North of the Stupid Line

Shanzu Beach in Malindi, Kenya

Mount Kilmanjaro

As many of you will know, I qualify as a solicitor today. Today is the culmination of nine years of hard work, and I thought it would be nice to tell you how I got here.

At the tender age of 14, I made the decision that I wanted to become a lawyer. A careers adviser at the time said that I couldn’t become a lawyer because it would be too difficult as I was Deaf. That was probably the best thing he could have ever said to me, as it just made me more determined to succeed.

During A Levels, I applied to the customary six universities, but the A Level European History teacher put me off applying to do a Law degree, as her son was a Cambridge University graduate and he couldn’t get a training contract. If that was true, then what chance did I have? This led me to apply to read History instead of Law.

After the first term at University of Wales Swansea during the 1998/1999 academic year, I began to have second thoughts about the History degree (although I was enjoying it), and made enquiries as to whether I could switch courses. The answer was affirmative, but there was a catch; I’d have to start the first year of the Law degree in the academic year 1999/2000, pushing me behind. The parents weren’t too thrilled with the idea, and I didn’t like the idea of having to work from January to August in the meantime. I decided to stick with my History degree, having obtained advice from the university’s Careers Centre, who informed me that I could do a conversion course after my degree, known as the Common Professional Examination or Postgraduate Diploma in Law, for a year. This course is specifically for non-law graduates.

So, having completed my History degree, I applied for a place on the CPE at the University of the West of England, Bristol, which was accepted. The CPE was the hardest thing I’ve ever done – it was non-stop studying for a full academic year, bearing in mind that it’s the equivalent of of a three-year Law degree crammed into one year. I managed to pass it, and enrolled on the Legal Practice Course or Diploma in Legal Practice at Cardiff University.

Then came the difficult part, securing a training contract. I applied for over 150 training contracts since 2001, and despite having about 11 interviews, wasn’t offered one. I started work at the Royal Association for Deaf People in June 2003, the week after I completed the LPC, as an Advice Worker, and eventually was able to arrange a secondment to South West London Law Centres to do an 18-month training contract, beginning on 28 November 2005. Wanting to specialise in Employment Law, I arranged an additional secondment to Hugh James Solicitors for the last five months of the training contract, which ended this week.

So, I’ve now reached my goal – I’m a qualified solicitor, due to be admitted to the roll on 1 June 2007.

So, what’s next? After having worked in the public sector for four years, the aim is to obtain a position as an Employment Solicitor in private practice, in the South Wales or South West area. I’d like to get a few years’ experience under my belt, and perhaps get promoted to Associate or Partner level, and then set up my own law firm with some mates.

BSL translation coming soon.

There has been a spate of posts on Deaf UK and individual blogs recently discussing audism. Erick Ketcham, an American Deafist ASL user, has recently joined Deaf UK, and has contributed some thought-provoking posts on the following topics:

• There are cultural differences between the UK Deaf community and the American Deaf Community;
• There are more oralists than BSL users;
• Deaf English have an “hearing” identity, and because they cannot hear, they use BSL;
• Using the term “deafmute” will encourage audist thinking among hearing people;
• “Deafism” occurs when a Deaf person puts down or discriminates against another Deaf person;
• When Deaf people discriminate against hearing people, it is “reverse audism”;
• Parents of deaf children who are not willing to learn BSL are audists, as they are depriving their child of a normal life with full communication accessibility. This can be classified as emotional and mental abuse;
• There are two groups of hearing people: “hearing allies” and “mask of benevolence”;
• In America, oralists that refuse to sign in ASL are not considered a part of the Deaf community, and are shut out completely; and
• Research in America has shown that Deaf children that learned ASL at the same time as hearing children learned a spoken language outperform oral children by a far margin.

(By the way Erick, do you not have a blog?)

The reasons why I wanted to highlight these views here were so that non-readers of Deaf UK can read them, and also because I find them absolutely fascinating.

I’d like to respond to some of these comments:

There are cultural differences between the UK Deaf community and the American Deaf Community

Judging by Erick’s posts, I would say that this is very much clear, although I hadn’t realised just how different. There must be a number of Deaf individuals in the UK with similar views to Erick, but if there are, they’re keeping their views quiet. They need to come out of the woodwork and lead the Deaf community out of oblivion.

Deaf English have an “hearing” identity, and because they cannot hear, they use BSL

This is not correct. I don’t use BSL because I can’t “hear”. I use BSL because I love the language and to communicate effectively with Deaf friends, colleagues and clients.

Parents of deaf children who are not willing to learn BSL are audists, as they are depriving their child of a normal life with full communication accessibility. This can be classified as emotional and mental abuse

This is an extreme view. I was brought up oral, and my family do not use BSL. However, I think to call my parents “audist” would be a step too far. They chose not to use BSL because they were led to believe by “professionals” that oralism was the way to go. Also, in recent times, with encouragement from me, my parents and my sister have agreed to learn BSL. This is due to the fact that Rachel and I are very likely to have Deaf children, and we intend to bring them up bilingually, and would like their grandparents to encourage this bilingualism, and not force the kids to conform to their preferred communication methods.

Research in America has shown that Deaf children that learned ASL at the same time as hearing children learned a spoken language outperform oral children by a far margin

I do strongly believe in this point, which is why we intend to bring our children up bilingually, with emphasis on BSL in the early stages of their development. From personal experience also, I honestly believe that if I had used BSL from childhood, I would have done better academically. All I can remember during academic studies is how hard it process information when focusing on the communication aspects of learning.

More debate on such issues is desperately needed within the UK, so keep it coming.

Related articles

• The UK Deaf Community
• Audism
• Audism: Part Two
• Audism – reached the parts where Heineken can’t?
• Audism, apparently the label for everything

Yesterday was the last day of my secondment to Hugh James Solicitors, and I qualify as a solicitor tomorrow. The last 5 months at Hugh James have been immensely valuable. I have the confidence to go out there as a qualified solicitor and advise on employment law matters, including advocacy at Employment Tribunals. I can also advise on welfare benefit and housing matters, as well as immigration issues. Some of the highlights of working at Hugh James have included:

• Attended professional conduct and suitability hearings;
• Compiled ET1s, ET3s;
• Drafted lists of documents, letters of advice, notification of disciplinary hearings and suspensions, grievances, sex, disability and race questionnaires, instructions to counsel;
• Produced training materials; and
• Drafted policies, contracts of employment, procedures, guidance notes, and articles for publication;

You may wonder what I’m doing next. Basically, I will be returning to the Royal Association for Deaf People full-time, continuing my role as a Casework Supervisor, but also developing RAD’s Legal Services, and taking on fee-earning work.

Fancy becoming Chair of the RNId? Here’s the job description and person specification:

RNID Chair of the Board of Trustees
Job Description
Principal Responsibilities

• Leading the Trustee Board in fulfilling the mission and objects of the RNID
• Ensuring that the Trustee Board acts reasonably and prudently in all matters relating to the RNID
• Ensuring that all key issues and relevant matters are brought to the Trustee board for decision or approval
• Promoting collaborative working between Trustees and encouraging open dialogue between the Trustees and the Chief Executive in the formulation of strategy and policy
• Ensuring the appropriate involvement of Members in the governance and planning of RNID
• Providing personal support and counsel to the Chief Executive

Amongst the specific responsibilities and activities expected of the Chair as a Trustee are:

• Ensuring that the organisation complies with its governing document, charity law, company law and any other relevant legislation or regulations
• Ensuring that the organisation applies its resources exclusively in pursuance of its objects
• Contributing actively to the Board of Trustees’ role in giving firm strategic direction to the organisation, setting overall policy, defining goals and setting targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets
• Safeguarding the good name and values of the organisation
• Ensuring the effective and efficient administration of the organisation
• Ensuring the financial stability of the organisation
• Protecting and managing the property of the charity and ensuring the proper investment of the charity’s funds
• Overseeing the appointment the chief executive officer and monitoring his / her performance.

In addition to the above requirements, the Chair is expected to fulfil the following duties:

• Chairing and facilitating board meetings
• Planning the annual cycle of board meetings
• Setting agendas for board meetings
• Giving direction to board policy-making
• Monitoring that decisions taken at meetings are implemented
• Acting as an informed and influential ambassador for the RNID externally
• Bringing impartiality and objectivity to decision-making
• Liaising with the chief executive to keep an overview of the organisation’s affairs and to provide support as appropriate
• Leading the process of appraising the performance of the chief executive
• Participating on appointment and disciplinary panels
• Liaising with the Chief Executive Officer to develop the board of trustees, covering recruitment, training and appraisal (both individual and collective)
• Facilitating change and resolving issues within the board and between the Trustee Board and the organisation, in liaison with the Chief Executive Officer.

RNID Chair Person Specification
ESSENTIAL

• Strong commitment to the aims and objectives of the RNID
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills
• Strategic thinker, passionate about the effective delivery of voluntary and/or public sector services
• Current, relevant experience of chairing and developing boards
• Effective external ambassador for organisations
• Commitment to Nolan’s seven principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
• Capacity to deliver the necessary time and effort to the RNID

HIGHLY DESIRABLE

• Personal or close experience of deafness
• Knowledge of the type of work undertaken by the RNID and a wider involvement with the voluntary sector and other networks
• Direct experience which is relevant to at least one of the RNID’s key challenge areas:
• Extending the reach of the organisation
• Biomedical research
• Expanding the delivery of audiology services through both public and private sector channels
• Tinnitus
• Development of specialist services for deaf people, such as sign language interpreters and mental health support
• Early years support
• Applied technology
• Fundraising

In case you’re wondering how I managed to get hold of this – I emailed Hanson Green pretending to be interested in the post, asking for a copy of the above. They also said the following:

Dear Mr Wilks

Thank you very much for your interest in the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the RNID.

Hanson Green has been retained by the RNID to help them recruit their new Chair. On their behalf, I attach the job specification for your consideration. In addition, the Trustees’ Report and Accounts for 2006 is available on the website www.rnid.org.uk, should you wish to view it.

The deadline for applications is 28 May and should you be interested in forwarding us your CV, we will be in touch with you approximately one week thereafter once we have had time fully to consider the response.

Once again, we very much appreciate your interest in this position and thank you for your time.

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