A quick note on... SUBTITLES!

Having happily and avidly read Deaf Firefly's recent blog post about Subtitle Apps I was interested to check the whole idea out for myself...

So I've dowloaded on to my android phone the SubtitleDroid (it's free!) and tried it out. Amazingly, very amazingly! it works!

Now instead of being ridiculously frustrated by the lack of subtitles on downloaded films - especially Love Film - I've found a miraculous "cure" to the problem! The app works by searching your phone for any videos/films you have saved. It then produces subtitles in script form for the films which you can cleverly sync in time with the speech allowing you to (almost) effortlessly follow the dialogue...

Definetely worth checking out I think!

Supplies and Wales...

I think I’ve just found the least deaf aware teacher in the world. I mean, if there was a competition I’d vote for her hands down.

Every two weeks on a Tuesday morning our form teacher takes some time off to do fun things with her kids and we get a sparkly new form teacher (whose name after 5 months I’m still not sure of). Every Tuesday morning without fail she comes in and sits at the desk and takes the register; and every Tuesday morning without fail I’ve missed my name and been marked absent until she finally notices I’m present and gets a little annoyed. Then I patiently and slowly explain (in one syllable words) that I’m deaf and can’t hear her from all the way on the other side of a science lab, especially not when 20 teenagers are all trying to have their own conversations. In fact, I can barely understand her when she’s 3 feet away – but that’s not her fault.

This Tuesday was a little different. As sixth formers were not required to wear a blazer and so instead most of us wear a jacket over our uniform, we’re not really meant to wear them in class but nobody counts form. What happened next I only know because I’ve been told by my friends. Standing on the other side of the (very large) science lab she told us to take our jackets off. Some people complied, I was doing homework and didn’t even realised she’d spoken. Apparently she then repeated her request calling my name – no response. She walked closer and repeated again – no response. The first I knew was when she’d jabbed me in the arm and was right up in my face “DON’T YOU IGNORE ME, TAKE YOUR JACKET OFF.”

So I did. And then tried to explain that I couldn’t hear her and I hadn’t meant to ignore her, I was concentrating on other things. “I’m deaf, I couldn’t hear you…” the answer I got? “SO WHAT?” Well I guess this is only the 20^th time I’ve explained all this, maybe a few more weeks are needed for the message to sink in.

And yes, so what if I’m deaf? I’m not asking for special treatment… Just a little awareness! But apparently our supply form teacher believes it too much to make sure everyone in the form can hear and understand her. Well sorry if that’s inconvenient to you Mrs Teacher Lady.

There is however a little more purpose to this rant than my frustration at undeaf aware teachers.

I remember back through the mists of time (jokes) to Lower School, that’s Years 9 to 11, and what I remember most is the dread and frustration I would feel every time I realised we had a… supply teacher.

Surely every teacher going through teacher training must at some point be told about “the deaf kids”, I mean wouldn’t it make sense to explain a little deaf awareness to them? Maybe teach them a little about Radio Aids? Most teachers will at some point come across and have to teach a deaf child. A lot of time and energy (and tears of frustration) could be saved if all teachers just understood a little bit about deafness before entering the classroom.

My experience of supply teachers is this. When you tell them you’re deaf they look at you like an alien from Mars. When you hand them a Radio Aid they treat it like a bomb. They write on the board with their back to the class. They don’t tell everyone to shut up. Basically, they make life a living Hell.

Oh how happy I am that in 6^th form supply teachers don’t exist and when a teacher is ill you are given a “magic free”.

And if you're still with me! On a slightly lighter note... 

I went to Wales this weekend with a friend and his mum and sister; I was absolutely amazed at how deaf friendly everything was! Everything from buses, to shops, to train stations and well just everything really had T switch signs; and after careful and critical inspection I haven't found a single one that doesn't work! I mean hallelujia! This England is the way forward!

Not just that but it gets better - on Saturday we went to Cardiff Castle. Normally I find these trips frustrating because I can't use the audio guides... But the lady in the office heard me muttering complaints and brought out a BSL interpreted guide! I was impressed. In fact, I may move to Wales!!! 

 

YAB and the Listening Bus...

Today myself and four other fellow NDCS Youth Advisory Board members have been YABing it up on the Listening Bus and chatting to Damien, Louise and Helen about our thoughts and ideas!

Although we were only there from 10am-2pm I certainly feel like we got our respective points across and even had time to make a somewhat haphazard DIY video to advertise the Bus.

From what I can work out NDCS have applied for funding to have a brand new shiny (purple?) Listening Bus and have decided -quite rightly - that the current one is a little out of fashion and clearly aimed at primary level kids.
The new plans involve not only having a Bus to demonstrate technology and hand out publications but to also use the space to run hour long "Getting Ahead" and "Healthy Minds" sessions, something I think is an awesome idea!

So what did YAB actually do today?

1. We discussed "dream space" and how we thought the Bus should look as well as what cool things it should include - think plasma TVs, bean bags and Ipads...
2. We discussed what we wanted to learn on the bus - looking at "healthy minds" and "getting ahead" as well as different types of technology and also talking about how NDCS publications only focus on parents! Where's the kids info?!
3. Talking about apps and technology - The Buzz totally needs an app! as well as thinking about tune wiki, the T switch (very important!) and how to give out info for example booklets or emails, posters etc...
4. Finally! Marketing the bus - complete with DIY video! - interesting discussion about marketing to schools etc and how best to present the bus to young people! 

So all in all a very interesting few hours!!! We can't wait to see the outcome of all our random ideas and whether any of them are incorporated into a new Bus.

We also had time to nose around the technology and ask lots of questions; mine were mainly university and independence related... I have to say that the combined knowledge of all the "Bus Team" is truly amazing! They seem to have an answer to literally everything and anything!

For reference - NDCS Technology Test Drive is an amazing resource for deaf children, young people and their parents. The idea is to allow a "try before you buy" system and you can borrow anything from Radio Aids to Pagers to Direct Input Headphones.

An amazing day and watch this space as the next YAB residential is coming up soon - first weekend in March here we come!

The chicken incident...

I'm aware that I have yet to blog on my view of the "chicken incident" which rocked the deaf world at 9pm last Monday night. If you don't know what I'm on about then check out Deaf Teens: Hearing World rejoice in it's awesomeness and then come back and read this!

I should admit that I did sit down the day after watching Deaf Teens: Hearing World and make some attempt at writing a passable bloggish comment about the programme. But then, stupidly, I went away and read all the fantastic blogs discussing the programme and realised I had yet to write anything original about it...

Now time has passed however, and more of my "hearing" friends have been *forced* to watch I do have some deaf-teen comments of my own to make...

Having watched Deaf Teens: Hearing World from a deaf perspective all I could see was how wonderful the deafies had been; how I too felt "proud to be deaf"; and how awful the hearing people had come across... the nurse, the note taker and the "my chicken is ill" excuse... Need I go on?!

So I was shocked when my best "hearing" friend came in to school on Thursday morning with the comment: "I think the deaf people in that programme cut off their nose just to spite their face..."
It was one of those moments where someone says something and everything just goes silent... Like in old films when tumble-weed just floats past.

With everyone around us looking on I asked her what she meant, and this is (roughly) what she said.

 "The two deaf teens in the programme (Sarah and Asher) refused to talk, they refused to wear hearing aids or have cochlear implants. They just signed and lived in their own little world and expected everyone else to support them when they didnt make the effort. Maybe with a cochlear implant that girl might not have needed a note taker or interpreter! And that other girl at Mary Hare, she didnt want to wear her hearing aids, I can't understand why!"

What ensued was a rather long argument about deaf community and how she as a "hearing person" could not understand what it was like to grow up in a Deaf family with Deaf friends etc. How sound is overrated and deafness is amazing...

But what interested me the most was her later comment:

"The girl who had the cochlear implant was all right! She wanted to hear and fit into the normal world, and look what it did for her! Now she can hear and she's just like a hearing person, she doesn't have to be deaf anymore. Don't understand why you and your friends are some against them!"

My first reaction was just Ouch.

But...

Looking back on Deaf Teens: Hearing World I can totally understand how my friend has jumped to the conclusion that cochlear implants are a magic cure for all deafness and why she can't understand why everyone wouldn't want one. She has no clue about different types or levels of deafness or about situations where implants may not be appropriate.

The way implants were portrayed by the makers of the documentary glossed over the years of hard work most people have to put in so that they can hear with an implant, side-stepped the risks of the operation and in my opinion didn't really go out of the way to show case the views of some members of the Deaf community and the valid reasons why they are so against implants. They were shown as "the magic cure for deafness"!

I personally believe that Deaf community is a fairly exclusive club... But it needs to be preserved! In a world where less and less parents are choosing sign before speech for their deaf child we run the risk of losing sign language as a native language completely. The dawn of cochlear implants means that many deaf children who would have grown up signers now grow up integrated into maintream hearing schools and possibly never knowing a single sign... Deaf community, and its language, needs to remain strong; if only because it provides the most amazing support network possible for deaf teens growing up in a mainstream hearing world.

So yes, Deaf Teens: Hearing World made me happy and proud to be deaf. It made me laugh and it made me cry (oh god how will i survive at university?!)...

But in the long run my honest opinion is I'm not sure how much it helped the deaf world.

Here was a unique opportunity to raise all manner of issues affecting the Deaf community! To teach some deaf awareness to these somewhat ignorant hearing people, so that the next time they meet a deaf person they don't just dismiss us as stupid or impossible to communicate with. To show that deaf people can achieve anything they want and more importantly that they can achieve as much, and more! than hearing people.

But it didn't do that... And I think that's a great shame.

Genies, Chizziewigs and how not to book an interpreter...

Teachers for the Deaf are like Genies... At the beginning of the year you rub the lamp, kettle, whatever and they magically appear to give you three wishes. (Mine this year were: a new radio aid - declined; deaf awareness training for my teachers - still waiting; and one note taker for all my lessons rather than three depending on the day and time - partially granted, I now have two.)

So I guess it could in fact be argued that Teachers for the Deaf aren't even particulary good Genies...

There is a point to this seemingly random analogy, I promise!

Yesterday at Worcester Deaf Childrens Society (WDCS) monthly meeting we had a visit from the Children's Hearing Services Worcester Group (CHSWG), lovingly referred to as Chizziwigs by young and old alike. Their mission was to ask us for the goods and bads of Worcestershire services.

After some discussion amongst us teenagers what struck me was that none of us know exactly when our Genie will appear. It is entirely possible that one month we will see him or her three or maybe four times and then silence for the next two months, until the magically appear again out of their kettle. 

Speaking from experience I can tell you how annoying it feels, and embaressing too actually, to be sat in class (or even one time a french mock) when a semi-bald man arrives demanding to whisk you away from everything for the next half an hour. I mean really people, come on!
Surely it wouldn't kill them - and might in fact prove easier! - if they had some sort of time table... Then at least you'd be able to think of your wishes in advance!

But no, the Genies like to keep their air of mysticism. I heard a better explanation from one angry parent yesterday: "If we don't know when to expect them we can't lie in wait to ask awkward questions." (This parent didn't realise I was noseying in somewhat...) But in all likelyhood it's true, if I was my Teacher for the Deaf I'd be aiming to do a lot of avoiding right now. 

That said, I have a lot fo respect for my Teacher for the Deaf, he's a great guy, good at reassurance and reasonably useful advice; and as head Genie of the Hearing Impaired Service I'd say he does a pretty impressive job juggling all our wishes! But frequently it feels somewhat like he's "all talk, no action" (another stolen parent quote).

So despite everything our Genies do for us I can't help wish that as we got older, matured and took control of our lives that they'd at least start to talk things through with us, rather than talking at us or over us. We may be deaf but our 'voice'  is as good (and valid!) as anyones!

Oh, and my final comment on Worcestershire services? I'm off to audiology in a couple of weeks, thought I'd take them back their letter saying: "If you wish to book an interpreter for your appointment, please ring the department number at the top of this letter."

PETITION TO STOP ROYAL ASSENT OF NEW DLA/WELFARE REFORMS!

Petition to stop royal assent...

Please sign this very important petition and then share it with all your friends and family!
This may be the last chance we have to stop the government from implementing the new welfare reforms which were voted through by MPs this week!


thank you!

Dear Mr Osborne,

 A copy of our recent letter to Mr George Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer, explaining why we belive the governments proposed welfare reforms will greatly reduce the quality of life held by many deaf children and young people...

Dear Mr Osborne,

We are writing to you on behalf of the National Deaf Children’s Society Youth Advisory Board to express our concern about the government’s proposed changes to Disability Living Allowance in the coming years. NDCS Youth Advisory Board is an advisory group to NDCS and their trustees; we are made up of fifteen members with varying levels of deafness and with an age range of 13 to 18. We have all had very different experiences of growing up as deaf young people and therefore feel we can be representative of the views of British deaf children and young people.

We understand that the government has voted to replace DLA with a new benefit, Personal Independence Payments (PIP), and that at the current time these plans extend only to over 16s and under 65s. However, we believe that it is clear from the public consultation on DLA reforms that the government is planning to apply these changes to disabled children under 16 at some time in the future. As well as this we understand that government plans include introducing PIP with only two rates of pay for its care component.

The first concern that we as a board hold is with the government’s plan to increase the qualification period before which a person is entitled to apply for PIP from three months to six months. We are aware that many young people and adults do not grow up deaf and lose their hearing due to accident or illness later on in life. Deafness for these people is immediate, as is their need. We maintain that it is unacceptable to ask a recently deafened young person to wait up to six months before being able to purchase equipment which will allow them to continue their life in the way they are used. Examples of this equipment may include television loop systems, radio aids, personal pagers or even a simple vibrating alarm clock. All these items allow us as deaf young people to maintain our independence in a similar way to our hearing peers. To lose your hearing and become suddenly deafened is on its own psychologically damaging, but not having access to equipment in order to retain independence could result in further psychological damage due to a feeling of exclusion from ones peer group. We would further like to add that it is not only equipment costs which can affect deaf young people and adults; there are also additional costs such a travelling to and from hospital appointments, and indeed the loss of earnings during these appointments, which would be most frequent immediately after the diagnosis of permanent deafness.

Therefore, we ask you to consider your government’s proposals to increase the qualification period before which a person is entitled to PIP in order to take in to account the immediate costs of deafness. As a board we argue that, if anything, the qualification period should be shortened not increased.

We have been led to understand that the government is proposing a face to face assessment process for over 16s applying for PIP, and the consultation on DLA reform also makes it clear that the government are “considering whether to apply these new eligibility and assessment criteria to children to ensure that they are also assessed in an objective and consistent manner”.We believe that a face to face assessment of needs may be inappropriate for a deaf young person or adult but would in particular be unsuitable for a deaf child. Deaf children and young people are often accompanied in unfamiliar situations by an adult, for example a parent or carer. This adult may provide informal communication support to the deaf child or young person during the assessment in the form of either sign language or rephrased questions in order to aid lip reading. We believe that this informal support, particularly in the case of a young person, may lead to the professional carrying out an unrealistic view of the deaf child or young person’s needs. It is important to appreciate that the parent or carer will not always be available to support the child or young person, in particular within a school, college or university situation.

As well as this we are very much aware that deaf young people are 40% more likely to experience mental health issues than their hearing peers. A face to face assessment highlighting the difficulties faced by communication with an unknown adult could stand to lower the self esteem of the deaf child or young person, as well as being an overly stressful experience. We therefore ask that deaf children, young people and possibly deaf adults, are exempt from face to face assessments, and instead propose the use of diary evidence from those who see the claimant every day as alternative form of assessment.

We hold serious concerns with the government’s proposals to alter the rates of pay for PIP. As you aware DLA care component is currently awarded at one of three rates and in our experience the majority of deaf children and young people receive the lowest rate of pay. Plans for PIP to have only two rates of pay for its care component would appear to be the governments’ way of abolishing current low rate pay for care and this could, potentially, lead to a high number of deaf young people missing out on PIP which would be crucial in supporting them and their families.

Suggested changes to the rate of pay shocked each individual board member as we feel it could be maintained that post 16; the age from which DLA reforms are currently proposed; is in fact the age in which disability living allowance becomes most important to a deaf young person. As a board we ourselves have come up with many important uses for DLA, including: attending deaf social events which often involve travel as deaf young people are spread out around the country; vibrating alarm clocks and pagers which enable us to become increasingly independent as we grow up; smoke alarms with strobe lighting or vibrating pillows which become more necessary when we move away from our families and in to homes of our own; transport to hospital appointments which can often be up to 35 miles away and also for paying for the additional costs of having a child at a residential deaf school.

We believe that plans to alter rates of pay must be fully explored and that adequate independent consultation with young people and adults needs to be carried out in order to assess the effects of this change on all deaf people’s independence and quality of living.

As a board we thank you in advance for your careful consideration of our concerns and look forward to receiving your reply addressing these forthwith.

Yours Faithfully,

p.p. National Deaf Children’s Society Youth Advisory Board

Nairi Gallant, 18, Droitwich

Jake Oakes, 16, Hull

Ellen Arthur, 15, Abingdon

Tom Gerrard, 15, Solihull

Eddie Cleere, 13, Minehead

Andrew Clarke, 17, Oxford

Grace Goodman, 15, Sutton Coldfield

Sophie Cochrane, 18, Jordanstown

Fraser Gunn, 17, Linlithgow