The Regency

My complaint to the BBC about Panorama.
The Regency This programme had very serious problems with misleading information and reckless language. These problems are too numerous for me to set out in full, so I will provide two examples: Firstly, the programme referred to a figure of 'twenty-two billion pounds.' This not only conflated fraud with error but also included fraud across all government departments. This is gro...
Sun, Nov 06 2011

Atos - an Organisation that carries out its Business in a...
The Regency Many years ago at school there was a small group of us in what was known as a PHU or ‘partially hearing unit.’ This was a specialist classroom for the deaf and hard of hearing kids. During playtimes and lunchtimes we would go out into the ‘general’ areas – the playground, canteen, etc, and mix with the hearing kids. One day there was a minor incident in which a deaf ...
Sun, Aug 21 2011

Canute against Disablism.
The Regency I’m a bit frazzled mentally at the moment, but it’s ‘blogging against disablism’ day, so I think I had better write something!Sometimes hate propaganda can cause the victims to start to believe what is stated. If such propaganda is constantly drummed into you with little or no challenge, this can happen quite easily, especially if fear mutes response.One thing that is...
Sun, May 01 2011

Draft Letter to RNID Trustees
The Regency Removed from the See Hear board for being 'off topic.' I think I'll put it up again.DearI am a deaf member of RNID and I am writing to express my unease at a number of ways in which the charity operates. My first concern is that of accountability at RNID. The standard response that I have been given by independent parties is that I should liaise with the board. After ...
Mon, Jan 17 2011

Overwhelmed by the Cuts and Lack of Equality
The Regency From Ouch!Most everyone who is disabled will have times when they feel less of a person, like they are too much trouble to other people, like they wish there could magically be some way where they did not get made to feel a burden.Right now I feel so overwhelmed by what the Cuts the tories announced are going to do to disabled people like myself and those worse off th...
Sat, Oct 23 2010

Another great post...
The Regency From Ouch! Wheelthing said:I thought New Labour had plumbed the depths of depravity with their attacks on disabled people; attacks which gave a green light to rags such as the Daily Heil to run what are nothing more than an open-season on disabled people.It transpires that New Labour has merely given pointers for this nasty coalition to really attack us. We are now li...
Fri, Aug 13 2010

Emotional Recovery
The Regency I've been pretty depressed lately. So many people charged with the responsibility of defending deaf and disabled people from persecution, who instead let us down so badly. RNID, the EHRC, the Liberal Democrats and Danny Alexander. Sheesh, I'm minded to quote a bit of St Paul, even as a soft atheist who is no great fan of his.If I speak in the tongues of men and of ang...
Sat, Jul 10 2010

Equality and Human Rights Commission master Fakers.
The Regency As the RNID have, in my opinion, been woefully delinquent in protecting deaf people from the evil menace of welfare reform, I have been forced to take up the matter with the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Unfortunately, these fakers seem to care even less than RNID. Below is my final correspondence:My Letter:Dear ,Background.I recently wrote to you by e-mail to...
Sat, Jun 26 2010

On Equality.
The Regency I believe you will now often see in modern life the habit of people putting forward a new principle of some sort and then simply carry on as if it is established and reasonable. One such principle is a naive and simplistic notion of ‘equality;’ the fanciful idea that it is fair to treat everybody equally and that will bring about equality of outcome. Will it? Let’s te...
Mon, Jun 07 2010

EHRC "Priorities."
The Regency Now I can see why the Equality and Human Rights Commission is standing by and doing nothing while disabled people are persecuted by the government's welfare reform, which pretends to help disabled people into work. They are too busy standing up instead for the human rights of criminals: [link]
Sun, May 16 2010

How Labour will Crucify Disabled People.
The Regency Benefits and Work link."The shock plans for ‘simplifying’ the work capability assessment, drawn up by a DWP working group, include docking points from amputees who can lift and carry with their stumps. Claimants with speech problems who can write a sign saying, for example, ‘The office is on fire!’ will score no points for speech and deaf claimants who can read the s...
Tue, Apr 13 2010

Has charity forgotten who it is for?
The Regency You may be pleased to learn that the Third Sector now has a forum. I thought that it was only fair to be able to make my point there. Below is my latest response, please feel to chip in; we could always do with some more support to ram-rod these points home.The ‘best person for the job’ argument is a tired old chestnut that most certainly does not convince me. I think...
Wed, Feb 03 2010

The Rudeness of RNID Trustees.
The Regency I wrote individual letters to the new trustees of RNID a few months ago, explaining that I was a deaf member and pointing out that I would like to see an improvement in RNID's record on employing deaf people and on their accountability to deaf people. Not one trustee replied.Clearly they think that we should be seen and not heard. Hang on, I'm not even sure that they ...
Mon, Feb 01 2010

RNID's new focus: Hear to help themselves.
The Regency It was reported in the Third Sector in November of last year that RNID intends to refocus its corporate strategy, concentrating more on the prevention of hearing loss. This raises a number of interesting questions:Why did we find out about it after the fact? Deaf people have communication difficulties so I would have thought that it would have been politic to first co...
Sun, Jan 17 2010

Charity Commission
The Regency One of the particularly ugly hallmarks of the ‘New Labour’ government is their propensity to ignore established principles, such as non ‘conflict of interest,’ the ‘right to be heard’ and many others. One way in which they do this is to wave the word ‘debate’ around as if it is a magic wand that can make these pesky principles disappear. Wearing a mask of pseudo- inn...
Wed, Jul 08 2009

Solidarity.
The Regency I was reading a 'disability' messageboard recently and came across the following fine comment:It is shocking how often the people who surround the disabled will attempt to exert power and be abusive. Power over what they will provide - even if you know of a better and cheaper option - power over how you are to be perceived and represented, even if you can do a better ...
Thu, Jun 25 2009

Debate and Logical Fallacy.
The Regency One of the things that I find quite fascinating is the study of the use of logical fallacies. You might very well think that I am a bit of a nerd and not share my enthusiasm at all, such is the nature of subjective things. However, regardless of whether you find it interesting, I think the importance will always hold. When somebody causes another to arrive at an impro...
Thu, May 28 2009

Communicating with Deaf People - RNID Style.
The Regency One of the things that I have repeatedly suggested to RNID over the past few years is that they take advantage of the internet to communicate with deaf people. Does this not make sense? Deaf people can have communication problems; the internet is a useful and increasingly popular tool for communication and RNID is here to make the world a better place for us. So natu...
Thu, Apr 23 2009

RNID - Co-op "Charity of the Year"!
The Regency Now that RNID have been chosen as charity of the year, not by deaf people, of course, but by the CO-OP (who didn’t ask us, of course,) they have launched a fund raiding pack with details of what the money will pay for. They have left out a few details, so I have helpfully filled them in for you at the end of the list.£50 Provides a basic toolkit for a Hear to Help vol...
Thu, Mar 12 2009

Have you ever challenged a person's or an organisation's...
The Regency At the RNID website they have a page entitled ‘Have you ever challenged a person's or an organisation's attitude to hearing loss?’The answer to that question is a loud thumping ‘yes’, I most certainly have. In fact, this blog was set up for that very purpose – to challenge RNID’s appalling attitude to hearing loss. Their page goes into a bit more detail about what inf...
Tue, Feb 24 2009

Consultation, RNID style.
The Regency There’s been a bit of brouhaha in Deaf Wales recently because from February 6th 2009, ITV Wales plans to stop broadcasting British Sign Language (BSL) headlines in its news programme Wales Tonight. Some Deaf people decided to kick up a fuss about this, contacting their AMs, prompting a discussion at the Welsh Assembly and organising a petition. I’m sure you will agre...
Tue, Feb 10 2009

The Royal National Institute for Women.
The Regency Hello, allow me to introduce myself. I am Tim, the chief executive of the RNIW (the Royal National Institute for Women.) We are the largest charity representing the 40 million women in the UK. We aim to make the world a better place for women.I acknowledge that my RNIW appointment has caused a certain amount of consternation among some ranks of the charity's membershi...
Fri, Feb 06 2009

RNID and Discrimination.
The Regency One of the principles that RNID like to adhere to is that of non-discrimination. They tend to state that they will always pick the ‘best person for the job irrespective of disability.’ Outwardly this sounds very noble and high-minded, but of course the real test is whether or not it withstands a close examination based on facts and reason. Once you have peeled away th...
Sun, Jan 11 2009

RNID New Trustees.
The Regency RNID recently announced that they have co-opted five new trustees onto the board. I don't seem to recognise any of these names from the deaf world. Can anybody enlighten us? Are they deaf or hoh? What is their connection/interest to/in deaf people?From what little information there is, it doesn't sound as if they have that grassroots empathy with deaf people and thus ...
Thu, Dec 11 2008

Different rules for Deaf People?
The Regency When people talk about the importance of better representation for minorities or women, it’s very clear exactly what they mean – to actually increase the numbers of the relevant people in the places where they are underrepresented. So if there are not enough women or ethnic minorities in Parliament, for example, they will try to increase the numbers. Yet when it i...
Sat, Dec 06 2008

Feedback from the Trustees.
The Regency If you look to your left, there is a link named ‘Ouch!’ under the heading ‘The Issue.’ The first post was a letter that I sent to all the RNID trustees some time ago which identifies my two main areas of concern. The first paragraph talks of the need for deaf people to have a say or suffrage at RNID. In respect of feedback on this issue I have some good news and bad n...
Thu, Dec 04 2008

UK Council on Deafness 2008 Annual Conference - speech by...
The Regency If you were disappointed by the Ballard Interview then I’m afraid Ms Ballard’s latest speech will not provide much relief. She opens by saying that RNID ‘has a proud and long history as an organisation,’ which makes me wonder if she has read ‘Really not interested in the Deaf’ by Doug Alker, a former chief executive of RNID. I don’t want to get too distracted by the...
Thu, Dec 04 2008

The Ballard Interview – the Mother of all Disappointments.
The Regency I had hoped to be pleasantly surprised by the Ballard Interview, but instead we got the same old predictable mish-mash of evasions and excuses. Ms Ballard certainly did not come across as the champion of deaf people who fights tooth and nail for our voice and empowerment. She came across as somebody who has jettisoned the high principles she held when she campaigned f...
Thu, Dec 04 2008

RNID agrees with us!
The Regency I was thinking recently about the few times that RNID have commented on the specific things we complain about and the strange thing which occurred to me was that they actually agree with us. One of our main complaints is that they do not employ enough deaf and hoh people at senior management level. At present they only have one (allegedly.) When John Low was inter...
Thu, Dec 04 2008

RNID “Your say.”
The Regency I was looking at the RNID’s website recently and came across a brand new glossy page with the slogan ‘your say’: Member CommunityMy first thought was ‘oh my goodness! Could it just be possible that RNID are finally listening and giving deaf people or at least their members the right to express their opinion?’ It was certainly worth investigating further. I eventually...
Thu, Dec 04 2008