Tania tells us about interviewing for the new NDCS YAB!

This is a post from the NDCS Youth Advisory Board blog :)

YAB member Tania tells us about being on the interview panel for the new Youth Advisory Board!

On Wednesday 13th June I went to London to do some interviews with Jo and Lucy . This was held in the NDCS offices, which is somewhere that I have never been before.

The experience of doing the interviews was great for me, not only cause it was fun, but mainly because of seeing what views the young people had and their enthusiasm about being on the board.

It gave me a great insight of what they also want to change about the future for deaf young people. The people I interviewed were great and really wanted to have the place on the board!
Looks like Jo and the team will have hard decisions to make because young people seem to have many great ideas.

Overall, it was a great day and experience for me and I would love to do this sort of thing again

Cyber Bullying... It affects deaf kids too!

Until yesterday I had never experienced anything that could be counted as "pressure" or "bullying tactics" on Facebook. I've been part of some arguments but they've always been between members of my own peer group, friends or classmates. I'd never experienced a situation where an adult was behaving in what could be called an inappropriate way and putting unwanted pressure on young deaf people - and adults too to be fair! -

It did make me realise that as well as being possibly more vulnerable to bullying by their own peers deaf young people can also be a lot more open to or at risk to pressure from adults in numerous situations - not only the obvious stereotypical sexual pressure but a whole host of things including pressure from adults trying to persuade them that their personal audiological choices are incorrect and not benefiting them, or are holding them back.

I'm very lucky - and so are my friends - that as a deaf young person I have a whole group of adults who look out for me online as such and are very quick to pounce on anything they perceive to be inappropriate. Last night I really think that without them a bad situation could have become a lot worse.
Not all deaf young people, or even hearing young people because at the end of the day cyber bullying as its called can happen to all young people! are lucky enough to have that support and friendship.

So last night when I was thinking things over I remembered the video that NDCS showed the Youth Advisory Board last year when it was first made. It shows deaf young people the dangers of cyber bullying, what to do if you're being bullied online etc... I think its a really great video for deaf young people as rather than being the normal "hearing" video with subtitles the boy in the story is a deaf teen and the storyline is more deaf specific...

So here's the video and I hope it helps raise awareness with deaf young people and adults about cyber bullying :)

"Don't Leave Me Out"

So after the amazing #subtitlesnow campaign that Sasha wrote about CCAC have organised another cross-atlantic campaign to increase awareness about the necessity for subtitled online videos! 

This campaign entitled "Dont Leave Me Out" includes a video made by a number of adults and a couple of young people explaining why subtitles or "captions" are important to them in their everyday lives.

Below is the press release CCAC have released along with some photos and the video! 

Please help spread awareness of the campaign via twitter, facebook, local media etc :)

The Collaborative for Communication Access via Captioning (CCAC) is happy to announce the release of its first film to raise awareness and advocate for inclusion of quality captioning (subtitles) universally, for so many everyday needs.

Created by the CCAC, all volunteers, with the assistance of professional editing, the CCAC invites all to participate in the new international media campaign, ensure that the video, freely distributed, goes viral globally, and welcomes requests for media coverage (e.g. news interviews, television, radio). The video is now live on the CCAC website, from today forward. 

Call it a film, documentary, or PSA (public service announcement) – when you see it, you’ll understand why mega-millions of citizens need much more inclusion of subtitles, captioning, and real time captioning in real life. Thanks to the sponsors listed in the credits, the CCAC is able to distribute the film without cost. Donations to the CCAC organization for continuing advocacy are welcome.

The video, “Don’t Leave Me Out!” is a powerful educational message for audiences everywhere, and will be useful for a large variety of organizations, groups, and companies focused on access, disability, deafness, hearing loss, literacy, technology, and inclusion.

"Pimping" our Hearing Aids and "Jazzing Up" our CIs...

This is a -much- longer copy of an article posted on the Limping Chicken website today, its an update to my previous post "Adult Audiology"...I wanted to post it on here as well so that I could showcase everyone's pictures and comments!

Back in April I wrote a post entitled “Pimping My Hearing Aids” which was all about my adventures into adult audiology services and how disappointed I was that I was no longer allowed to have the colourful hearing aids I love. 

With some inspiration from one of the “NDCS Mums” on Facebook I went out and bought myself some red and white polka dot nail foil stickers and set about decorating my hearing aids.

At the time I uploaded pictures to Facebook, Twitter and to my own blog alongside the same piece of writing that featured on here. The response was pretty impressive! Lots of parents, teenagers and audiologists commented on the blog post and pictures saying how cool the hearing aids looked and how they thought it was a good idea. 

Two months on and I’m proud to say that I feel as if I’ve been part of a new trend in hearing aid design with new looks ranging from simple flowery stickers on already coloured aids and  colourful ear-gear to full out jubilee decoration with frequent changes of design to match different outfits. 

 

I’m also pleased to say that the decoration craze has now spread beyond “pimping your hearing aids” and into “jazzing up your CIs (cochlear implants)”. Designs involve not only decoration of processors but also the addition of stickers or hair clips to the coil. 

Please note – some of these designs, frankly, make my hearing aids look boring...

 

Although all this decoration is great fun there is a more serious note to this new craze. I asked parents and teenagers to explain to me why they thought “pimping their hearing aids/implants” was important either for themselves or for their child. 

Gabi (aged 12) told me that having hearing aids that were pink (her favourite colour) made her more likely to wear them than if they were plain and boring. 

One proud mum told me that she first “pimped” her daughter’s hearing aids while they were waiting for colourful ones from audiology. She told me about her memories of having NHS plastic glasses and how embarrassed she was. She wants her daughter to grow up to be “proud of her awesome magic ears”! 

Two 19 year old friends told me that personalising their hearing aids made them feel fashionable and that

 “as a young person with hearing difficulties it can be embarrassing to accept that we’re different, having equipment which we can influence the design of will make us feel more comfortable and we more likely to wear hearing aids”. 

I’ve also been told that being able to match or compliment your outfit with your hearing aids as well as your hair/make up is very cool! 

Finally, I was amazed at the flood of comments I received from the “NDCS mums” after I posed my questions on Facebook! Here’s some of what they told me: 

“I think it lets them show their personality and have ownership of their aids so they know nobody else has anything like them. Personal expression of taste!”

“They are more fun for him, I can see them when he’s chucked them in temper, and others can see them so they are aware he's deaf and to speak to him face to face or at least help them understand why his speech is slurred!”

“We are also very proud of her magic ears and everyone loves the different designs she models, they represent who Lucie is a very bright & bubbly little girl who is proud of her CI's magic ears.”

On a personal note I strongly believe that the adult audiology line of “only adults with mental health issues or additional learning difficulties may have coloured aids” is a bit weak. As a teenager or young adult the ability and opportunity to express yourself in any way possible is so important. Nobody wants to go through high school, university or even work with boring old “grandparent/artificial limb” coloured hearing aids. Deaf young people have enough problems overcoming differences between themselves and their hearing peers without throwing boring, old fashioned hearing aids into the mix... 

So - listen up audiology services, hearing aid manufacturers and anybody wanting to start a business that could well make them some money! 

Many cochlear implants now-a-days come with “sleeves” which can be changed to give different coloured processers depending on the mood. Where are our hearing aid sleeves? 

Or if “sleeves” are impractical I can see a rather large market out there for hearing aid and CI sized/shaped foil stickers!! 

Maybe I should apply to be on Dragon’s Den..? 

I’m I did promise people that I would showcase all of the “pimped designs”! So below is a gallery of the coolest hearing aids and CIs in town! 

I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to all the amazing and inspirational "NDCS mums" who gave me so much feedback and sent me endless pictures of their children's very very cool hearing aids! :)

If you're interested click HERE to go to the Ear Gear website - a very cool and funky way to decorate your hearing aids as well as keeping them safe from dirt, water etc!
Also, an American company called OtoCool make a product called "Tube Riders" which are a fun way to make the tubes of your hearing aids a bit funky... Click HERE for the link! :)

MobileSign - the free BSL app for phones..

So today we heard from the Limping Chicken about the new Sign Language App for android and iPhone created by the Deaf Studies Department at Bristol University and linked with their MobileSign website.

The app proudly boasts that it contains 4184 videos of individual signs ranging from simple things like hello or good to more complex signs and even a few phrases such as what about you? face-wash or round to the left... In fact the app/website do appear to hold pretty much any sign you could need. The only sign I haven't managed to find so far is linguistics...

Having explored the website I decided to download the app itself. As I have an android phone I headed onto Google Play, the new way to download apps and searched MobileSign. The app came up straight away and I noticed that less than 100 people had downloaded it so far - a shame! Get downloading people!

I was surprised at how quickly the app downloaded given that it was supposed to contain all those sign videos - I have a similar free American Sign Language app which contains only about 100 signs but took ages to download!

Opening the app I found that it has pretty much the same set up as the webpage with a search box allowing you to use the app much like an online dictionary. So far so good...

Searching for a sign was nice and easy, I tried hello first just to get to grips with the whole idea. it came up with two possible videos - Hello and Hello (alternative).

However, when I clicked on the first Hello video my phone started to take me to a website called SignStation which is an online free website for people wanting to learn BSL. Apparently SignStation have worked with the Deaf Studies Department to create the app.

Now that would still be great - if it worked... For some reason on my phone the webpage/video won't load and instead just shuts down the whole app. As I don't know anyone else who has yet downloaded the app I can't tell if it's just my phone or whether this happens to everyone.

It's a massive shame because for a long time people have been saying that what we really need is an online/app BSL dictionary. It has multiple uses really... Obviously there is enormous benefit for those learning to sign but it could also help those communicating with Deaf people in a social situation for example asking for directions... No more need for pen and paper!
On the other hand it's possible that the app could enable us deafies to "show" people what we mean in those awkward situations where the man at the ticket office has a massive beard and you left your hearing aid at home because it was raining...

I'm sure that having a free mobile app would encourage more of my hearing friends to learn BSL, it's so expensive to take a course and often parents of deaf children are too busy looking after their child to make a weekly class - this could present the perfect solution!

So, I'm really hoping that it's just my phone which won't load this app but if anyone else has difficulties than do let me know! Maybe there's a way around it by altering phone settings or something?

Introducing Sasha Thorpe - a Deaf Girl in a Hearing World...

 Meet Sasha, a 23 year old student at York St John's University currently studying Counselling and BSL. She introduces herself as:

 "Sasha Thorpe: Deaf girl with a hearing family. Full of life and Humour, rather cheeky at times! I wear two hearing aids due to baldness in my cochlea's (Balder than my grandad's head!)."

There has been an international campaign today  in England and America using Twitter and #Subtitlesnow #captionTHIS in order to raise awareness on lack of subtitles on online videos.

Here's a link to explain the campaign further.

Limping Chicken - Using the #subtitlesnow to highlight inaccessible online videos.

This past year at university I’ve been having problems with subtitles. There are two issues that I have raised.

First issue is videos being shown in lectures that are from YouTube, therefore no transcripts or subtitles. These are being shown for educational purpose, how am I supposed to learn if I cannot fully comprehend what is being said?

The other issue is the student union (SU) are making videos to advertise things that are happening within the university such as the summer ball or to educate students. Half the time these SU videos are voice over’s so I cannot lipread.

The feedback I got originally was an apology from my lecturer and a promise that they will let me know in advance so I can get the disability services at uni to transcribe for me. Several clips from YouTube later, still no warning from lecturer so no transcripts.
And as for the Student Union early on in the year the issues of subtitles was raised in a meeting and they decided they would transcribe the videos, still waiting for this to happen.

Today I tweeted both the University and the student union with #subtitlesnow.

The university are going to subtitles their videos at the end of summer ready for the new academic year :D
The SU will subtitles the welcoming videos (Aimed at new students) but will transcribe the rest. Now I understand their reasons for not being able to subtitles all the videos due to funding and staffing levels.

My university is a small uni, but if they want to grow and gain more students then there need better access for the deaf or hard of hearing. I also think subtitled welcoming videos may trick new hearing impaired students into thinking this university is good at providing to their needs. They need more improvement to their disability services.

Transcripts and subtitles are not the same. If I read a transcript then there no point in watching the video, but with subtitles you can watch the video and read the subs at the same time.

To make it fair… Give transcripts to all students (and in braille) and forget videos. They will save time and resources doing this. Is wrong of me to keep pushing for all videos to be subtitles? Funnily enough there is a small part of me that is afraid to ruffle some feathers! But why should I sit back and miss out on all the fun that is watching these videos?

Another major Issue I am having, relating to my degree in counselling. We have to film ourselves in a counselling role and then analyse ourselves. In essay we have to transcribe our dialogue to show our skills. This difficult for me as the film only shows the side of me and client, therefore no lipreading. The downside to this is i’m not allow to show the clip to anyone else due to confidentiality. I get soooo frustrated that I was tempted to throw my laptop! But I’m not going to let this hold me back from completing my course!

Read more of Sasha's blog posts on her own blog - Deaf Girl in a Hearing World. 

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Quiet Signs of Love

I cam across this video on the internet! I think it's really beautiful and moving but also captures some of the frustrations of couples in a deaf-hearing relationship.

I know its technically an advert for the Australian Relay Service but still... Enjoy it as a creative and awesome short film all about love :)