Are there any Deaf left?

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I’m worried; very worried.

The Deaf community is at a precipice at this moment in time. Why? Those of us who have a Deaf identity are facing the biggest challenge we’ve ever come across: the desire to be considered “normal”.

I’ve noticed a worrying trend for some time; there seems to be far fewer individuals who are actually proud to be Deaf and dislike the terms “hearing impaired”, “hearing loss”, “hard of hearing” etc.

Mainstreaming

More and more deaf children are being educated in the mainstream which means individuals are being completely isolated from the Deaf community, and most importantly, BSL and exposure to the positivity associated with being Deaf as opposed to trying to conform with hearing peers and hearing families and pander to the narrow-mindedness of medical professionals.

Cochlear implants

There seems to be a growing tendency for friends of mine who I always thought were proud to be Deaf to opt for a cochlear implant.

Now, I don’t have anything against CIs per se, if the implantee makes the decision knowing the full facts and associated risks. It’s only when children who don’t have a say in the decision to have a CI are forced by parents who are being influenced by medical professionals and the medical model of deafness and their insecurities and desire for their kids to grow up normal I have an issue with.

I recently discovered that 90 percent of deaf children now have CIs. That’s a gobsmacking statistic.

However, in the last 3 months, two friends have had CIs, another is planning to have one, and yet another is thinking about it. The one thinking about it is a friend I’ve always considered to have a strong non-conformist Deaf identity.

Why is it happening? Why are my friends so eager to be able to “hear” all of a sudden? Aren’t they proud to be Deaf any more?

Action on Hearing Loss

The RNId’s £320,000 rebranding has sickened me. Hell bent on a mission to cure deaf people, while providing communication and social care services which contradict it’s new vision, the RNId, now known as Action on Hearing Loss, is portraying Deaf people as freaks of nature who are all desperate to be cured.

I abhor the whole concept of AOHL. It stinks. It’s a massive encroachment on my self-esteem and self-worth as a human being. And worst of all, AOHL is just a brand; the RNId is still the RNId – have a look at the footer on the new AOHL website or on the Charity Commission’s website if you don’t believe me – which means that they still profess to represent Deaf people!

And yet, there are Deaf camps who are welcoming this change of focus. *shudder*

Deaf4Life

Deaf4Life is currently consulting its members to consider a change of name. The options are “Deaf Forum” or “Hearing Loss Forum”. I’d be happy with “Deaf Forum” but “Hearing Loss Forum” makes me shudder.

The moderators say that hard of hearing people are put off joining the forum because it says “Deaf”. Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t think hard of hearing people need to belong to a community. They are hearing. End of. They may have deteriorating hearing for various reasons but they are predominantly hearing. With some assistance from hearing aids, they don’t face the barriers and discrimination Deaf people have to put up with on a day-to-day basis.

The fact that hard of hearing people may not necessarily meet the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 – a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out day-to-day activities – speaks volumes (no pun intended).

Why are Deaf people pandering to the majority? There are an estimated 125,000 Deaf sign language users in the UK according to the latest GP Survey. That’s compared to 4 million hard of hearing or deafened people (according to AOHL’s revised figures from 8.9 million!).

As a minority, Deaf people need their own space without an invasion of hard of hearing people. Why can’t they go and create their own forum if they’re so desperate to belong to a community?

What to do?

If there was ever a time for Deaf people to unite and present a united force, it is NOW.

We NEED the Federation of Deaf People to reform and fight for our rights. We need Deaf organisations like the British Deaf Association and the Royal Association for Deaf people to make a stand.

I’m worried; very worried.

RAD Deaf Law Centre

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Some of you will be aware that on 24 September 2010, RAD Deaf Law Centre’s (RAD DLC) Management Committee was formed which brought the first Deaf law centre in the UK into being. RAD DLC is also the first national law centre to be a full member of the Law Centres Federation.

Why?

Why was RAD DLC set up? It is a well known fact that many D/deaf people find it difficult to access mainstream legal advice services for various reasons, the main being that many private legal advice services don’t realise that the goods, facilities and services provisions of the Equality Act 2010 also apply to them, which means that they don’t readily provide BSL/English Interpreters or other communication support for D/deaf people, or at least try to pass on the costs to them.

In the public sector, in my experience, law centres and Citizens Advice bureaux are acutely aware of their obligations under the EqA, but due to funding, or lack thereof, are unable to provide the ‘reasonable’ adjustments required.

RAD Legal Services, of which I’ve been the Head for over one year, has gone some way to plug the gap in mainstream service provision with advisers who are fluent in BSL and able to communicate with its D/deaf clients using a wide range of technology as well as face to face. However, law centres are embedded in their communities and answer to committees of local people. They assist vulnerable people when they suffer injustice, educate people about their rights and tackle local problems. RAD DLC can do what RAD Legal Services doesn’t have the capacity to do: educate and campaign for the rights of D/deaf and D/deafblind people.

Who?

RAD DLC’s management committee has just three hearing members out of 12. The remainder are D/deaf or D/deafblind and range from Deaf professionals to service users. More details about who they all are will be revealed when the website is launched towards the end of this year.

Why is RAD involved?

There will be some critics who dislike the fact that the law centre is “RAD DLC” as opposed to just “DLC”, particularly those who don’t believe that Deaf organisations should get involved in things like this. I would like to make it clear that the management committee decided to use RAD in the title of the law centre for the following reasons:

      It was an employee of RAD, i.e. me, who was instrumental in setting up RAD DLC in the first place;
      It is a recognition of the support being provided to the law centre by RAD i.e. finance, HR and most importantly, staff such as me and other caseworkers; and
      RAD is recognised as the only provider of legal advice services for the Deaf community in the UK; having such a close association will be beneficial for the law centre and avoids having to promote a completely new organisation from scratch.

I’d like to make it clear that the management committee has the power to decide to drop RAD from the title of the law centre at any time of its own choosing.

Next steps

At this moment in time, RAD DLC is currently undergoing a review of its strategy and direction. Once underway, there will be an official launch of the law centre and its services, so watch this space.

Twitter and posting

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You’ve probably noticed that for the last four months, the only posts on here have been Twitter Updates. I apologise for the bombardment. I’ve now turned off this feature, as I don’t think it adds anything to NotSL and for those of you already following me on Twitter, I’m sure the duplication is getting on your nerves somewhat!

I’ve been inspired to blog more often by John Walker’s Deaf Capital, as John has already written two posts of really high quality. That’s the kind of thing I want to be producing!

Let’s see how it goes. I’ve posted many times before about resurrecting NotSL with varying degrees of success, but have usually ended up where I stopped posting.