Deaf man complains of lack of interpreter at job fair

An unemployed man who is profoundly deaf is campaigning for better facilities to help people like him get work reports Get Reading (26/04/12)

Piyush Bharania, 41, was keen to attend a job fair at pentahotel last September. He emailed the office of Reading East MP Rob Wilson, who co-organised the event, beforehand asking for a deaf interpreter but was told there was no budget available.

He went to the fair and communicated using pen and paper.

Mr Bharania, of Linden Road, Whitley, who has been deaf since birth, said: “I find it hard to believe the event did not have a budget.

“I feel incredibly let down and upset by what has happened. I’m sure you will appreciate that without an interpreter I would not be able to communicate.”

Mr Bharania complained to the Equality and Human Rights Commission but was advised the commission could not comment on allegations of discrimination which would have to be decided through the courts. In his formal response to the commission, Mr Wilson wrote: “Reading Job Fair is co-ordinated by my office in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and Reading UK CIC. It is a completely free event to attend for both exhibitors and job seekers and everything needed is donated by local companies.”

He said his assistant had suggested Mr Bharania could take a friend to interpret and had also offered to be on hand at the fair.

But Councillor Peter Ruhemann, who chairs the access and disabilities working group on Reading Borough Council, said although the duty to make “reasonable adjustments” for profoundly deaf people was subject to financial constraints, “that does beg the question as to why no budget was identified to deal with issues like this or other contingencies”.

Mr Wilson said on Tuesday: “Reading Job Fair makes every effort to accommodate the needs of those who wish to attend. In this particular case, we were unable, with a day’s notice and with no recourse to funds, to organise a translator for Mr Bharania at our September Job Fair. However, we did offer Mr Bharania alternative suggestions, including providing a member of staff to aid him in communicating with employers.

“As we have had more notice, for tomorrow's Job Fair we have been able to arrange a translator for Mr Bharania through a third party organisation, as well as making deaf loops available at the venue.

“We are totally committed, with the minimal resources at our disposal, to giving everybody an equal chance of getting a job. It would be very sad indeed to see Reading Labour Party jumping on another bandwagon to try to destroy a very successful event.”

Disabled rights campaigner Lord Ashley dies

The Labour peer Lord Ashley of Stoke, the first deaf MP, has died at the age of 89, after a short battle with pneumonia writes Laura Donnelly for The Telegraph (21/04/12).

Tributes to the peer, who as Jack Ashley was elected as MP for Stoke on Trent South in 1966, poured in as news of his death was announced.

The tributes were led by his daughter Jackie Ashley, a journalist and broadcaster, who described her father as "wonderful, brave and adored."

Her husband, BBC presenter Andrew Marr, said Lord Ashley died on Friday night after a short illness.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "I am very sad to hear of the death of Jack Ashley. He was an outstanding servant of the Labour party and an extraordinary campaigner for equal rights for people with disabilities.

"Jack Ashley turned his own tragic experience of losing his hearing into a mission of courage and determination for deaf and disabled people. He was a pioneer as the first deaf MP to sit in Parliament, but he did much more than that.

"There are many millions of men and women with disabilities who will have better lives thanks to Jack Ashley. He succeeded in changing the law and in changing attitudes.

"Anti-discrimination legislation for people with disabilities would not have happened when it did without his tenacity, his campaigning and his support.

"Jack Ashley will be missed by his family, his friends and his colleagues in the House of Lords. He led an amazing life and will be remembered with deep affection, profound respect and great admiration."

David Cameron described Lord Ashley as a "tireless" campaigner for disabled people who had a huge impact not just through his charity work, and legislation, but also in changing attitudes.

The prime minister said: "It takes characters like Jack, with his extraordinary tenacity, to push for that kind of positive change. He will be sorely missed and my thoughts and prayers are with his family."

Lord Morris of Manchester, a fellow Labour peer of Lord Ashley's, who collaborated with him when campaigning for disability rights, also paid tribute to his colleague and long-standing friend.

"Jack and I lived in close fellowship for over five decades. We campaigned and legislated together on improving the wellbeing of disabled people and others in special need," Lord Morris said.

"His passing will be mourned by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. He was a very fine parliamentarian."

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "He was a tireless campaigner for disabled people and had a huge impact, not just through his charity work and pushing for legislation in Parliament, but also in changing attitudes.

"It takes characters like Jack, with his extraordinary tenacity, to push for that kind of positive change. He will be sorely missed and my thoughts and prayers are with his family."

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett, who is blind, said: "Jack Ashley was a pioneer who set aside his disability and by doing so forged a path which others, including me, have been able to follow.

"By sheer tenacity and latterly the use of technology, he was able to demonstrate that not only could he work on equal terms but achieve a great deal more than most of us in politics are able to boast about."

Former-prime minister Gordon Brown added: "Jack Ashley was the greatest champion Britain's disabled have had.

"He was compassionate, direct, forceful and radical. The man who, speaking with the authority of personal experience, took the cause of disabled men and women into the chambers of Parliament and to the heart of government.

"He leaves behind a contribution in legislation and policy progress for the cause of tackling disability that will not easily be surpassed."

In his autobiography, Lord Ashley recalled that the last voice he heard was that of the late rugby commentator Eddie Waring.

He became profoundly deaf a year after his election to parliament at the age of 45 following an operation to correct mild hearing loss.

After initially fearing he would be forced to give up politics, the MP learned to lip-read.

Other politicians, including political foes such as Prime Minister Edward Heath, turned towards him during Commons debates so he could get a clear view of their mouths.

Lord Ashley also worked hard to modulate his speaking voice, which he could no longer hear.

However, his deafness never affected his combative attitude.

“Early on when I first lost my hearing, I think people were a little fearful about attacking me. But as I re-established my confidence, that soon fell away,” he said.In the years that followed, he campaigned for the rights of those with disability, in particular for the deaf and blind.

In 1986, the MP and his wife founded the charity Defeating Deafness, now known as Deafness Research UK.

Together the couple had three daughters.

After retiring from the Commons in 1992, Jack Ashley was made a life peer, Baron Ashley of Stoke.

Two years later he received a cochlear implant which restored much of his hearing.

Lord Ashley took a leading role campaigning on behalf of victims of Thalidomide, which was given to mothers to treat morning sickness during the 1950s and 1960, and against violence and rape.

In 2003 he secured changes to improve the provision of subtitles on television. In 2006, he championed a bill to strengthen the rights of the elderly and disabled.

Until his death, Lord Ashley was President of Action on Hearing Loss, formerly the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.

He was also Vice-President of the National Deaf Children’s Society with whom he worked for many years to champion the rights of deaf children.

Susan Daniels, the charity's chief executive, said: “Lord Ashley was a passionate advocate for deaf and disabled people, securing important victories for them in parliament and working tirelessly to ensure that they had a voice at the highest levels."

Lord Ashley worked in a factory after leaving school at 14, becoming a shop steward and a local councillor.

He studied at Oxford and Cambridge on scholarships, and worked as a producer for the BBC before entering parliament.

Serve deaf clients better 'or face claims'

Law firms could face unlimited discrimination claims from deaf and hard of hearing people if they continue failing to make ‘reasonable adjustments’, consumer watchdogs have warned writes Johnathan Rayner for the Law Gazette (18/04/12).

They claim that many deaf clients feel they have to ‘win a battle with their own advisers’ before they can succeed in a legal action, blaming firms’ ‘lack of preparation and consideration’ and failure to take into account their special needs. This slowness to engage with deaf clients prompted some 1,380 complaints and enquiries to the Royal Association for Deaf People (RAD) law centre between August 2007 and September 2011, with a further 429 received in the first seven months of 2011-2012.

Most queries related to employment and welfare benefits, and to ­discrimination in the provision of goods and services. Britain has over 10 million people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Mounting concerns over discrimination have led to the announcement within the last month of two initiatives to improve ‘deaf awareness’.

According to Legal Choices, Silent Process, published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Legal Services Consumer Panel and Action on Hearing Loss, deaf clients often find that legal materials are not adapted for their needs and there are barriers to communication, such as badly maintained loop systems and poorly lit rooms. Firms often fail to provide sign language interpreters when requested, and there is confusion over who should pay for them, the report says.

The SRA says it will be issuing best-practice guidelines to address these issues, including online ‘deaf awareness’ training covering interpreting services, how the law applies, and different ways of communicating with deaf people. Case law and legal principles will be illustrated with videos, along with ­common points of law and its vocabulary.

RAD law centre head Rob Wilks told the Gazette that RAD is also to launch an initiative to ‘educate the legal profession as to the needs of the deaf community’. He said: ‘In addition to CPD-accredited training and workshops, we will be establishing a charter to which law firms committed to providing a service to deaf people can aspire to sign up to. It is intended that this will become the definitive UK benchmark for law firms and other providers to deaf people.’

Warning over disability living allowance shake-up

Ministers must "learn the lessons" of past welfare changes or risk their proposed shake-up of disability support leaving many in poverty, it is claimed.

Plans to replace the disability living allowance (DLA) could lead to 85% of claimants cutting back on basics like food and transport, a charity warned. The Papworth Trust said there was also anxiety over the reassessment process reports the BBC (31/08/11).

The government says DLA is complex, inconsistent and that changes are "overdue", but stresses cash payments will remain.

The coalition is planning to replace the allowance, introduced in 1992 to help disabled people cope with the extra costs they face in their daily lives, with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment.

Disability Living Allowance is paid to 3.2 million people

Mobility concern

All 3.2 million people receiving DLA at the moment, both those in work and out, will be reassessed.

It is expected mobility allowances for those in care homes and the care component of the allowance paid to 650,000 people will be ended, while most recipients will receive fixed-term rather than indefinite payments in future.

Disability rights campaigners are seeking a judicial review of the proposals, part of the government's welfare reform bill, saying ministers have not properly assessed their negative impact.

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The Papworth Trust said it had spoken to 2,000 people likely to be affected and that eight out of ten believed they would have less to spend on basic items like food, fuel and transport as a result.

Although the government is still consulting on its plans, the charity said the changes risked leaving already vulnerable people "further disadvantaged" - threatening their mobility and peace of mind.

"Disabled people's daily costs are typically 25% higher than those of non-disabled people," its chief executive Adrian Bagg said.

"For example, not all public transport is accessible. This means some people have to use accessible taxis to be able to leave their home, which cost significantly more than non-accessible taxis."

The charity said it accepted that all sections of society were facing cutbacks, but that a 20% reduction in spending on PLP, compared to DLA, would leave very few recipients unaffected.

Campaigners are also urging ministers to take on board problems experienced in their shake-up of incapacity benefit when it comes to assessing people's eligibility for the new benefit.

'Keeping pace'

Fitness-for work tests for those on incapacity benefit - known as the work capability assessment - have been heavily criticised for failing to differentiate between those with different conditions, and for not preparing claimants for the ordeal.

Mr Bagg said DLA claimants - particularly those with mental health problems - were "particularly anxious" about the reassessment process and how it would be conducted.

"We urge the government to learn the lessons of the work capability assessment and ensure that if they make this change, the assessment will be fair and the implications clearly explained."

Ministers say DLA has essentially remained the same for 20 years and has failed to "keep pace" with the ever-growing role played by disabled people in society and their rising aspirations.

While remaining a non means-tested cash payment, ministers say PLP will be simpler to apply for and administer and focused on helping fulfil people's desire to live independent lives.

Responding to a public consultation earlier this year, Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller said change was "long overdue" and PLP would be a "truly personalised benefit that evolves over time".

The government says spending on DLA has risen by 30% in the past eight years and, even after the changes, projected spending in 2015-2016 would be equivalent to levels in 2009-2010.

The lawyers trying to give deaf people a hearing

Ten million people have a hearing problem but legal aid cuts will make woeful provision of legal services worse, finds Neil Rose (Guardian 11/08/11).

The legal system is not geared to handle the need of deaf people. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi
You don't have to look very far to find stories about deaf people who have been let down by lawyers and the legal system. There's Funmi, a deaf Nigerian who has lived in the UK since 1987 but whose solicitor did not make her citizenship application correctly; David, a self-employed man whose solicitor did not fight his corner over benefits he was entitled to for being wholly reliant on his hearing mother to communicate with clients; and John, whose union solicitor did a bad job of his disability discrimination case against a well-known financial institution. All of these people eventually turned to RAD Legal Services, part of the Royal Association for Deaf People and the country's only dedicated legal resource for the deaf. Why are there not more, especially because – with nearly 10 million people suffering some sort of hearing problem – it is potentially a huge market to serve? Its head, solicitor Rob Wilks, is not certain. "It could be because deafness is a 'hidden' disability," he says. There are small signs of this changing. Blackburn law firm Joseph Frasier will next week launch a campaign to provide legal services for deaf people under the headline: "Representing your right to be heard." Claiming to be the first private law firm dedicated to deaf and hard of hearing people, founder Saimina Virmani says it is the culmination of 18 months of preparation; the campaign was inspired by deaf staff working in the building where the firm is situated (which belongs to the East Lancashire Deaf Society) and by her experience of acting for a deaf client. She has also come across "terrible" stories of solicitors denying deaf people access to interpreters and simply not understanding the different ways they need to communicate with deaf people, such as in the way they write letters. The firm's fee-earners, none of whom are deaf, are being taught British Sign Language (BSL) and it is adapting its communication channels. "The last few months have been a journey for us and we have loved learning about deaf culture," Virmani says. "The deaf community is very tightly knit and although we see people who are deaf as being on the outside of our world, the tables have now completely turned and we are on the outside. As legal professionals we are trained to use the power of our advocacy and voice but in working with deaf/hard of hearing clients, this has essentially been taken away from us." The legal system, it appears, is simply not geared to the needs of deaf people – Rob Wilks says deaf people who use BSL as a first language often have poor literacy levels (the average reading age for deaf school leavers is 8-9 years). "This means that they cannot understand information leaflets and correspondence, or access telephone helplines using a textphone," he says. A report in 2009 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that the advice system of CABs, law societies, union sources and private firms of solicitors "are often still inaccessible to profoundly deaf customers" though the Disability Discrimination Act has been on the statute books since 1995. Now the Equality Act 2010, it requires service providers to make adjustments to ensure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people. This is not happening across the legal system, both in most law firms and in the courts. Part of the problem, Wilks says, is the "chronic shortage" of interpreters, but it is just plain neglect as well. One of Virmani's projects has been to build a network of law firms (now numbering nearly 50) around the country that have committed to become deaf-aware and will be able to help deaf people in their area if face-to-face help is required. The association began an advice service in 2000, transforming into RAD Legal Services in July 2007, when Wilks, who has been deaf since birth, qualified as a solicitor and the £500,000 Big Lottery Fund deaf minority advice project commenced. Over the past four years, RAD has handled nearly 1,500 cases, with employment, welfare benefits, discrimination and housing the most in-demand areas of law. It has a contract (until March 2012) from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to provide discrimination advice to deaf and hard of hearing people throughout England, Wales and Scotland. Plans for the first deaf law centre are also well underway. And there is further hope that the legal needs of deaf people will be understood. The legal services consumer panel has confirmed that the first of a series of studies into how specific groups of consumers (particularly disadvantaged ones) experience legal services will be in partnership with Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID). Emma Harrison, a member of the panel and head of public engagement at Action on Hearing Loss, says the study has come out of work the charity has been doing to improve access to the courts and hopes to highlight the pockets of best practice that exist in the legal profession. But the prospect of the legal aid cuts could worsen the situation for the deaf community, Wilks says. Aside from simply not being able to afford legal advice, law firms or other legal advice providers that have legal aid franchises will no longer be able to rely on legal aid to claim the costs of interpreters as a disbursement. "This means the number of providers willing to provide legal advice to deaf people is likely to decline." Given the low base from which this is starting, it is a woeful prospect.