Deaf Awareness Week 2010
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S3M-6139, in the name of Bill Kidd, on deaf awareness week 2010. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes Deaf Awareness Week 2010, which is to take place between 28 June and 4 July 2010 and aims to improve understanding of different types of deafness by highlighting the many different methods of communication used by deaf, deafened, deafblind and hard-of-hearing people, such as sign language and lip-reading; also welcomes the launch and presentation of an exclusive corporate DVD on behalf of the Hearing Company by Julie McElroy, which aims to raise awareness and understanding of issues surrounding deafness by drawing on Julie’s own experiences with deafness, and applauds the efforts of the UK Council on Deafness, Julie McElroy and all others involved in coordinating and contributing to the 2010 Deaf Awareness Week Campaign.
17:06
It is an honour for me to present this members’ business debate in the lead-up to deaf awareness week. My inspiration for lodging the motion that has brought us here this evening is a young woman who is sitting in the public gallery, Julie McElroy. Julie was born with cerebral palsy and with deafness in both ears, but has worked tirelessly to prove that the human spirit can overcome any physical obstacles—and she does so with a healthy dose of good humour.
As I said, it was Julie who caused me to think more about deafness and living with a disability that everyone knows about but, unless they are directly affected by it, does not really seem to give a second thought to. It is therefore important that the theme of deaf awareness week this year is “look at me”, which of course has at its base a number of connotations. Overall, it is about the need to improve understanding of deafness by highlighting the range of communication methods that are used by deaf people and their families. That is obviously of real importance when children are involved, in order to maximise their life opportunities through the development of language skills, with sign language, lip-reading and speech development.
Hearing aids are also of great significance, of course, and Julie has benefited tremendously through her practitioner at the Hearing Company, as have countless thousands of others through high street practitioners and national health service audiology departments. Hearing aid dispensers have recently transferred to the register of the Health Professions Council, which assures professionalism on the part of high street practitioners. It has been suggested that we should have the voucher system that is in use in Ireland and other European countries, which is similar to the system that opticians use, so that hearing impaired people can have a wider range of services for the basic provision of hearing aids than they have at present. Might the minister look at that proposal? I will forward him some details, if he likes.
On the general situation with deafness, 90 per cent of deaf children are born to hearing parents who have little or no prior experience or knowledge of deafness and will require support from medical professionals and charitable organisations such as the National Deaf Children’s Society in Scotland. The NDCS estimates that there are around 3,500 deaf children in Scotland, and many more who will experience temporary deafness at pre-school or primary age caused by what is known as glue ear. The NDCS also reports that the majority of deaf children are educated in mainstream schools, where they require additional educational support, which we have discussed in the Parliament. Further, there are older people who become deaf through physical deterioration of the ear, diseases of the inner ear or exposure to regular and continued loud noise. My father suffered hearing loss through his job working in a foundry, and his was certainly not an isolated example. Generations of older people who worked in heavy industry still carry that burden, having lost their hearing while contributing to society.
Deafness is all around us, but many of us choose not to notice it until we come face to face with it—a good phrase to use in relation to lip-reading. That is something from which many of us could benefit but, as my colleague Christine Grahame has said to me, it is possibly not something to teach politicians, as they might misuse it. It is, however, important in general.
Julie is a great example of someone who refuses to be fazed by her deafness and whose communication skills are second to none. As long as people are willing to see beyond the disability, Julie is perfectly capable, as are most people with hearing impairments. As with her cerebral palsy, Julie does not let her deafness get in her way. A couple of years ago, she took part in “Beyond Boundaries” on the BBC, in which a group of 10 young people crossed the Andes and travelled through dense tropical jungle, showing that, with the right motivation and support, they are as capable as anyone else in society. She has just achieved a first-class honours degree from the University of the West of Scotland and is launching herself—if that is the right word—on the catwalk as a model for young people with disabilities who have an interest in fashion.
Julie McElroy is a young woman of whom not only her family but all of Scotland can be proud. She is aware of her deafness and wants us to be as well. As it stands, she will not let anything hold her back in life and we should see her capabilities, not just her disability.
17:11
I again apologise to the chamber—I had to do the same last Thursday evening—but I have to attend an awards ceremony in my constituency and must leave the chamber immediately after I finish my speech.
As the convener of the cross-party group on deafness, I am pleased to take part in the debate, and I am sorry that I am unable to stay and meet Julie McElroy, who is truly an inspiration judging by the information that Bill Kidd has passed on to the members in the chamber. I congratulate him on highlighting Julie’s circumstances and commend her for the courage that she has shown. I also thank her for recruiting Bill Kidd as the newest member of the cross-party group on deafness. I do not know whether he knows about that yet, but his researcher has given me the nod that he will join the group. He will be very welcome.
With deaf awareness week ready to go once again, it is important for all of us to recognise the unfortunate lack of awareness that still exists around deafness and to do all in our power to promote greater awareness. There are no set-in-stone figures to inform us of the numbers of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Scotland, but the estimate is approximately one in seven, or almost 760,000 people, of whom 47,000 are in North Lanarkshire alone.
Even today, someone’s inclusion and access can be hindered as a result of their being deaf. Surveys for the Royal National Institute for Deaf People show that 43 per cent of people with deafness or hearing loss find it more difficult to access health services. Further evidence shows that problems relating to accessibility can lead to social exclusion, with deaf and hard-of-hearing people choosing to exclude themselves from events and social gatherings because there are no facilities in place to accommodate their language.
The issue of language is another important factor in the promotion of deaf awareness. Up to 6,000 people in Scotland use British Sign Language. As many members will know, I am in the process of readying my BSL (Scotland) bill, which will go out to consultation shortly and which I am sure all members will support whole-heartedly. BSL is the principal language of many in the deaf community but does not garner the same recognition as English or Gaelic. As a result, deaf and hard-of-hearing people who use it are unfairly disadvantaged. That has to change. The bill would provide equality to BSL users, promote awareness and establish BSL as one of Scotland’s official languages, permitting it to be taught in school. Scrutinising the bill is for another day, but in the meantime the Parliament should recognise the importance of promoting deaf awareness in Scotland. The debate has given us the opportunity to do that.
I have looked to see whether a signer is up in the public gallery. I am sorry to raise a negative note, but I do not see one—perhaps, Presiding Officer, you can correct me if one is there. One of the issues in the debate is awareness. When we have a debate in the chamber that is specifically about deaf issues, the Parliament should ensure that a signer is in place.
I thank all the deaf organisations in Scotland for their devotion and dedication in seeking equality for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. I thank Bill Kidd for securing today’s debate. I hope that when we next discuss deaf issues in the chamber we will do so in a way that allows everybody to take part.
17:16
Before Cathie Craigie leaves the chamber, I will mention the excellent work that she has done on the cross-party group on deafness over many years—in all three sessions of the Parliament so far, I think. I also congratulate Bill Kidd on securing the debate. As one in seven people in Scotland is affected by some form of hearing loss, it is only right that we recognise and acknowledge the needs of the deaf community.
As the motion mentions, lip-reading is one way in which some people who are affected by hearing loss can communicate. Learning to lip-read has increasingly been shown to raise confidence among people who have difficulty in hearing, and it has made them more attractive to employers: 70 per cent of deaf people believe that they have failed to get a job because of their deafness, so extending their opportunities for communication allows many deaf people to enter into the previously uncharted territory of the workplace.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People surveyed a group of newly diagnosed deaf people and found that, without the experience of lip-reading classes, they would not have known what services were available to them at home, including the installation of domestic loop systems and visual smoke alarms and doorbells. RNID Scotland is aware that people with deafness and hearing loss continue to struggle to understand and manage their condition because of a lack of deaf awareness, and that they struggle to access the services that are available to them.
I was shocked to hear that there are currently only 34 lip-reading tutors in Scotland, providing 63 classes. Classes are unavailable in three health board areas and in 18 local authority areas, so I hope that the Minister for Housing and Communities will take action to ensure that lip-reading classes are offered to people who need them and that they will perhaps be included in future single outcome agreements.
The benefits of learning BSL for both deaf and hearing people are well documented. In preparation for the debate, my researcher contacted Marsie Stuart of Sign and be ‘Heard’, which is an Ayrshire-based business that specialises in teaching BSL to staff in workplaces across Scotland. Marsie and her colleague aim to allow people who can hear fully to communicate with people who have hearing impairments. That not only benefits users of BSL, but opens up for people opportunities that they had overlooked in the past. Two good examples of that work can be found in the major supermarkets, Morrisons and Tesco. Both reported that more deaf people had applied for work there because staff had been trained and could now sign to them. Research shows that the biggest barrier to deaf people at work is the lack of understanding by employers and other employees. The courses are a huge step forward in integrating the deaf community into all work environments.
Sign and be ‘Heard’ believes that BSL, which was recognised as an official language in 2003, should be taught as a second language at nursery school or primary school. Estimates show that more than 6,000 people in Scotland have BSL as their first or preferred language.
I had not known this before, but I understand that only 30 per cent of our alphabet is lip-readable. If that is accurate, surely more emphasis could and should be placed on BSL. With only one qualified sign-language interpreter for every 200 BSL users in Scotland, there is undoubtedly a severe shortage. Perhaps that explains the absence of a signer from our public gallery.
At present, deaf children are mainstreamed in Scottish schools and are, I understand, offered only 40 minutes per week with a BSL support worker. I have no doubt that provision varies throughout Scotland, but 40 minutes seems to be minimal. In the majority of cases, their peer group and teachers have no knowledge of BSL and so cannot communicate effectively with them at other times. BSL communication also benefits people with difficulties such as Down’s syndrome, Asperger’s syndrome and autism.
I hope that the debate will help to highlight the gap in services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. There is no doubt that there remains a huge amount that can be done to improve the future of all deaf people in society through education.
17:21
I congratulate Bill Kidd and thank the National Deaf Children’s Society for its helpful briefing—in particular, for the flyer with the finger-spelling alphabet, as well as the dos and don’ts to assist lip-reading. I taught myself the finger-spelling alphabet many years ago but completely forgot the sign for Z—not that one uses it much—and shall pin the flyer on my office wall.
Last Tuesday, with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, I hosted a lip-reading learning session for MSPs. I hope to repeat that later in the year because, for the MSPs who made it to the session and the members of the Parliament staff who attended, it was a steep learning curve.
Lesley Stewart, who is the RNID Scotland hear to help project co-ordinator in the Borders—she is always entertaining and informed—became deaf as an adult. She was accompanied at the session by Molly, her hearing dog who, although small, is a right wee scene stealer and always makes her presence felt. Lesley told us how her husband would put the light off for sleep, keep talking—she could tell he was talking because she could feel his face vibrate—and then complain when she did not answer. She also told us how, often, if they were at a speaking event and people did not face her directly or covered their mouths, she would have to ask him what was being said, only to be told, “I’ll tell you later.” However, she got her own back at a conference for the deaf: because communication was by signing and lip-reading, he had to ask her what was being said, so she signed to him, “I’ll tell you later.”
The don’ts to which I referred were addressed by Helen Shannon and Alison Pendlowski, who are lip-reading tutors. We pupils were presented with hand mirrors to demonstrate to us how certain sounds look the same on the lips, such as M and B, which are indistinguishable. F and V are also indistinguishable and K and D have the same mouth formation. That illustrates what Mary Scanlon said about only 30 per cent of the alphabet being lip-readable
We then had to try to follow a joke by lip-reading so that we could learn how important context is to working out what is being said, with the 30 per cent of sounds that one can recognise. It was a joke about the First Minister visiting a ward, by the way. I will tell it to members later. We also learned that some people lip-read successfully face on and some from the side, so the lip-reading tutors said the joke three times so that we could see which way we could read their lips. I was hopeless. Gavin Brown MSP, the Tory colleague in the class, was not too bad—he was my partner in crime at the session. One of the Parliament staff who said that she had never done it before was brilliant. As I said, I was complete rubbish. Contrary to what Bill Kidd said, I put it down to being a politician. It is not so much “Read my lips” but “Watch my eyes and body language, because I speak with forked tongue.”
It was exhausting. That is another thing that I see in the dos and don’ts. It is tiring to concentrate on lip-reading, so it gave us a small appreciation of the effort that goes into it.
I will finish with a don’t that should be a motto for politicians. I direct this not just at Mary Scanlon, but at all members of the Health and Sport Committee, which I chair. We were told, “Don’t take forever to get to the point. Avoid rambling.” I hope that all members of the Health and Sport Committee are listening. I am going to learn how to sign that motto in BSL.
17:25
I might have reservations about whether members of our profession should have the ability to lip-read—it would have at least the potential to present some interesting scenarios—but, more seriously, I congratulate Bill Kidd on securing a debate on the motion. I also thank all the organisations that have contributed to the useful briefings that we have received. I notice that representatives from those organisations are in the public gallery listening to the debate. Cathie Craigie’s point about the need for a signer was well made, so I hope that those responsible for such things within the Parliament will pay heed to it.
Fundamentally, access for, and awareness of, those who suffer hearing loss or deafness are equalities issues in every sense of that term. Without awareness, we exclude from the things that many of us take for granted a fairly substantial proportion of our population. It is likely that, of the 129 MSPs, as we all move to old age—
Don’t look at me.
It should be said that we are all travelling towards old age at the same speed.
As we move towards age, many of us will find that, when our relatives come into our houses, they will ask, “Why is your television volume at 105?” We might reply, “Oh, they speak a lot softer than they used to do when I was younger.” That is often the reaction, even though we can see the ornaments bounce across the top of the television. We need to be aware that hearing loss might at some stage have an impact on us.
We also need to be aware of the simple things that can have an impact. For example, when we are dealing with the bank, if the clerk’s head is down or looking at a screen, that might have an impact on our ability to communicate.
I advise the member that his moustache and beard can present a difficulty for those trying to lip-read, so he might want to be clean-shaven.
That is a very good point. I grew this beard on the basis that it might help to develop what is lacking on the top of my head, but I am afraid that it did not work.
Returning to the serious issue at hand, we are dealing very much with an equalities and access issue.
Other members have spoken much more knowledgeably than I could about BSL, but I want to make a particular plea about another language, which is called Makaton. Makaton is a simplified version of sign language that can be used by people with learning disabilities. Makaton widens access for those with learning disabilities, such as a motor impairment that prevents them from making the complicated signs that can be required in BSL or a lack of intellectual capability or a lack of ability to retain the full range of signs that exist in BSL. Makaton is a much simplified version of BSL. We should bear in mind the point that our learning disability community is often excluded generally from the world. Therefore, I put in a plea for wider availability and awareness of Makaton to allow those in the disability community to have the same rights and access that we take for granted, in addition to those that should be made available to those who use BSL or lip-reading.
17:29
I, too, thank Bill Kidd for bringing before us this timely motion. I also acknowledge the example of Julie McElroy. It takes individuals to get us to consider things in this world, and Julie McElroy is an inspiration to us all.
I also commiserate with the minister because what tonight’s debate has done is produce an extended wish list of things that the Government needs to worry about, which I am going to add to. We need to be slightly careful not to ask for too much—particularly in these straitened times—but the point that all members have made is that we are talking about relatively small stuff. We are not looking for megabucks but, as the minister well knows, the deaf community needs some help. Half a dozen more translators would make a significant difference and would not cost us megabucks.
I want to pick up on some references that other members have made. First, the deaf community is extremely varied. The document “The Long and Winding Road: A Roadmap to British Sign Language & Linguistic Access in Scotland”, which the minister will be well aware of, points out that the deaf community includes people who become hard of hearing in later life, those who acquire profound deafness as adults, those who were born profoundly deaf, those who use BSL as their first language and, of course, those sad folk who are deafblind. Each of those groups has very different requirements, but each has a significant number of members.
Lip-reading has already been mentioned, so I do not want to extend that discussion, but I was aware of the fact that beards and moustaches are a significant problem for lip-readers, because Christine Grahame and I discussed the subject elsewhere earlier in the year. In my case, the purpose of the beard and moustache is not to make up for hair that is missing from the top of my head—mercifully, that does not seem to be going. It simply reflects the fact that, as a very young man, I decided that I was not prepared to spend as many hours as I would have to shaving, were I to shave.
I turn to some of the issues that are raised in “The Long and Winding Road”, which identified a significant number of gaps in provision only last year. In general, there is simply not enough public funding to allow the profoundly deaf or deafblind to go to rehabilitation courses or to allow people who become deaf in adult life to attend lip-reading and communication classes. There is not enough money for training people to be interpreters and translators, and money is not routinely available for sign language courses for people who become deaf or the parents of deaf children. I repeat that we are not talking about megabucks, but money is an issue.
Another issue that I want to bring to the minister’s attention, which has already emerged in Aberdeen, is to do with the change in social work. Aberdeen and North East Deaf Society was an organisation that provided social work to the deaf community in the Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray areas. I do not want to go too far into the background, but for reasons that I am not prepared to dig up, it ceased to trade and the councils had to find other ways of dealing with that social work responsibility. They have done so, and I have no doubt that they will meet their statutory responsibilities.
However, one of the upshots of the society ceasing to trade was that its building and facilities became unavailable. The significant point was made to me that, for members of the deaf community—we are talking about thousands of people—the use of the building was more important than the social work that was provided there, because it gave them a space in which they could communicate with each other and be together. Although the provision of those social work services was a statutory responsibility that the council took over, it had no duty to provide premises where the deaf community could meet. That issue will not go away; indeed, it may recur as stringent times mean that more such services receive less funding.
We are not asking for megabucks; we are simply adding to the understanding of the minister and the Government of the disparate communities that involve folk who are deaf, who need our help. We understand that, and we bring it to the Government’s attention.
17:33
I join others in congratulating Bill Kidd on bringing such an important subject to the Parliament’s attention. I pay tribute to Julie McElroy, whom I congratulate on the DVD that she made on behalf of the Hearing Company and on featuring in this week’s Big Issue supplement on independent living, about which I will say more later.
We welcome deaf awareness week, which we think is a much-needed event in raising awareness among the broader community of the challenges that people who are hard of hearing, deaf or deafblind face, and what we need to do about those issues. I also acknowledge the many organisations in Scotland that help to raise awareness of the different types of deafness and which promote understanding of different communication methods.
Since 2000 and under successive Administrations, the Scottish Government equality unit has chaired the British Sign Language and linguistic access working group, working to improve linguistic access for people who are born deaf, who acquire a hearing loss or who are deafblind. The group produced a road map for linguistic access, which the Scottish Government published in 2009. We also provide funding to the Scottish Council on Deafness to increase our engagement with deaf people.
Our additional work involves quite a commitment of resources, although I agree that more needs to be done. In providing a funding package to support different forms of communication for deaf people, we recognise the importance of people with the right training and skills in communication, such as BSL interpreters. Over a three-year period that will end next year, we will have provided £1.5 million to support the building bridges project, which includes a new work-based route for training BSL to English interpreters and work on training the trainers, which is designed to increase the number of deaf tutors who can teach BSL at advanced levels.
Different forms of communication suit different deaf people; for example, those who have acquired hearing loss are unlikely to use BSL, although they may learn to lip-read. We are currently looking at the place of lip-reading within a rehabilitation framework through the Scottish Government’s audiology services advisory group. We also believe that new technology has a major role to play in improved communication for deaf people.
I want simply to draw to the minister’s attention the fact that, at the lip-reading learning class last week, it was brought to my attention that there has been a reduction in lip-reading tutors. I hope that the Government will consider that as part of what it is doing. We need more, not fewer.
I am certainly happy to look at that issue—of that there is no doubt.
In terms of new technology, we are funding a pilot of online interpreting, which involves an organisation that is supported by Social Enterprise, and we have three separate pilots within the national health service of different models and providers of online interpreting.
We are also keen to include deaf people in our wider work to promote equality and inclusion for disabled people. We are committed to promoting equality and inclusion for all disabled people, including those with hearing loss. While we acknowledge that deaf BSL users are proud of their linguistic and cultural identity, we recognise that they, too, are covered by disability legislation. Because of that and our commitment to the issue, we have been working across the Government to promote equality and inclusion for disabled and deaf people. We have implemented the disability equality duty and responded to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which includes specific references to the human rights of deaf people and sets out expectations in relation to accessible information and communication support.
We are also delivering on our commitments to promote independent living for disabled people. Independent living is based on a commitment to the principles of participation, inclusion and maximising potential. It includes deaf people, many of whom need improved communication. The Scottish Council on Deafness is also included on the reference group that steers the work on independent living. The current work plan focuses on inclusive communication.
I want to comment specifically on BSL recognition. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of BSL to the deaf community. It is a vital means of communication for deaf people, as well as being part of their linguistic and cultural identity. As I said, we have provided significant funding to support BSL training, although the numbers issue needs to be tackled. More widely, if Bill Kidd sends me details of the voucher scheme, we will look at whether we can pursue that course of action in assisting deaf people.
In winding up, I pay tribute to everybody who has spoken in the debate. Although it has not been well attended, everybody who has spoken has highlighted the particular needs of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. We want to ensure that those who are deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind have exactly the same opportunities as others to maximise their potential and to participate fully in the daily life of our nation.
Meeting closed at 17:40.