to Juliet Housto ad Gill Wood both of which are ow fully qualified British Sig Laguage (BSL)/ Eglish Iterpreters registered with the Scottish Associatio of Sig Laguage Iterpreters (SASLI). Both Juliet ad Gill have bee workig with Deaf Actio for a umber of years ad we have bee very happy to support them i gaiig their qualificatio. Juliet is based at our Dudee office ad Gill works out of our Ediburgh base. 11

12 Comig Up New courses comig your way Our ext roud of British Sig Laguage (BSL) courses, i both Ediburgh ad Dudee, are scheduled to commece i August If you ca t wait that log the you should defiitely sig up to our pre-level courses are desiged for studets who wat extra support ad the opportuity to improve their skills before commecig to the ext level. A full list of our traiig timetable ca be foud o our website or o our Facebook page. Social work duty chages I Ediburgh we have recetly chaged our Social Work Duty. There will be o duty time o a Moday. Our Thursday duty time, from 12-2pm, remais the same. If you eed to see a social worker you ca call for a appoitmet at ay time. Cotact our Head Office to book; Tel: , SMS: admi@deafactio.org All kids of people voluteer with us! We are always lookig for ethusiastic voluteers for our charity shop ad our offices. If you ca spare three hours a week the we wat to meet you! If you would like to fid out more about voluteerig with us, cotact us today. Registered Address: Deaf Actio, 49 Albay Street, Ediburgh EH1 3QY Tel: Text: Fax: SMS: Videophoe: admi@deafactio.org Web: Deaf Actio is a compay limited by guaratee ad registered i Scotlad. Registered Charity Number SC Registered Compay Number SC Tel: admi@deafactio.org SMS: DESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY SHAW MARKETING AND DESIGN