North of the Stupid Line

Right, we know there are not many Deaf lawyers in the UK.

We know that there are even fewer Deaf lawyers undertaking advocacy in tribunals and court.

I’m one of them. As an employment solicitor, I undertake advocacy in the Employment Tribunal on a regular basis.

Now, bear in mind that I’m profoundly Deaf and my first language is English as opposed to say BSL. I am a fluent BSL user, equally comfortable with spoken English. However, I’d be the first to admit that I do not have perfect speech; I’ve never actually *heard* a word so go figure. My voice is rather high pitched, and I tend to trip over my words from time to time or mulch all the words into one big mush as I don’t allow time to elocute-each-word-fully.

A weird byproduct of my “imperfect” speech is that some people understand me, and some don’t. I find I’m sometimes able to identify who falls into these categories: females in the former, and males in the latter; individuals who know how to LISTEN and those who don’t.

So, I undertake tribunal advocacy with imperfect speech. I hear you say: “that’s easy! Just use BSL!”. Well, yes, I could, but that would mean translating complex legal principles etc. into BSL and then hoping, just hoping, that the interpreter will be able to grasp the legal principle as well as the point I’m making, and voice over that in a way that is appropriate for such a situation i.e. formal language with legalese thrown in.

Are there actually any interpreters out there able to do this for me? And can they go to each tribunal regardless of location within England and Wales to do exactly that? I doubt it.

So, therein lies the problem. How does one solve it? Answers on a postcard please.

I went on a “Supervision Training for Managers” course yesterday afternoon and realised I’d been doing supervision sessions with my staff (I currently manage 6 staff) all wrong! Oops.

Apparently, where I’ve been going wrong is to discuss both supervision AND management issues in a supervision session. This begs the question: “what’s the difference between the two?!”.

Management issues are the usual run of the mill, day to day things like annual leave, toil, outreach, general admin etc., whereas supervision should be focusing on the individual supervisee; their wellbeing, personal development and training, feedback from clients – both positive and negative – and have to be linked to the organisation’s overall strategic objectives. Phew!

I’m on another course today, “Non-employment discrimination”, so a return to more “legal” matters!

Meet my wonderful team at RAD.

Back (L-R): Desmond Masterson, Laura Eadsforth, Daniel Webster, me, Shaunett Harris, Riccardo Hoyte.
Front (L-R): Amanda Everitt, Rose Hawes, Paul Lennon, Lianne Lusty.

This photo was taken at the RAD Staff Conference on 5 June 2009.

22 September 2008

The Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) are proud to announce the launch of a pilot specialist casework service in British Sign Language (BSL) via the Internet to eligible clients. RAD Legal Services has been working in partnership with the LSC and online interpreting service provider Significan’t Ltd to develop the service, which will go live on 22 September 2008.

Deaf BSL users living in England and Wales with a low income or receiving benefits will be able to obtain free and confidential legal advice through a webcam with a broadband connection. Caseworkers are fluent in BSL, and will provide specialist advice at Community Legal Service Specialist Quality Mark level.

Advice topics will be phased in stages, starting with Welfare Benefits from September 2008. Employment will follow from November 2008, Housing from January 2009 and Debt from March 2009.

William Hayden, Development Manager, Direct Services, at the LSC, said, “The Community Legal Advice (CLA) helpline is currently inaccessible to Deaf BSL users and therefore the CLA is not meeting its obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. They are acutely aware that they have a gap in their services. Nevertheless, with the development of new types of technology such as video communications and the Internet, there are now fresh opportunities to dramatically improve access to the CLA for Deaf people.”

Jeff McWhinney, Chief Executive of Significan’t, said, “RAD is the first organisation in the UK to utilise TokBox technology – developed and used in the United States – to deliver legal advice online. Significan’t are proud to work with the RAD to turn this technology into a reality and benefit Deaf people seeking legal advice and support in the UK.”

Tom Fenton, Chief Executive of RAD said “This is a unique opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness specialist advice in BSL via the Internet. It will provide evidence of the need for access to legal services for Deaf people.”

For further information visit www.radlegalservices.org.uk.

Media enquiries – contact:

Lorna Bareham
Marketing & PR Administrator
Royal Association for Deaf people
18 Westside Centre
London Road
Stanway, Colchester
CO3 8PH
Email: lorna.bareham@royaldeaf.org.uk

At the risk of being accused a brag, you can now view my details on the Law Society’s Solicitors Online website!

Go here to view my details.