Campaigning for deaf children

Battle lost on welfare cuts for deaf people
Campaigning for deaf children The Department for Work and Pensions’ have succeeded in their plans to replace Disability Living Allowance with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for disabled people over 16. The regulations were debated and voted through by Parliament around a month ago. And now many deaf people will lose out. A response from the [...]
Tue, Mar 05 2013

Is this really the right time to push ahead with special...
Campaigning for deaf children Sad parliamentary geeks of the world, rejoice! The long-expected Children and Families Bill has now been published, setting out, amongst other, wide-ranging proposals for reform to the special educational needs framework. This is likely to result in significant changes to how deaf children and their families are supported and educated. If you’re unfamiliar with what...
Mon, Feb 18 2013

Stolen Futures campaign video and why the Government needs...
Campaigning for deaf children Well, today was very exciting. The new campaign video for the National Deaf Children’s Society Stolen Futures campaign was released. It features actor Jim Carter (him off Downton Abbey, not the ex-peacenik-President) and my heroine Dame Evelyn Glennie (her banging the drums at the Olympics). And Jim then appeared on Lorraine this morning to tell [...]
Mon, Feb 11 2013

Welfare cuts targeting deaf people?
Campaigning for deaf children Well, it’s official. The Government thinks that deafness is just a ‘minor’ disability. A piffling little thing of no consequence or cost. Last week, the Government confirmed the arrangements for the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit which is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for disabled people over 16 (DLA is safe for children – [...]
Mon, Dec 17 2012

Deaf access fail at the Department for Work and Pensions
Campaigning for deaf children Imagine someone telling a wheelchair user that the disabled toilets are just up the stairs. You’d think it bonkers. Well, the Department with overall responsibility on disability policy seem to be on well on their way to pulling a similar trick with deaf people. There’s been lots of discussions about how the process for claiming [...]
Fri, Aug 10 2012

Social care safety nets for deaf children to be slashed?
Campaigning for deaf children Most of the time, I can see the logic behind a government policy, even if I don’t personally agree with it. From time to time though, I come across proposals that are just manifestly completely bonkers, shoddy and ill-thought out. And that happened last week when I went to the campaign launch for Every Child [...]
Thu, Aug 02 2012

Stop what you’re doing, sign a petition and helps stop...
Campaigning for deaf children My colleague Jenny caught me talking to myself the other day. I simply reminded her about the importance of internal communication in our office. And in the best spirit of internal communication, I am going to interview myself in this blog. I think I’m sitting comfortably, so here we go. Hello! Do you have 5 minutes [...]
Thu, Jul 26 2012

What does the big special educational needs shake up mean...
Campaigning for deaf children The Department for Education are now full steam ahead with the biggest shake up of the special educational needs framework in England for 30 years. It certainly feels like 30 years since they announced their initial proposals but has actually only less than 2 years. So what will shake up mean for deaf children? Will [...]
Mon, Jul 23 2012

Top of the blogs countdown: a retrospective
Campaigning for deaf children The other day, I realised that I've now written over 300 posts for this blog. Clearly, my ability to waffle knows no limit. So in a fit of nostalgia, I decided to have a look back and rummage through the back end of wordpress to see which of my posts have had the most views. [...]
Fri, Apr 13 2012

Rita Simons and informed choice
Campaigning for deaf children Since everyone else is having their say on last night's BBC documentary Rita Simons: my daughter, deafness and me I thought I would slip in my tuppence. Firstly, that I thought the whole thing really demonstrated the importance of informed choices. Every deaf child is different. My sister is deaf and what worked for me [...]
Wed, Mar 21 2012

Rubbish subtitles: an update
Campaigning for deaf children In the past couple of weeks, I've found myself unexpectedly in the Daily Mail, the Metro, Digital Spy and the Sun. Sadly, it wasn't due to scandal or celebrity mayhem. Instead, with my NDCS hat on, I had put my name to a quote lambasting ITV for their rubbish live subtitles for Dancing on Ice. [...]
Tue, Mar 13 2012

Why I spent my Sunday telling parents of deaf children all...
Campaigning for deaf children It was the question I had been dreading: “Perhaps our visitors could tell us a bit about their experiences with girlfriends when they were younger?” I was at a National Deaf Children's Society Family Weekend to give a short talk about my own personal experiences growing up deaf. This one was for in Chingford, speaking [...]
Thu, Mar 08 2012

Love film but hate lack of online access for deaf people?
Campaigning for deaf children I got an email the other day at work about Lovefilm and the lack of subtitles for deaf people who sign up to their online film streaming service. A father of a deaf daughter was angry that she wasn't able to watch any films online with subtitles. It quickly became apparent via Twitter that this [...]
Thu, Mar 01 2012

Is the Government telling deaf people to PIP off on...
Campaigning for deaf children It took me a while but I finally read through the Department for Work and Pension's consultation on the eligibility criteria for the new benefits for disabled people, Personal Independence Payments. Otherwise known as PIP. To be fair, there were three, rather long documents, to read through to understand what was being proposed. And I'm [...]
Tue, Feb 28 2012

What an ill chicken tells us about deaf access to...
Campaigning for deaf children Sorry, I didn't do a blog yesterday, my chicken was ill. If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about, then clearly you haven't yet watched the BBC3 documentary, Deaf Teens: Hearing World, nor been aware of how a sequence involving a notetaker explaining she couldn't support a deaf student for a whole 2 hours [...]
Tue, Feb 07 2012

Relief as Government protects funding for specialist...
Campaigning for deaf children Last week was full of depressing news about cuts to welfare support for deaf and other disabled children. So it was a relief to get a government announcement towards the end of last week with a glimmer of good news on the education side of things. This was the announcement that the Department for Education [...]
Mon, Feb 06 2012

Did your MP turn their back on deaf children?
Campaigning for deaf children At the bottom of this blog is a depressingly long list of all the MPs who voted to cut benefits for deaf and other disabled children last night in the Welfare Reform Bill debate. Here is a website where you can work out who your MP is if you're not sure. Apparently, you can send [...]
Thu, Feb 02 2012

Government turns their back on deaf children
Campaigning for deaf children One thing that has always made me feel angry is that the way that deaf people are forced to “cope”. Other disabled people are much worse off. But deafness still poses huge barriers. In a civilised society, deaf people shouldn't have to go through life “coping”. Deaf people need support to help them become independent [...]
Wed, Feb 01 2012

Traded services (or how to cut deaf children’s services by...
Campaigning for deaf children A new menace is sweeping specialist support services for deaf children across England and the protagonists claim they're doing so with the Government's approval. It goes by many names. But most people refer to it as “traded services”. Definitions vary. But when I refer to traded services, I refer to it as the practice whereby [...]
Fri, Jan 27 2012

Family sign language video goes global
Campaigning for deaf children NDCS campaigner and proud Dad, Nick Beese, recently did some filming in support of NDCS's Sign Up campaign to ensure all families have access to family sign language. Here's an amazingly sweet clip featuring daughter Ava chatting with her Mum: I'm not alone in loving this video; the video has gone viral on youtube and [...]
Fri, Jan 13 2012

My “Campaigning for Deaf Children” Christmas wish list
Campaigning for deaf children As a campaigner, what would I like Santa Claus to give deaf children for Christmas? 1) Greater focus on making sure deaf children start primary school on a level playing field with other children. The newborn screening programme is now over 5 years in and every child born deaf should be being diagnosed within the [...]
Wed, Dec 21 2011

How I started to lose faith with the Government on deaf...
Campaigning for deaf children I can't really pinpoint the moment when it happened. I started with really high hopes. But slowly, I've personally been getting more and more exasperated with the Government. The trickle of inconsistencies. Assumptions. And, above all, the lack of urgency on protecting help for deaf children when 1 in 5 councils are making cuts to [...]
Fri, Dec 16 2011

Is the Prime Minister keeping his promises on help for...
Campaigning for deaf children One of my favourite campaigning organisations, Every Disabled Child Matters, have launched a new campaign action. They are asking people to write to the Prime Minister to give some good news to families with disabled children for Christmas. In the days before David Cameron was busy pulling hissy fits in Europe, he promised that he [...]
Tue, Dec 13 2011

What are auxiliary aids and why do they matter?
Campaigning for deaf children I was having a rummage around the attic in my parents' house over the weekend and came across a blast from the past: my old radio aids from school. My radio aid clipped onto my belt and had a wire that plugged into my hearing aid. My teachers or my mum would wear a microphone [...]
Tue, Dec 06 2011

Speaking to media about NDCS’s Save Services campaign
Campaigning for deaf children Sometimes I wonder if the N in NDCS stands for nagging, judging by the persistence with which some people have been trying to get me to resume blogging about campaigning for deaf children. Well, NDCS is nothing if not determined. Where have I been? It's been a busy few months. Lots of councils across England [...]
Thu, Dec 01 2011

Prime Minister gives big boost to family sign language
Campaigning for deaf children How many opportunities does a MP get to ask the Prime Minister a question at Prime Minister's Question Time? Not very often, would be my guess. Which is why I'm doubly impressed that Malcolm Bruce MP has now asked two questions in three years focusing on deafness and sign language. Malcolm has a deaf daughter [...]
Tue, Aug 02 2011

Celebrity DJ calls subtitled films at cinema “daft”
Campaigning for deaf children Today gave me a whopping reminder of the power of Twitter in campaigns when “celebrity” DJ, Sara Cox managed to unite the deaf community in anger at some fairly idiotic tweets last night. It's a hard life being Sara. She's goes to the cinema on a date and then, shock horror of horrors, finds the [...]
Wed, Jul 20 2011

Freedom of information? Not for deaf children
Campaigning for deaf children Last week, the Government promised “a quantum leap of transparency” in public services. Good! A bane of my life as a campaigns officer is trying to get information from public bodies, particularly around services for deaf children. Much of the time, I ask for fairly basic information – like how many deaf children are known [...]
Wed, Jul 13 2011

Stopping Stoke from slashing services for deaf children
Campaigning for deaf children A combination of holidays and post-holiday work mean I haven't been blogging for a while. But I think I might break the silence to give an update on the Save Services for Deaf Children campaign in Stoke on Trent. Stoke has been one of the big battlegrounds from the start. 2 years ago, they had [...]
Tue, Jul 12 2011

Saving services for deaf children launch – rolling blog
Campaigning for deaf children 8.26am The focus of today is going to be the “map” that I talked about earlier. On this, we've put everything we know about what each local authority is up to on funding for education services in 2011/12. And it makes for grim reading – 28 local authorities have told us they are making cuts. [...]
Tue, May 10 2011

Deaf Awareness Week – tip number five
Campaigning for deaf children Deaf Awareness Week will be over at the end of this weekend for another year . Sadness, indeed. How was it for you? I think any opportunity to shout out about the simple things that can be done to include and involve deaf people is a good thing. With that in mind, here's my fifth [...]
Fri, May 06 2011

Deaf Awareness Week – tip number four
Campaigning for deaf children Time for another of my own personal deaf awareness tips? Here's my fourth: 4. Never say “it’s not important” Imagine a deaf child struggling to follow what's going on and asking their friends what everyone is talking about, and the response is “it’s not important” or “it doesn't matter”. There are few things more deflating [...]
Thu, May 05 2011

Deaf Awareness Week – tip number three
Campaigning for deaf children How is your Deaf Awareness Week going for you? Are you coping with the excitement? It’s the midway point of my five blogs on my own deaf awareness tips. With no further ado, here’s my third tip. 3. Don’t be a parrot. Yesterday, I blogged that communicating with deaf children and grown ups is all [...]
Wed, May 04 2011

Deaf Awareness Week – tip number two
Campaigning for deaf children It’s day two of deaf awareness week and I’m blogging my own personal deaf awareness tips all week long. Here’s my second: 2. Remember, it’s all about context. I’ve always thought that communicating as a deaf person is a bit like completing a jigsaw. I have hearing aids and when I was younger I had [...]
Tue, May 03 2011

Deaf Awareness Week – tip number one
Campaigning for deaf children Don’t pull down the bunting just yet – it’s Deaf Awareness Week! In the interests of spreading some of that magic “awareness”, I’m going to be blogging this week my top 5 deaf awareness tips. The National Deaf Children’s Society have a definite list in their communication tips flyer but these are my own tips, [...]
Mon, May 02 2011

Campaigning in the local elections for deaf children
Campaigning for deaf children This blog is about the local elections happening in some parts of England on 5th May. No, come back! I'll try and make it interesting! I normally pay little attention to the local elections, even though I'm a self-confessed political geek. This time, I'm making an exception because of the cuts that local councils are [...]
Wed, Apr 27 2011

Councils failing to come clean on cuts to help for deaf...
Campaigning for deaf children I've never been to Stoke on Trent. I can count on the one hand the number of people I personally know who've ever been to Stoke on Trent. Until recently, the most I knew was that they're into their pottery. And now, thanks to their swinging cuts to help for deaf children, I know more [...]
Wed, Apr 20 2011

When things fall on deaf ears in Parliament
Campaigning for deaf children I've set up an alert with the lovely people at theyworkforyou.com so that whenever a politician mentions the word ‘deaf', I get an email alert. I'm thinking of setting up some system where a big red flashing light comes up whenever deafness is uttered in the Houses of Parliament and I'm propelled into a deafmobile [...]
Fri, Apr 15 2011

Learning to talk to media
Campaigning for deaf children I had media training last week. I was done over by a proper hardcore TV journalist at the end of the day and then forced to listen to myself on tape afterwards. My first thought was that whilst I sound like a sophisticated metro kinda guy in my head, on tape, I'm very deep and [...]
Wed, Apr 13 2011

Why deaf people have terrible haircuts
Campaigning for deaf children I hate having my hair cut. I have always hated having my hair cut. I go as rarely as I have to and consequently people rarely ever say to me “ooh, that's a nice ‘do”. I always have to take my hearing aid off when I have my haircut. Hairdressers then always try to make [...]
Tue, Mar 29 2011

Campaign to fight cuts to help for deaf children gets local
Campaigning for deaf children Campaigning for deaf children at the moment basically means fighting cuts and saving services. Which is quite demoralising. And it also means a lot of the time, for various reasons, I can't really talk about what I'm up to. I'm bursting with outrageous information that I've got to keep confidential. Well, today, that changed when [...]
Thu, Mar 24 2011

Making jokes about deaf children
Campaigning for deaf children Ahh, Comic Relief. I settled down on Friday night for an evening of mirth and doughnuts. As the clock approached midnight, Jimmy Carr appeared on the telly. Ahh, I love Jimmy, I thought. Time for another doughnut. What followed was so unexpected that my cleaner is still wiping the doughnut stains off the wall. Yes, [...]
Wed, Mar 23 2011

Stuck in the 80s – deaf access to telecomms
Campaigning for deaf children Imagine that it's still 1981 and all technological progress has just stopped. So no i-phones – everyone is still walking around with a brick-like phone looking like a muppet. No 3D cinemas. Just 4 channels on the telly. Subtitles only available on Blue Peter and Eastenders. Deaf children still wearing a box around their waist [...]
Tue, Mar 08 2011

Does the Government know what they’re doing on benefits and...
Campaigning for deaf children Time for a confession – I'm what the tabloid newspapers would call a benefits scrounger. Yes, I receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Been receiving it since I was a child. So what do I use my Disability Living Allowance for? Well, obviously, I use it for to pay for wild reckless parties, luxury holidays, a [...]
Sun, Mar 06 2011

What about deaf children with additional needs?
Campaigning for deaf children Deaf children are a mixed bunch. Different levels of hearing losses, different communication approaches, etc. do literally mean that every deaf child is different. Some of them don't even like listening to Lady Gaga. Complicating matters is that a high proportion of deaf children have additional needs, and these numbers are growing. Trying to get [...]
Thu, Mar 03 2011

Helping deaf children in Gambia
Campaigning for deaf children Another former NDCS intern is going on to big amazing things. Anton Venus, who was helping us in the campaigns team last year and generally being exceedingly helpful, is off to Gambia to work with a deaf organisation over there on a VSO project. It's my job to moan about provision for deaf children in [...]
Wed, Feb 23 2011

How deaf friendly are banks?
Campaigning for deaf children I had one of my angry deaf moments last week. It took me a while to work out who I was most angry with. Sainsburys Bank for swallowing my debit card? Or my own bank, First Direct, for being completely useless and deaf unfriendly? In the end, First Direct won hands down. To my discredit, [...]
Tue, Feb 22 2011

So you think emailing your MP is a waste of time?
Campaigning for deaf children Well, I think the 38 Degrees grassroots campaigning organisation have convincingly proved otherwise. After a barrage of emails and letters from angry constituents to MPs on the Government's plans to sell off the forests, the Government decided to think again. MPs listened and they forced the Government to listen too. You could say that they [...]
Fri, Feb 18 2011

Good news on academies and help for deaf children
Campaigning for deaf children Clearly this blog is very influential and being read by people at the heart of Government. Because within a fortnight of my blog about academies and deaf children, the Government took action to respond to concerns on this. Bucks Fizz all round! The risk was that deaf children in academies wouldn't get the help they [...]
Thu, Feb 10 2011

Cuts watch survey – protecting services for deaf children
Campaigning for deaf children One of the key parts of my job – besides drinking gratuitous amounts of sugary tea – is collecting evidence to support our campaign work. And with the cuts coming, NDCS has been doing a lot of work over the past month to develop a survey using some fancy survey monkey software. No actual monkeys [...]
Tue, Feb 01 2011