Newport foster mum up for sign language award

A NEWPORT foster mother who learned sign language when she started caring for a deaf child is being recognised for her dedication.

Lesley Bellew, 40, who has been fostering for six years, took on the challenge at the beginning of the year when she started caring for the four-year-old. She has now been shortlisted for a Learner of the Year award by Signature, the UK’s leading provider of accredited qualifications in sign language. Ms Bellew started to learn sign language at the CHIIC Sign Language Centre, Newport.

She passed her level one qualification in British Sign Language with flying colours and is now enrolled onto level two. She has also helped teach her family the basics of signing and is now working with the CHIIC centre and Newport council to establish a group where families affected by deafness can meet for learning sessions and to socialise.

Tonyfelin Cards

Tonyfelin Medical Centre.

Interpreter services:

If you are hard of hearing and require the services of an interpreter for your consultation, we can organise this through the Wales Council for the Deaf. Please request this service when booking your appointment. We have a hearing loop at reception so please indicate to a receptionist if you would like to use this to make it easier for you to communicate.

In addition, we can arrange for communication between you and the practice to be by SMS or email if that would be of help.

Medical Information Cards can be obtained from HERE, by contacting the Partners in Healthcare Team on 01792 776252. Visit the Deaf and Hard of Hearing section on the Welsh Ambulance Service website for more information, CONTACT

North Wales Police

Contacting the police has never been easier for the deaf, see how North Wales do it...

In writing:

North Wales Police Headquarters
Glan-y-Don
Abergele Road
Colwyn Bay
LL29 8AW

If you know the officer or department you wish to receive your letter please include this as the first line of the address.

If you are Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or speech impaired and unable to contact North Wales Police by voice telephone you can contact them by, Minicom or fax.

Minicom: 01745 535612
Fax: 01492 510777

This can be used for urgent and non-urgent calls. If you wish to use this system, please download and attach the fax form. I though the 'applications' approach worked well for deaf, what do you think ? No VRS, but who knows, its early days yet.... Police access in your areas ?

Were you here ?

Did you got to this deaf school ? have any other photos or recollections ? It is a photo of the deaf school at Llandrindod Wells circa 1890s, it was opened 1950s, demolished in the 1980s ? The tower and buildings to the left are all that remains of what was the pump house hotel, the site is now council offices...

The Swansea Deaf & Dumb School

Deaf And Dumb School 1896

(Thanks to Nial O Brien).

"I was born and bred in the Mount Pleasant area of Swansea, in which the D&D Institute was based. My schooling was Terrace Road infants & juniors. Lots of football in the street, Cwmdonkin Park and playing in and around the quarry off the Promenade, that overlooked the Institute. The quarry was wild, with steep drops and the cause of many mishaps. A lad of my age was the son of the caretaker at the Institute and a group of us kids frequently used to wander the corridors of the school, which was a dark, auspicious and sprawling affair, very much reminiscent of the Victorian building I subsequently learned it to be.

Dropping out of the back of the Institute's grounds, it was possible to slide down a slope, peppered with trees and foliage, until appearing down the bottom at railings overlooking Heathfield. I don't know why, but railings in those days always seemed to have convenient gaps - great for escape in games of tag! More often or not we simply played games in the Institute yard, although on occasions we'd venture into the gymnasium building.

This was fitted-out with the usual apparatus and one infamous visit resulted in a broken leg for one of our mates, who swung on one of the ropes straight into a vaulting horse... We were 8 at the time and the predictable aftermath was a stern ticking off from respective parents. We continued to routinely use the school while the caretaker's son was living there, up to about 1972. I guess it must have been converted to flats early in the next decade (?). I moved away from Swansea in 1980, although I'm still a regular visitor to that area (my sister owns our original family house in Rhondda Street). The Promenade quarry looks a much smaller expanse now, although still resolutely wild.

The Institute is the Haunted House-type building at the top of the postcard/photo, overlooking the Swansea town centre. The arches on the right of the street are the front of the Albert Hall cinema, which converted to a Bingo Hall in the late 70s/early 80s. The photographer is standing in Craddock Street; to his/her right would be a little road leading to the entrance to Dynevor Senior Comprehensive School, where I stayed on for my A levels. Dynevor School is also now closed, although the building itself is still present in some partial, adapted form.

Niall O'Brien.

ERRATA

Sir William A Jenkins. an board member of the swansea deaf and dumb mission.

Thanks Apollo !

Byddar Cymru extends thanks to the Apollo Theatre in Port Talbot for giving access to our deaf and disabled children.

A Port Talbot cinema has been praised for making a trip to the flicks a more enjoyable experience for disabled children. Apollo Cinema on Aberavon seafront, ran a special showing of the new Winnie The Pooh movie for disabled children. Children's charities have welcomed the idea, with cinema bosses hoping that if successful they will be able to show other films in the same way.

Manager Jamie Hughes said the film will include subtitles, the volume will be lower, the lights left on, and there will be no adverts or trailers, in a bid to try and make the experience as comfortable and enjoyable for the children. There will also be an audio description available, where a headset will be given children who are visually impaired, so they can have descriptions of what is happening during the film.

"This Sunday will be a trail run but hopefully we will be able to do it more often perhaps once or twice a month if it is successful," said Mr Hughes. "Some other Apollo cinemas across the country have done it and it has really taken off, but I don't know of any local cinemas who have done it. "So we thought it would be something nice to do for the disabled children in the area. "We hope they really enjoy it and it is much more comfortable for them.

"We have 100 seats and hopefully 50 to 60 will be full with the children and their parents. "We already have disabled access and booster seats, but this is the first time we have done this.

SOURCE & MORE

Wales suffering huge inequalities...

Some of the main findings which affect the ability of deaf and others with hearing loss from enjoying quality of life in Wales.

(1) Pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) are 2.5 times less likely to get A*-C grades in core subjects than their ineligible peers. People defined as both DDA disabled and as having a work limiting condition have by far the lowest educational achievements of all the equality categories. Both men and women in these groups are 3 times more likely to have no qualifications compared to the non-disabled.

(2) People who are both DDA disabled and have a work limiting condition experience most disadvantage in relation to employment. Seventy four per cent are not employed. This is more than 3 times the overall UK proportion of 22%. Women are disadvantaged in employment terms: in almost all population groups women face an above-average incidence of non-employment.

(3) Using a low-pay threshold defined as two-thirds of UK median earnings, the proportion of employees who are low-paid is higher in Wales than in the UK as a whole. Groups whose median earnings fall below the two thirds of the UK median for full-time employees are young people; those of Bangladeshi or Pakistani ethnicity; workers with no educational qualifications and workers who live in social housing.

(4) Approximately a fifth of the Welsh population live in poverty (measured after housing costs). Those living on the lowest incomes are once again the youngest, disabled people and those living in rented accommodation. However, lone parents are the most susceptible group, with almost half living in poverty. Being in work does not necessarily provide a route out of poverty, with 13% of in-work households in Wales living in poverty. In-work poverty is again most prevalent among lone parent households.

(5) Overall levels of inequality within Wales are not as wide as in the rest of the UK as Wales has relatively few people who earn the highest salaries or who are ‘very rich’. Those who are among the wealthiest 10% of people in Wales have around £100,000 less total wealth compared to the wealthiest 10% across the UK as a whole.

SOURCE

The full report can be downloaded by clicking HERE

"Disability that is work-limiting and activity (or DDA) limiting has profound consequences for employment, both in terms of undertaking work, but also in terms of hours and being in a low paid occupation. Results from the descriptive analysis show that about 26% of disabled people are in employment and that the influence of disability is more acute in Wales than in LESE or the Outer UK. The effect is more similar across areas in the multivariate analysis suggesting that differences in education within the disabled group are one potential contributory factor. Overall, the influence of disability is far more pronounced for those who are work-limiting and 71 DDA disabled than for those who are defined as disabled by either definition in isolation. If this is used as a proxy for the severity of the disability then our results suggest that this is a fundamental determinant of employment outcomes and highlights the wide variety of circumstances faced by disabled people."

S4C a Welsh deaf Channel ?

And other ridiculous statements as Anglophiles attack welsh cultural access by denigrating it as just for hand-waving deaf people. Obviously unaware deaf people cannot read welsh captions... More to the point in attacking the welsh language TV channel they suggest even deaf are lower priority. Read Below..

"Personally, I would watch a lot more S4C programs if they didn't have those hugely annoying signers on all the time. I tried watching Iolo's wildlife program last saturday - mid afternoon. It is a most excellent progam, but it was completely spoiled for me by some clown wildly gesticulating between me and the wildlife pictures. How much does this cost? Perhaps it is the first thing they should do away with. I am sure that sub-titles would be cheaper - they are already available for most programs in English, but they could add Welsh subtitles for deaf people. Sometimes I get the impression that S4C is a channel for Welsh language Deaf people rather than for all Welsh speakers."

MynUffarI1

SOURCE

They don't want sign language, they don't want welsh, why not watch something else ? Deaf people are able to access their local culture this way, they would deny them ?

Do you watch S4C ?

Welsh Video on Hate Crime..

Deaf public information from Gwent Police... (With captions and BSL).

Family History Course for the deaf

Melinda Gardner has taught the family history program at Abergele College for the past 3 years. Teaching a variety of mostly mature, older students, Melinda has also introduced a family history course for deaf students within the Abergele community. A popular and well respected teacher, Melinda has an ability to be sensitive to others needs and has gone out of her way to assist her students to be successful at all levels during their course of study and research.

'Melinda's main ability is in combining both subjects and explaining them in a clear manner,' says one of her many nominators, Kenneth Staley. 'A couple of years ago, Melinda became very ill and required heart surgery. She was more concerned with her students and still helped them when she was away. She has also visited students and helped them with their research and their computer program'.

Student Peter James Scott believes that coming from America, Melinda 'brings a lot of interesting insight to British history and to the class. Mel has written all the assessments, handouts, guide books, as well as developed the entire family history program that is taught all across Coleg Llandrillo. We have lost four students over the last two years because of ill health and Mel has grieved with the class. She has become a good friend to all of us.'

For Mel, teaching is more than just a job, 'I have been fortunate to really get to know my students because of their family history. We share all kinds of interesting stories and share a lot of emotions. I love teaching adults who sincerely want to learn. I find it very rewarding when I see my students succeed -- and I work very hard to help them to do so. I have learned so much about Welsh and English history and even discovered in my own research that my ancestors come from Denbigh; quite exciting since I moved here from Missouri, USA! I feel very honored and humbled that my students would nominate me for such a prestigious award.

Llanelli Clinic stops HA battery provision..

Is postal delivery of hearing aid batteries suitable for you ?

LACK of full-time desk cover at a Llanelli clinic has forced it to stop providing hearing aid batteries for the deaf.

Elizabeth Williams Clinic, in Mill Lane, is no longer giving out the batteries to those who need them. However health bosses insist this won't affect the service, as patients have been told to write to or visit Prince Philip Hospital instead. Town councillor Bill Thomas said: "The cuts in healthcare now come down to taking away a service that deaf people rely on in town. If they have to send a stamped addressed envelope to the audiology department at the hospital then they have to buy two stamps.

"If they are partially sighted, it is more difficult. I only found out as I had to go and fetch my mother's batteries, it was the last time that I could get them there. "The clinic is an important part of the service delivery for some health problems in Llanelli and my mother was quite upset about the issue." A Hywel Dda Health Board spokeswoman said there was concern that having no full-time cover at the centre would cause difficulty providing batteries.

She added: "Hywel Dda continues to provide new batteries from other locations, such as Prince Philip Hospital, which service users who previously visited the Elizabeth Williams Clinic can use if they do not wish to utilise the postal service. "However, supplying new hearing aid batteries by post has a number of advantages. "The service is more flexible for service users as they or their carer no longer need to visit a distribution point between specific times; it also reduces the associated cost of this travel.

SOURCE And MORE

Do not send used batteries back. Follow the Post Office rulings HERE.