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In This Issue
Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind - Deaf-Blind
Program Federal Funding
Interactive Storytelling for Deafblind
Children
Personal Perspectives
Personal Retrospective
NTAC Update
Access to Multimedia on the Web
For Your Library
Workshops and Conferences
Announcements
Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind Deaf-Blind
Program Federal Funding
Paula Hoffman
For
nearly 30 years, the Seattle Lighthouse has provided a wide range of services
and support to Deaf-Blind people in the areas of employment, skills training,
social activities, leadership development, interpreting, and much more. Over
the years, the Deaf-Blind community in Seattle has grown significantly, and
demand for services has increased. To enhance and expand our current program,
we requested funding from the federal government and in June 2000 received a
federal appropriation of $1,849,000 for services for Deaf-Blind people. In this
article I will share with you the process involved in obtaining the funding and
how the money will be used.
Previous Funding Sources
The Seattle Lighthouse Deaf-Blind Program was
initially funded for three years in the early 1970s by seed money from the
Helen Keller National Center. The program later grew to be self-sufficient
through Lighthouse business operationsthe sale of products manufactured
at the Lighthouse and business service contracts. For example, we have a large
aerospace contract with the Boeing Company to manufacture over 10,000 parts. We
also have manufacturing and business service contracts with the General
Services Administration (GSA) to make a variety of products including easel
boards, paper trimmers, canteens, and safety clothing. And we have a custom
business product line that includes awards, certificates, rubber stamps, and
business cards. The sales of these products and services pay for such business
expenses as machinery, payroll, building space, and until recently, our
services. Another small source of funding comes from state rehabilitation and
telecommunications access program dollars.
As the Deaf-Blind community grew, largely because of
the relocation of Deaf-Blind people to Seattle from other states, demand for
our services increased beyond the capacity of the funds received through
business operations and other sources. We also felt that it was not wise to
have our services so largely dependent on business operations funds, which can
fluctuate if there is a lull or downturn in business. In 1996 the Lighthouse
made a commitment to seek funding to support growth in services, augment
operations dollars, and protect services through downturns in business cycles.
The Funding Request Process
In the late 1990s, I attended two national
conferences that focused on legislative education. One was sponsored by the
National Industries for the Blind, and the other, the Josephine L. Taylor
Leadership Institute, was sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind.
Both conferences, held in Washington DC, emphasized the importance to
organizations serving blind individuals of meeting with and educating
legislators about their organizations activities and needs. The
conferences covered topics such as how to make appointments with and talk to
legislators and included visits to Capitol Hill. Using this information, our
staff at the Lighthouse began to visit our legislators every time we traveled
to Washington, DC, for conferences, business, or personal vacations.
We began by meeting with senators and
representatives from Washington State. Many were already familiar with the
Lighthouse name but were amazed to learn about the variety and scope of our
training programs and support services. Congressional staff expressed great
interest in and support of our program and understood that, although the
services were located in Seattle, they had a national impact. In 1999, two of
Senator Patty Murrays staff visited the Lighthouse. At the end of the
visit we were thrilled when one said, The Lighthouse rocks!! How can we
help?
We were fortunate that both of our senators from
Washington State (one Democrat and one Republican) were on the Senate
Appropriations Committee and on the Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS)
subcommittee. They introduced our request and supported it during committee
discussions. Our team, led by Mark Landreneau, included Deaf-Blind people from
Seattle and other states. Our program has always embraced and lived a
philosophy of empowerment. Therefore, it was critical to us that visits to
legislators include blind and Deaf-Blind people who were employees, staff, or
participants in our programs. We deeply appreciated the support of Janie Neal,
Maria Garden, Jeff Foster, and others, who made personal visits to the offices
of all the committee members. We provided training and practice sessions to our
team members on how to give effective presentations. The team visited
congressional offices on both the Senate and the House sides. Overall, we made
more than 60 personal visits, all with Deaf-Blind people making presentations.
We used interpreters from the Seattle area who knew
the people making the presentations, who knew about our community and our
organization, and who understood the signs and acronyms we commonly used. There
were at least six interpreters, both Lighthouse staff and freelance, who
provided incredible interpreting, guiding, and support services for Deaf-Blind
team members.
Our team knew that we had to be flexible. Congress
is a place where things happen at the very last minute, and there were many
things that we could not control. Sometimes we werent able to meet with
the people we expected to meet. We were often in environments where we
couldnt control factors that affected communication, such as lighting,
glare, and seating arrangements. We were working with people who were not used
to communicating via interpreters and who talked quickly and asked lots of
questions. Meetings were sometimes very short but were always important, and we
learned to say what we needed quickly. We let them know who we were and what we
did, and we asked for their support for our funding request. Often, the people
we spoke with became so interested in what our Deaf-Blind presenters were
saying that they extended the appointment time.
We developed printed materials to give the
legislative staff more details about our request, background information about
the Lighthouse, and contact information. We also brought props with
us to demonstrate some of the products we make and the unique adaptive
technology that we utilize.
During the time that we were making our funding
request, we also contacted supporters of the Lighthouse (Deaf-Blind people,
family members, friends, and interpreters) from other states who had senators
and representatives on the appropriations committees. We asked them if they
would be willing to write letters of support to their senators. Because the
Lighthouse has always included Deaf-Blind people from other states and nations
in its services, we had a large network to draw from. We also received letters
of support from national organizations. We were able to show members of
Congress that we provided a valuable national service through our programs.
Once the deliberations of the subcommittee to which
we had made our request were completed, we had to wait throughout the summer
and early fall while the entire Senate Appropriations Committee made its final
decisions.
Finally the Senate finished its work on the
appropriations budget and supported our request for 4 million dollars. The
budget then went to the House for discussion and approval, and there our
request was reduced to 2 million dollars. In November 1999 the appropriations
budget was finalized, and Congress decided to award 2 million dollars to the
Seattle Lighthouse for its services for Deaf-Blind people. Congress also
decided that the appropriate department to oversee this funding was the
Department of Education under the Rehabilitation Services Administration. As
part of later overall budget cuts, the amount was reduced to $1,849,000. We
have five years in which to use these funds.
How the Federal Funds Will Be Used
Seventy-five percent of the new federal funds will
be used to hire new staff, expand existing services, and fund new projects.
Twenty-five percent will be used to maintain existing services. We currently
have 15 staff members and serve between 175 and 200 Deaf-Blind people annually
through our community-based services. Prior to receipt of the federal funds,
our annual operating budget was just over a million dollars.
It has become necessary for us to expand our
services for two reasons. First, we have experienced a steady growth in the
number of people requesting and receiving our services, without having
experienced an increase in staffing. Second, a large proportion of Deaf-Blind
people in Seattle have Usher Syndrome, a condition in which vision loss is
progressive. As vision decreases, so does each individuals need for more
training and new technological adaptations. For the Lighthouse, this requires
increased services, staff, interpreters, and time.
The type of new and expanded services was determined
by direct feedback from Deaf-Blind people, and they include services that
Deaf-blind people have repeatedly requested. The purpose of some of the new
projects is to share information with agencies and organizations outside of the
Seattle area that would like to replicate our service models as well as other
service models in the Seattle Deaf-Blind community. We have received numerous
requests for this from Deaf-Blind people from other states. Until now, our
ability to assist others in developing their own community services has been
hampered by insufficient funding.
The following sections describe some of our
preexisting services, services that are being expanded, and new projects.
Preexisting Services
Employee Support. The Lighthouse currently
employs 300 people. Forty-three of these employees are Deaf-Blind. Employee
support includes vocational assessment and training, technical assistance on
the topic of deaf-blindness, and provision of information about work-related
issues such as co-worker communication.
Independent Living Training. We have a
variety of independent living classes that teach such skills as banking,
cooking, managing personal documents, and home buying.
Other Services. Other preexisting services
include interpreting, orientation and mobility training, and telecommunications
and equipment support. We also offer training and skill-building activities to
interpreters and other professionals.
Expanded services
Deaf-Blind Community Class. This class meets
every two weeks during the school year and is attended by between 25 and 35
Deaf-Blind people, who select and develop the topics. The new federal funds
will be used to increase staffing, to train and support volunteer interpreters
and other volunteers, and to provide some summer class activities. We are also
now able to fund a core interpreting team, and we have added a much needed
Deaf-Blind Community Class assistant position.
Dog Guide Support Groups. This is a new
program offered through our orientation and mobility services. It will give dog
guide users an opportunity to get together to review responsibilities, learn
more about caring for their dog guides, and to commiserate and laugh about
daily experiences. Twelve support groups will meet over the duration of the
grant. The initial groups will each have five members and will grow as
additional dog guide users join the group.
Internship Coordination. We have provided
interpreter internships for two decades, but during the last few years we have
only been able to provide them infrequently because of other demands on our
interpreting staff. We will now be able to offer more frequent internships,
which will make it possible to train more interpreters skilled in the specialty
area of deaf-blindness. The service also has the potential to offer internships
to Deaf-Blind people who are interested in teaching or coordinating events such
as retreats, large meetings, and community classes.
Computer Training. There has been a high
demand for classes on personal computer use. As part of our independent living
training program, we will now offer computer training that will focus on home
computer use, troubleshooting, setting up equipment, and learning about e-mail,
the Internet, on-line banking and grocery shopping, and transportation
planning. Further expansion of this program, pending funding, will concentrate
on work-related computer training.
Deaf-Blind Weekend Retreats. Our annual
Deaf-Blind retreat is usually only able to accommodate approximately 50 to 55
people and we have always had more applicants than we have been able to accept.
For the last 23 years it has been open to Deaf-Blind people throughout the
United States and from other countries. This year we have already had 45
out-of-state and international applicants. Our local community has grown so
large that more recreational and peer support opportunities are now needed. We
are adding two weekend retreats per year, plus an additional weekend retreat
designed to meet the needs of developmentally disabled Deaf-Blind adults.
Health, Exercise, and Nutrition Classes.
Weekly exercise classes will be offered beginning in March 2001. Six to ten
Deaf-Blind participants will join the initial exercise class. A water aerobics
class is planned later in the year.
Research and Development of Adaptive
Equipment. The Lighthouse has unique needs for adaptive technology in our
production and business services departments. Much of what we need does not
exist elsewhere. For example, machinists use a measurement tool called a
caliper. The ability to use calipers skillfully is one of the steps toward
upward mobility for machinists. Calipers generally come with a digital display,
which cannot be read easily by people who have low-vision or are fully blind.
Calipers have been adapted by the Lighthouse to incorporate voice read-out, so
that blind people are able to utilize them. Now, we are researching and
developing new technologies to also enable Deaf-Blind people to use calipers.
In addition to needing a Braille display, they must be lightweight and
portable. Braille displays are exceedingly sensitive to dust, grease, and other
environmental factors. This new technology is being designed and tested with
Deaf-Blind people.
New Projects
Louisiana Deaf-Blind Community Leadership
Project. We have had repeated requests from members of the Louisiana
Deaf-Blind community in the Lafayette area to provide training and support to
help them replicate some of our service models in their state. The Louisiana
community has the largest population of individuals with Usher Syndrome Type 1
in the country. Members of this community have made frequent trips to Seattle
for the Deaf-Blind retreat, job evaluations, and other services. They are
comfortable with the way our services are designed and implemented. Training
for people from Louisiana is a high priority for us because of the potential
positive impact for a large number of Deaf-Blind people.
Washington, DC Interpreter Training in
Deaf-Blindness Project. In response to requests from Deaf-Blind people in
the Washington, DC, area, and added to our own observations and those of
Congressional staffers regarding a need for interpreters skilled in the
specialty of deaf-blindness, we have developed an intensive training course in
Deaf-Blind interpreting. The first course took place in February 2001. Two
interpreters from Washington, DC, participated in workshops and provided
interpreting in supervised settings including our Deaf-Blind Community Class,
large employee meetings, and a weekend Deaf-Blind retreat. Deaf-Blind people
served as presenters and provided support to those trainees. Videotaped and
printed materials were developed to support the training. We are working with
the Metro Washington Association of the Deaf-Blind (MWADB) to provide future
training opportunities.
Leadership Training. Training similar to that
being offered to the Louisiana group will be offered to a small number of
Deaf-Blind individuals from other areas. The format of the training will be an
extended weekend and will involve skills training, observation, and peer
support. Due to the high volume of interpreting and other supports needed to
provide these trainings, the number of participants will be small.
Community Support Projects. Projects in
Seattle that we are supporting include support service provider training
offered by the Deaf-Blind Service Center, and web site development for
Washington State Deaf-Blind Citizens.
Next Steps
The Seattle Lighthouse Deaf-Blind Program is part of
a coalition of individuals and agencies in the Seattle Deaf-Blind community
working together as part of a Deaf-Blind task force to develop future federal
funding opportunities. The other task force participants include Parents and
Friends Together for People with Deaf-Blindness, the Deaf-Blind Service Center,
Washington State Deaf-Blind Citizens, the Helen Keller National Center Regional
Office, as well as other organizations.
The Seattle Deaf-Blind community and the Deaf-Blind
Program at the Lighthouse have a well-deserved national reputation for quality
services, expertise, leadership by Deaf-Blind individuals, and employment
opportunities that draw Deaf-Blind individuals, service providers, and
interpreters from throughout the United States. We are honored to have this
distinction and this wonderful national treasure in our own backyards. We
believe that our community-based model deserves long-term support from
government sources, as well as from private individuals and foundations. We
will continue to work together toward pursuing funding from these sources.
Seattle Lighthouse web site:
http://www.deafblindlh.com
Paula Hoffman is the Director of
External Affairs and Rehabilitation Services at the Seattle Lighthouse for the
Blind. She has managed the Deaf-Blind Program for 12 years. Paula first became
involved in the Deaf-Blind Community in 1980 when she was an interpreting
student and volunteered at the Deaf-Blind Retreat and Deaf-Blind Community
Class. She joined the Lighthouse staff in 1984 and has had wonderful
opportunities to learn from Deaf-Blind people. She is an honorary lifetime
member of Washington State Deaf-Blind Citizens.
Interactive Storytelling for Deafblind Children
Keith Park
Meat of the Tongue, a Swahili story from
Angela Carters collection of fairy tales (1991), tells of a sultan whose
unhappy wife grew leaner and more listless every day. The sultan saw a poor man
whose wife was healthy and happy, and he asked the poor man his secret.
Very simple, answered the poor man, I feed her meat of the
tongue. The sultan immediately ordered the butcher to buy the tongues of
all the slaughtered animals of the town and fed them to his wife. The queen
became even thinner and more melancholy. The sultan then ordered the poor man
to exchange wives. Once in the palace, the poor mans wife grew thin and
pale. The final part of the story goes as follows:
The poor
man, after coming home at night, would greet his new (royal) wife, tell her
about the things he had seen, especially the funny things, and then told her
stories which made her shriek with laughter. Next he would take his banjo and
sing her songs, of which he knew a great many. Until late at night he would
play with her and amuse her. And lo! the queen grew fat in a few weeks,
beautiful to look at, and her skin was shining and taut, like a young
girls skin. And she was smiling all day, remembering the many funny
things her new husband had told her. When the sultan called her back she
refused to come. So the sultan came to fetch her, and found her all changed and
happy. He asked her what the poor man had done to her, and she told him. Then
he understood the meaning of meat of the tongue. (p. 215)
Storytelling, it seems, is a vital ingredient of
human experience. But if this is so, how can we do storytelling with people who
have sensory losses and additional disabilities? Why should we bother? Jean
Ware (1994) provides an answer when she suggests that, in choosing activities
for people with profound and multiple disabilities, the aim should be
enabling the child to participate in those experiences which are uniquely
human (p. 71). Storytelling is one of these uniquely human experiences.
Whether it is legend, myth, folktale, fairy story, poem, novel, film, or play,
the principle is the same: everyone everywhere enjoys stories. According to the
story Meat of the Tongue, this need is universal.
Interactive Storytelling
I work as an advisory teacher for Sense (the
National Deafblind and Rubella Association of the United Kingdom) in Greenwich
and Lewisham (South London). As part of my work, I support children and young
people between birth and 19 years of age who have a wide range of sensory
losses, including deafblindness, and who may also have cognitive or physical
disabilities. I began to adapt stories and poems for interactive storytelling
for two main reasons. First, classroom teachers were asking me to suggest
activities that could be used with their whole group. Second, I was considering
the implications of the story Meat of the Tongue and wondering if it
were possibleat a time when so much of an individual education program is
based upon meeting the different needs of each personto develop group
activities based upon what people have in common: being human. Although
children who are deafblind and have cognitive disabilities may not be able to
understand the actual words of a story, they can still participate and be
involved in the activity of storytelling. Introducing their adaptation of
Homers Odyssey for individuals with severe and profound
disabilities, Grove and Park (1996) ask, How necessary is verbal
comprehension to the understanding of poetry and literature? We know that
people with profound learning disabilities can enjoy music, so why not the
music of words? Do we have to comprehend before we can apprehend?
Does the meaning of a poem or story have to be retrieved through a
process of decoding individual words, or can it be grasped through a kind of
atmosphere created through sound and vision? (p. 2). How can such an
atmosphere be created for deafblind children, who have incomplete access to
sound and vision? One possible way is to make the interactive storytelling
percussive: to use stamping and clapping or musical instruments to accentuate
the vibro-acoustic element of the activity.
Grove (1998) states that Meaning is grounded
in emotion, or affect, which provides the earliest and most fundamental impulse
for communication (p. 15). The basis of interactive storytelling is to
emphasize meaning by generating an emotional response to the story.
Following are four examples of storytelling
activities that have been made accessible for children who are deafblind and
have cognitive disabilities. All of the stories are were written specifically
for the children mentioned and for the group they are in at their various
schools. For these children, rhythm, repetitive patterns, and percussive
methods are used to emphasize the meaning and feeling of each story.
Participants in the story include the children, their teachers, other staff
members, and parents or visitors who wish to be involved.
Little Red Riding Hood
A version of this famous folktale was designed for
Joe who is four years old and deafblind, although he has some useful vision.
The story consists of three games in which the children take turns acting out
the parts of the Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, and Grandmother. Each game tells
a part of the story using a call-and-response method. This means that one
person or part of the group calls out one line and then the others call out the
response line or carry out an activity such as knocking. The first game is
called Grannie To Go.
Game 1: Granny To Go
Storyline: Little Red Riding Hood has gone to see
her Granny, but the Wolf has gotten there first.
The children and staff sit in a circle. The Wolf
played by one of the children, prowls around the inside of the circle. He
pretends to be Little Red Riding Hood and has a dialogue with the rest of the
group, who are all Grannies, as follows (all call-and-responses are chanted as
the rhythm is stamped on the floor or pounded on drums):
- Call - Response
- Call: I knock on the
door.
-
- Response: (knock four times)
-
- Call: She says
Whos there?
-
- Response: Whos there,
whos there?
-
- Call: Red Riding
Hood.
-
- Response: Red Riding
Hood.
-
- Call: And I go IN.
At the beginning of the last line, the Wolf points
to a victim, approaches him, and then gets him. The group can be
divided into call-and-response parts in any combination, so that each child can
have a turn doing the call line (initiating the communication) and the response
line (responding to a communication). Each call line and response line is of
equal duration (four beats). Although Joe does not verbally participate in the
call-and-response, what is important for him is not the verbal comprehension of
the story itself, but the rhythm of communication within the context of the
story. By being involved in the storytelling activity, he learns important
communication skills: awareness of others, anticipating his turn, developing an
awareness of rhythm, and developing an anticipation of the end of each section
of the story, when he is either caught or got (a particular
favorite for Joe) or does the getting himself (as the Wolf, for
example). When Joe takes his turn at being the Wolf, he is supported in moving
around the circle.
The Three Little Pigs
Daniel is six-years old. He is totally blind but has
a little hearing. Before this storytelling activity started, he was very
tactile defensive. He would throw objects, but he didnt like to handle
them. One of the aims for Daniel was to encourage him to reach for, feel,
explore, and release objects. I decided to explore this activity within the
context of a popular folktale. When enacting the story of The Three Little
Pigs, Daniel and the children in the group each have a small box of objects
and a basket. The box is placed to the left of each child and contains some
bits of straw, several sticks tied together (for the roof of sticks), some
pieces of brick for the house of brick, a piece of fake fur for the wolf, and a
sprayer for a staff member to use with the group as the wolf falls in the
cooking pot. At the beginning of each activity, the children are encouraged to
reach and grasp the appropriate pieces of material, hold them, and then release
them into the baskets placed on their right side, and then activate, with the
same movement, a communication aid (a switch device containing a prerecorded
message) that has a crash sound recorded on it. The narrator speaks the
introductory line, and the rest of the story follows in call-and-response
style, each line of which (apart from the final section) is twelve beats. The
strong repetitive rhythms, combined with the call and response, encourage
children to become more engaged in the activity. As with all the other story
activities, the aim is not an understanding of the storyline, but an engagement
in the communication implicit within the storytelling. Following is the first
of the four episodes of the story:
- Once upon a time there were three little
pigs. The first pig built a house of straw. The wolf came to the door, and
said:
- Little pig, let me in, little pig, let me
in! (mime knocking on the door)
- No, no, no, by the hair on my chinny chin
chin! (signing no, no, no)
- Little pig, let me in, little pig, let me
in! (mime knocking on the door)
- No, no, no, by the hair on my chinny chin
chin! (signing no, no, no)
- Then Ill huff, and Ill puff,
and Ill blow your house down (holding then releasing the straw)
- And he huffed (gasp), and he puffed (gasp),
and he blew the house down! (Everyone falling sideways to drop the object and
activate their switch that says crash!)
The Story of Joseph (from Genesis 39-45)
Several years ago while on holiday in Denmark, I
participated in a circle dance. This, I was told, was a traditional
Scandinavian method of storytelling (and not really a dance at all) where the
storyteller stands in the middle of a circle of people and chants a story. The
story itself usually has a strong rhythm and quite often an eight beat line.
The storyteller chants two or three lines, and then the participants reply with
an equally rhythmic chorus. As the story progresses, the circle of people moves
around and around the storyteller. My enjoyment of the social activity was not
affected by my almost nonexistent Danish. I was able to witness and experience
the hypnotic power of the rhythm of the story, the repetition of particular
phrases, and the responses of the participants.
In 1855 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow read a
translation of the epic myth cycle of Finland, The Kalevala, and he was
inspired by its pounding rhythm to write his poem Hiawatha, using a
similar technique:
- Should you ask me, whence these
stories,
Whence these legends and traditions, With the odors of the
forest, With the dew and damp of meadows,...
He continues to the introduction of the main
character:
- There he sang of Hiawatha,
Sang the
Song of Hiawatha, Sang his wondrous birth and being, How he prayed and
how he fasted,
(Longfellow, p. 13-15)
Like its inspiration, The Kalevala, this is a
poem for reading aloudfor performance and participation. So, back in
Greenwich and Lewisham, I adapted some of these techniques of traditional
storytelling to use in the classroom, using the three Rs: rhythm,
response, and repetition.
Jon is 16-years old and has severe vision and
hearing loss. He needs support when walking because he is very unsteady on his
feet, but he does enjoy walking. Since Jon seems more alert when walking, we
decided to try to develop his communication skills within the context of a
story and while on the move: moving round in a large circle during
the story. This version of the story of Joseph, written for Jon and his group,
is taken from Genesis 39-45 (using, with only slight adaptations, the language
of the King James Bible) and uses this same Hiawatha meter (plus a
fourth line of six beats as the response) to provide the rhythm for the step
dance. It uses a call-and-response techniquea rhythmic exchange of
commentary between the storyteller and the story participants. This is the
first of six sections, the rhythm of which should be apparent on reading out
loud:
- Joseph was the son of Jacob
- Jacob dwelt within the country
- Where his father was a stranger
- In the Land of Canaan
- Born to Jacob in his old age
- Jacob loved his son called Joseph
- More than all his other children
- In the Land of Canaan
- All the brothers hated Joseph
- With his coat of many colors
- For his dreams and for his stories
- In the Land of Canaan
- What is this dream that thou hast
dreamed?
- Shall we bow down ourselves to thee?
- And so his brothers envied him
- In the Land of Canaan
- Then they said to one another
- Look this dreamer cometh to us
- Shed no blood but let us sell him
- In the Land of Canaan
- Took the coat of many colors
- Dipped the coat in blood of goat and
- Brought it to their father Jacob
- In the Land of Canaan
- This have we found and Jacob
saw
- Joseph has been rent in pieces
- Thus his father wept for him
- In the Land of Canaan.
Macbeth
Three years ago I went to the newly opened
Shakespeares Globe Theatre to see a performance of Henry V. Before
the play started, all the actors came out onto the stage, faced the audience,
and then began, slowly and rhythmically, to beat wooden staves on the stage
floor, summoning the attention of everyone in the audience to the beginning of
the play. The effect was dramatic in every sense of the word. The wooden stage
is 40 feet (13 meters) long and resonated very loudly. The thought came to
mind: Why not try a Shakespeare workshop, using the vibro-acoustic properties
of the stage at the Globe Theatre?
Nicole is 13-years old and deafblind. To include her
in the group, an ocean drum is placed on her lap onto which the rhythm of the
storyline is tapped. An ocean drum is a large tambourine with ballbearings
inside it. When moved, it produces a sound effect similar to waves breaking on
a beach. Staves, first heard in the Henry V production, are used to drum
the rhythm of the call-and-response exchanges onto the stage. Here is an
extract of poetry from the Macbeth poetry workshop that we stamp out
onstage. Like all of the examples, this is easier to do than it is to describe,
so I would recommend that readers try it for themselves. A steady beat (one
beat per second) combines with the words to create a powerful atmosphere.
Nicole enjoyed her experience of conducting the group in the recital, and the
participants demonstrated a greater awareness of her as a member of the group.
- Double, double toil and trouble
- Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
- Fillet of a fenny snake,
- In the cauldron boil and bake:
- Eye of newt and toe of frog,
- Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
- Adders fork, and blind-worms
sting,
- Lizards leg, and howlets wing,
- For a charm of powerful trouble,
- Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble.
- Double, double toil and trouble,
- Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre
Conclusion
We are experimenting with many other adaptations of
stories and poems, including traditional folktales, poetry, and literature.
Anyone who would like more information is welcome to contact me at the e-mail
address below. We would particularly like to hear from anyone in the United
States who would like to collaborate on adapting American stories and poetry.
Angela Carter suggests that for most of human
history, literature, both fiction and poetry, has been narrated,
not writtenheard, not read (1991, p. ix). The literature of fiction
and poetry from around the world has existed in oral form for many thousands of
years, long before the development of the comparatively recent forms of
writing, printing, radio, TV, cinema, and the Internet. The oral narration of
stories was, and often still is, a social event in which the story was sung,
spoken, or chanted, or in other words, performed. Just as storytelling has been
the precursor of reading and writing, the starting point for the appreciation
of literature may be in the performing of stories. For people with sensory
impairments and for those with cognitive disabilities, the challenge is finding
a means of access.
Email: keith@busheyhillrd.demon.co.uk
References
Carter, A. (1991). The Virago book of fairy
tales. London: Virago Press.
Grove, N. (1998). Literature for all. London:
David Fulton Publishers.
Grove, N., & Park, K. (1996). Odyssey
now. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Longfellow, H.W. (1901). The Song of
Hiawatha. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
Ware, J. (Ed.). (1994). Educating children with
profound and multiple learning difficulties. London: David Fulton
Publishers.
Personal Perspectives
Peggy Malloy
Personal Perspectives is
a column about deaf-blind people, their families, friends, and the people who
work with them. This column features John Reiman, director of DB-LINK and
executive editor of Deaf-Blind Perspectives. Also in this issue is an
article by Dr. Mike Steer that gives a historical perspective of Alice
Betteridge, a deaf-blind Australian woman who lived from 1901 to 1966.
John Reiman first became
involved with deaf-blind people when he lived in Tallahassee in the early
1970s. While working as a therapist at the Florida State Hospital, he was in
contact with many deaf patients but at that time did not know how to sign.
Through the Tallahassee Association of the Deaf, John met Nora and David
Lawrence (deaf and deaf-blind respectively), who subsequently invited him to
live with them. During the two-plus years he lived at the Lawrences home
(a hub of the deaf community), he learned American Sign Language and met,
worked, and socialized with many deaf and deaf-blind people. Those early
experiences led to years of involvement with deaf-blind people and work related
to deaf-blindness.
John has had an interesting and varied career. He
has masters and doctoral degrees in counseling and has worked as a
therapist in private practice and for public and private agencies. He has also
worked as an interpreter and as a director of educational programs and
projects. He was director of the first associate of arts degree program in
interpreting for hearing students at Gallaudet University, director of
Oregons Residential Mental Health Program for the Deaf (Woodstock House),
and later, director of the Rehabilitation Counseling in Deafness Program at
Western Oregon University. Currently, he works at Teaching Research, also at
Western Oregon University, where he is director of the National Information
Clearinghouse on Children Who Are Deaf-Blind (DB-LINK) and is involved with
other research and service projects.
In recent years, John has established a private
practice as a mediator, focusing on mediation in family, special education, and
Americans with Disabilities Act compliance situations. He also works as a
mediation specialist on a federally funded technical assistance mediation
project called CADRE (Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special
Education). Throughout his career he has been involved with hearing, deaf, and
deaf-blind people, and he hopes that this trend will continue in his mediation
work.
John met his wife, Carol Hennessy, at an American
Association of the Deaf-Blind convention in Seattle in 1984 when they both
attended as interpreters. They have two children, Nathan and Kayla, and a
golden retriever puppy named Nikki. Everyone in the family plays an instrument
and enjoys music. John began learning to play the mandolin several years ago
and says it is one of his favorite activities.
John has several suggestions for improving services
for deaf-blind people. First, he believes that the integrity of deaf-blind
language and culture must be maintained and respected. Deaf-blind children
should learn about and be included in this culture. Second, more deaf-blind
adults should be working in professions related to helping deaf-blind children,
including teaching, technical assistance, research, and personnel preparation.
Third, he would like to see the establishment of an information center, similar
to DB-LINK, that focuses on the information needs of adults who are deaf-blind.
John told me that he has been fortunate, that
throughout his life, many work and other opportunities have seemed to open up
for him at just the right time. He has been involved in a number of different
types of activities, but through it all there has been a thread linking him to
deaf and deaf-blind people. He says this has been a wonderful opportunity to
learn about and participate in unique cultures that he would not otherwise have
experienced.
Personal Retrospective
Alice Betteridge Australias Helen
Keller
Dr Mike Steer Renwick College Royal
Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
In Australia, the Royal
Institute for Deaf and Blind Children at North Rocks, a suburb to the north of
Sydney, is widely regarded as one of the nations major private-sector
special educators. It provides a wide array of educational services and
supports to children and young people who have significant hearing and/or
vision loss, including children who have additional disabilities. It is also
one of Australias oldest major charitable organizations, founded in
colonial Sydney, New South Wales, in 1860.
Alice Betteridge, sometimes affectionately referred
to as Australias Helen Keller, was an outstanding student of the
Institutes school, then called the New South Wales Institute for the
Deaf, Dumb, and the Blind, from 1908 to the 1920s. She was born in 1901 at
Sawyers Gully in the Hunter Valley, a major wine-producing district. As a
child, she lost both her sight and hearing as a result of meningitis. Her
teacher was Roberta Sinclair Reid, a Sydney University graduate (1904), whose
role and career are in several ways analogous to those of Anne Sullivan, Helen
Kellers teacher.
In 1903, Roberta, or Berta as she was affectionately
known, was appointed teacher at the New South Wales Institute for the Deaf, the
Dumb, and the Blind, at that time located in Darlinghurst, next door to Sydney
University, in a very handsome building that has since become university
property. No other school existed in the colony at that time to educate
children who were blind, and there were no teacher-training courses with the
necessary content. So, untrained the new mistress at the institute certainly
was. At the age of 20, she found herself in charge of the Blind
School, as it was known, and of its 13 pupils.
She tried hard (mostly perhaps by trial and error)
and learned quickly. Early in 1905, Alice arrived with her mother for an
interview. Alice was just four-years old. She was several years younger than
the age at which most girls were admitted to the school and three years younger
than the age at which Helen Keller was approached by teacher Anne Sullivan. She
returned with her mother to her home near Maitland in the Hunter Valley and was
finally admitted to the school when she was seven.
This was the beginning of a remarkable relationship
between Berta and Alice. Because of the schools teacher-student ratio,
Alice was educated in a class with the other children, unlike Helens
education, which was generally undertaken by Anne on a one-to-one basis.
Readers familiar with the Helen Keller story will
recall that the major breakthrough in Helens education occurred when Anne
ran water over her hands. With Alice, it was when a shoe was one day presented
to her, after many years of repetition, and a pattern tapped onto her hand.
Repetition had made the pattern recognizable. She first tapped the pattern onto
her own hand, then reached to touch the shoe. The all-important connection
between pattern and shoe had been made.
Alices education was a triumph. She became an
avid reader. Her range of interests widened, and she eventually graduated from
the school in 1920 as its Dux (top student of the year). The gold medal she
received is still in the possession of her family. Those who knew Alice
testified that she was extremely well informed on current affairs. She was
rarely idle and was highly independent. She kept her room and its possessions
tidy and also helped with household chores. She learned to type and won prizes
for her work in open competition. In 1930 she left Darlinghurst and moved back
to her familys farm at the small township of Denman. Little is known
about her life there.
In 1939, Alice married a Victorian (a resident of
the neighboring state of Victoria) named Will Chapman, a man who had been
deafblind since the age of 21. She moved with Will from New South Wales to
Victoria, where they lived happily for several years. In 1948, Helen Keller
visited Australia and met Alice and Berta at what was then called The
Blind School at Wahroonga, one of Sydneys most affluent suburbs.
Three weeks after the historic meeting, Alices husband, Will, died.
In 1966, Alice herself died at Helen Keller House in
the Sydney suburb of Woolahra, aged 65. One of the few journalists who had
interviewed her during her latter years described her as a fine woman of
marked intellect. According to the matron of Hellen Keller House, she was
the most unusual woman I ever met. Valerie Thompson, her biographer
(1990), stated that without exception all who knew Alice found her a
happy well-adjusted person and a joy to be with (p. 134). In 1990 the
Royal Institute named its special school for children with multisensory
disabilities The Alice Betteridge School.
The Legacy
The Royal Institutes Alice Betteridge School
(ABS) is now a leading special school for children (aged 3 to 18) who have a
sensory disability as well as, in some instances, an intellectual or a physical
disability. It is located on the Institutes campus at North Rocks and
provides a wide range of educational, specialist, and therapy services to
approximately 80 students with high support needs. The school is recognized
nationally and internationally for the high quality of its curriculum and
staff. Each student at ABS receives a highly individualized educational program
through which families and staff work in partnership. Those who visit the
school are invariably impressed with what they see and hear. Its excellence is
a fitting tribute to the memory of a truly remarkable Australian.
Reference
Thompson, V. (1990). A girl like Alice: The story
of the Australian Helen Keller. Sydney: North Rocks Press.
Special thanks to Alan Baynham, manager of the
Royal Institutes VisionEd Department for advice in writing this
article.
NTAC Update
NTAC, the National Technical Assistance Consortium
for Children and Young Adults Who Are Deaf-Blind provides technical assistance
to state deaf-blind projects, families, and agencies throughout the United
States. This column describes some recent state and regional activities, a
national workshop for state deaf-blind project staff, and the National
Deaf-Blind Census.
State and Regional Activities
Arizona (Shawn Barnard)
In 1999, the Arizona Deafblind Project staff began a
statewide intervener initiative. Under this initiative, students who are
deaf-blind will have access to skilled and knowledgeable interveners as
determined by his or her IEP team. In 2001, the first group of trained
interveners and a group of trainers will receive certificates of completion. A
second group of interveners will complete the first phase of training. In
October 2000, a strategic planning meeting was held between NTAC, Arizona
project staff, and project consultants. The meeting resulted in a three-year
activity plan to establish further state and local support, recruit additional
groups of interveners, and create a statewide network to support interveners
who currently work with deaf-blind students.
Maine (Susanne Morgan)
Educators at Baxter School for the Deaf and other
professionals throughout Maine have indicated a growing need for information
about Usher Syndrome. To meet this need, an Usher Syndrome awareness workshop
co-sponsored by NTAC is scheduled for April 10, 2001. The workshop will provide
introductory information to educators and service providers. Additionally, an
interdisciplinary team will be created to establish a statewide screening
process for children at risk for Usher Syndrome. Charlotte Cushman with
Catholic Charities and the New England Center for Deaf-Blind Services will lead
in coordinating these events.
Area 2 (Jon Harding, Jamie McNamara) Area 2
states: IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI
In the past, state deaf-blind project personnel have
expressed a desire to share information about technical assistance (TA) issues
with neighboring or regional state projects. Interest in holding a regional
meeting was again expressed at the Project Directors Meeting last October
in Washington, DC. As a result, NTAC offered to assist in arranging regional
meetings during 2001. Interest from Area 2 states has been strong. A planning
committee with representatives from seven states is currently developing
desired outcomes and selecting topics for a regional meeting to be held this
summer.
The meeting will consist of facilitated discussions
on topics including sharing resources across state lines, improving technical
assistance delivery to families, and meeting the needs of an increasing
deaf-blind population with limited resources. States will have an opportunity
to share successes as well as obstacles to delivering effective TA. The hope is
that by coming together, state projects in Area 2 can learn how to strengthen
their ability to better serve deaf-blind individuals and families. All project
staff, regardless of geographic size or political structure, have the same
desire to improve the lives of those whom they serve. Perhaps by sharing ideas
and strategies in an Area 2 regional meeting, NTAC can assist state projects to
utilize existing resources more efficiently.
National Activity
Accessing the General Education Curriculum
Workshop
This past February, NTAC sponsored a workshop on how
to make general education curricula accessible to deaf-blind children and
youth. The workshop, held in San Diego, was attended by state deaf-blind
project personnel and other colleagues from approximately 20 states. Mike
Burdge from the University of Kentucky gave the keynote presentation. The main
part of the workshop was led by Kathy Gee of St. Marys College in
California. Dr. Gee presented specific strategies to adapt local educational
curricula to meet the needs and capabilities of individual deaf-blind children.
Participants had an opportunity to practice using this information and to share
their own expertise while working in groups on sample case studies.
Annual Deaf-Blind Census is a Great Tool and
Resource
Robbin Hembree
The submission date for the National Deaf-Blind
Census is May 1st, 2001. Each state and multi-state deaf-blind
project will submit specified data giving a snapshot of the
deaf-blind population (birth through age 21) in its service area as of December
1, 2000. Information reported will include such items as degree of vision loss,
degree of hearing loss, educational setting, age, and other data. The census
will compile data into a national summary, which can be used to identify
national and regional areas of need. Technical assistance can then be geared
toward providing improved services based on these needs.
Because of the unique issues faced by individuals
experiencing combined hearing and vision loss, organizations must provide
services that take the special developmental and educational needs of
deaf-blind children and young adults into account. When individuals are not
identified appropriately, they often will not get services that meet their
specific needs. The state and multi-state projects work very hard to identify
children and youth who are deaf-blind. They reported a total of 10,198 on the
December 1, 1999, National Deaf-Blind Census. This compares to 1,609 identified
as deaf-blind, age 6 through 21 (data are not available for ages birth through
5 years) on the Part B Special Education count that was reported in the
Twenty-second Annual Report to Congress (U.S. Department of Education, 2000, p.
II-20).
Not only does the National Deaf-Blind Census provide
a nationwide picture of children and young adults who are deaf-blind in the
United States, it is also useful for analyzing such things as the impact of
Universal Newborn Hearing Screenings on early identification, trends in
etiologies resulting in deaf-blindness across the years, and disabilities in
addition to hearing and vision losses that individuals who are deaf-blind,
their families, and their service providers must address.
Our leap into the 21st century finds us
continuously seeing significant changes that have an impact on this population.
Changes in such things as technology, medicine, and transportation systems all
influence types of services and how services are provided. Data reported for
the National Deaf-Blind Census are imperative to help us keep up with the
changing needs of this population and to provide information about the
potential impact of current and past services.
Reference
U.S. Department of Education. (2000).
Twenty-second Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Jessup, MD: Editorial
Publications Center.
Note: For more information on the
National Deaf-Blind Census contact Robbin Hembree, Deaf-Blind Census
Coordinator, (503) 838-8806 or hembrr@wou.edu.
Access to Multimedia on the Web
Andrew Kirkpatrick Technical Project
Coordinator WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
Alternative ways of presenting
information using video, audio, animation, and interactive content are becoming
much more common on the Web. Much of the technology used to create and play
these types of media, however, present significant barriers to people with
disabilities. A new project that will address these barriers was recently
started at The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/WGBH National Center for
Accessible Media (NCAM). The project, NCAMs Access Solutions for Rich
Media: Tools, Pathways, and Resources, is funded by a three-year grant from the
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S.
Department of Education. NCAM will work with researchers, technology
developers, Web designers, and consumers to find solutions that enable deaf,
blind, deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing, and low vision Web users to benefit from
Web sites that use multimedia.
For more information about specific resources and
technology, visit NCAMs Rich Media Accessibility Website
(http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/arm). The purpose of the site is to serve as a
centralized source of information and tools for multimedia access issues. It
will offer user-friendly tutorials, showcase solutions, and maintain a library
of other access solutions to make rich media accessible to blind and deaf Web
users.
Andrew Kirkpatrick can be reached by e-mail
at andrew_kirkpatrick@wgbh.org
For Your Library
Meeting Physical and Health Needs of Children
with Disabilities: Teaching Student Participation and Management
Heller,K.W. Forney, P.E., Alberto, P.A.., & Goeckel T. Wadsworth
Publishing, 2000. A text for pre-service special education teachers
about how to teach children with physical disabilities and health impairments
(e.g., orthopedic impairments, visual impairments, deaf-blindness).
The Transition Process: Early Intervention to
Preschool Alsop, L., Olsen, S., & Risk, T. Logan, UT: HOPE,
Inc., 2001. Resource materials for service providers and intervention
teams involved in transitioning children with special needs from early
intervention to preschool settings. Includes a training manual with
accompanying video tape, and a DVD to use for self-study. Prices: Training
Manual - $50.00, Video Tape - $40.00, Self-Study DVD - $40.00, Complete Set -
$110.00. Available from HOPE, INC., 1856 North 1200 East, North Logan, UT
84341. Tel./Fax 435-245-2888, http://www.hopepubl.com
Workshops and Conferences
Workshops on Communication Strategies for
Children with Severe and Multiple Disabilities
A two-day workshop presented by Charity Rowland,
Ph.D. and Philip Schweigert, M.Ed. from Oregon Health Sciences University will
be held at three locations this summer and fall. The workshop, is designed to
teach professionals and parents how to help nonverbal children with severe
disabilities communicate their needs to care givers and teachers. It addresses
Pre-symbolic Communication and Tangible Symbol Systems. A special half-day
seminar for parents is also offered, free of charge.
- Charleston, SC, July 26-27, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,
Registration deadline: June 25 or until filled
Parent seminar:
July 28, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
- New Orleans, LA, Sept. 13-14, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,
Registration deadline: Aug. 15 or until filled.
Parent seminar:
Sept. 15, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
- Baltimore, MD, Oct. 25-26, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Registration
deadline: Sept. 25 or until filled.
Parent Seminar: Oct. 27, 9:00
a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Also offered this summer cooperatively with Portland
State University is the second annual OHSU Seminar on Communication
Intervention, covering similar topics at the following location:
July 9-10, 2001 Mt. Bachelor Village Resort,
Bend, OR 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Registration deadline: June 15
or until filled.
Contact: Alexandra Dorinson
800-410-7069 ext. 102 dorinson@ohsu.edu http://www.designtolearn.com
____________________
5th DbI European Conference on
Deafblindness Self determination a life long process
July 24-29, 2001
Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands
Contact: Stichting 5th DbI European
Conference on Deafblindness Anneke Balder, c/o Unit Deafblindness of
sDG PO Box 222 3500 AE UTRECHT Tel: + 31 30 2769970 Fax: + 31
30 2712892 sdg@wxs.nl http://www.deafblindinternational.org
____________________
7th Helen Keller World
Conference
What it Means to be Deafblind: Identity,
Rights, Unity
October 7-12, 2001
Auckland, New Zealand
Contact: Mrs. Jan Scahill
International Conference Committee Box 7150 Tikipunga Whangarei
New Zealand Tel: 0064 9 437-6639 Fax: 0064 9 437-6601
jscahill@ihug.co.nz http://www.deafblind.org.nz/hkeller.html
____________________
5th Annual International CHARGE
Syndrome Conference
July 20-22, 2001
Indianapolis, Indiana
Contact: CHARGE Syndrome Foundation,
Inc. 2004 Parkade Boulevard Columbia, MO 65202-3121 800-442-7604
marion@chargesyndrome.org http://www.chargesyndrome.org
____________________
For information about additional
conferences and workshops, see the DB-LINK web site:
http://www.tr.wou.edu/dblink (click on Databases from the home
page) or call DB-LINK at 800-438-9376 (voice), 800-854-7013 (TTY).
Announcements
Two Usher Syndrome Research Projects
Hereditary Hearing Loss Study
This study is evaluating hearing ability in families
who have one or more children with hereditary hearing loss. Families of
children with hearing loss since birth or Usher syndrome qualify as
participants. The project is especially interested in families of Acadian
(Louisiana) descent. Testing will be done on normal hearing parents and
siblings rather than the affected children.
For more information contact:
Dr. Linda Hood, Principal Investigator, or Ms.
Sonya Tedesco, Audiologist Kresge Hearing Research Laboratory
Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Biocommunication Louisiana State
University Medical Center 533 Bolivar Street, 5th Floor New
Orleans, LA 70112 Tel. 504-568-4785 Fax 504-568-4460 lhood@lsuhsc.edu
or stedes@lsuhsc.edu
Study to Find Genes Responsible for Usher Syndrome
in Ashkenazi Jews
Individuals of Ashkenazic heritage who have Usher
syndrome, or both hearing loss and vision loss that has no other known cause,
or family members, may be eligible to participate.
For more information contact:
Judith Willner Department of Human Genetics
Box 1497 Mount Sinai School of Medicine One Gustave L. Levy Place
New York, NY 10029 212-241-6947 nesss01@doc.mssm.edu
____________________
New Email Discussion List Regarding Congenital
Rubella Syndrome
This discussion list has been
established as a vehicle for parents, consumers, and professionals to share
information about any aspect of rubella and to provide support to those living
or working with someone with congenital rubella syndrome.
If you are already registered with Yahoo-groups you
can subscribe by sending a blank email to
HKNC_Rubella-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. If you are not registered with
Yahoo-groups, go to http://www.yahoogroups.com/register. For assistance,
contact the owner HKNC_Rubella-owner@yahoogroups.com
____________________
Camp Abilities
Camp Abilities is a
developmental sports camp for children who are blind, deafblind, or
multihandicapped, held at the State University of New York at Brockport. The
Summer 2001 session is from June 24-30. The camp serves children from age 9 to
19. Activities include: track and field, swimming, goal ball, beep baseball,
tandem cycling, gymnastics, canoeing, judo, archery, bowling, dancing, camping,
and horseback-riding. The camp is totally accessible for children who are
deaf-blind and all deaf-blind children have 1:1 intervenors. Early registration
is encouraged. Camp Abilities will also be held in 2 additional locations this
summer, at the Iowa Braille School in July and at the New York Institute of
Special Education in August. For information contact:
Lauren Lieberman SUNY Brockport Department
of Physical Education Brockport, NY 14420 Tel. 716-395-5361, Fax
716-395-2771 llieberm@brockport.edu
http://www.brockport.edu/campabilities
____________________
Sense Launches Deafblind Manifesto on National TV
Sense, the UKs leading
charity for people who are deafblind, launched Deafblind Vote 2001 - including
a manifesto by deafblind people - on a television show called See Hear on
Saturday, March 3rd.
Deafblind Vote 2001 is a major national campaign by
Sense to make sure prospective parliamentary candidates and political leaders
understand the needs of deafblind people and their families.
The campaign follows a Sense report that revealed
one in four deafblind people in the UK felt they were prisoners in their own
homes as they have such little support.
According to Benedict Lewin-Leigh, Senses Head
of Campaigns and Policy,
- Deafblind people, their families and
careers have joined forces to create the first ever Deafblind Manifesto.
Its a clear set of aims for the next government and is set to be the
focus of Senses pre-election hustings [a type of political
meeting] around the UK.
- At the hustings deafblind people and their
families will meet and question local candidates, making them aware of
deafblind constituents, the problems they face and the changes that would
improve their lives. Deafblind Vote 2001 is fantastic for the deafblind
community. We see it as a significant step towards making positive changes to
the lives of the people we work with. We hope Deafblind Vote 2001 will
ultimately lead to equal democracy for everyonenot just the hearing and
sighted.
For further media information contact: Natalie
Pritchard Press & PR Officer Sense Tel. 020 7272 7774 After
Hours 0370 580 843 npritch@sense.org.uk
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