Annual Report 2008-09

annual report 2008/9 scottishcouncilondeafness page �

annualreportscottishcouncilondeafness

2008/09

scottishcouncilondeafness annual report 2008/9

I report with pleasure on 2008/09 as a year of progress for SCoD. The testing environment as reported by the Convenor last year has not changed. If anything it has become even more challenging and looks set to remain so.This report shows the breadth and the depth of our work and highlights areas of achievement in which we can take justifiable pride as well as areas of concern where the challenges are greatest.We continue to pursue our strategy with the aims of serving deaf and deafblind people around the country, changing society’s responses to deafness. The three strands, of sustaining and expanding service delivery, of exploring fresh areas of support and of campaigning,

remain fundamental to the pursuit of our objective, though the balance between them is constantly changing in response to the external environment. Looking ahead, it is clear that the nature and funding of services are likely to change over the next few years which will prove more challenging. I believe we are ready to meet the challenges and emerge stronger.A growth in public awareness of SCoD and our work is important to add to the impact of our campaigning and also increase financial support from donors. For our size and the work that we do, we are still not prominent enough in the public mind.

I would like once again to thank the many people who have

made all this possible. The fact that these thanks are repeated annually makes them no less heartfelt. I see at first hand how much individual volunteers, donors, corporate bodies and trusts give of their time, their kindness, their skills and their resources. They, alongside our dedicated staff, make it possible for us to be true to the vision of SCoD and our current objectives in the pursuit of a more inclusive life for deaf and deafblind people.

Vice Convenor John Denerley

Vice Convenor


Director

As an umbrella body we are determined to listen to our members and to act on behalf of those who contact us about various issues such as: access to GPs, hospitals and emergency services; television subtitling and background noise; transport and leisure.To ensure we are well equipped to be the “voice of deaf people in Scotland” we carried out a survey of our members in April and then in June held an open forum to discuss the future of SCoD.

We were pleased that our members’ comments and responses were positive and that they continue to support our organisation and its work. Opinion was also favourable concerning our sub-committees. These are seen as the ideal platform to bring together representatives from organisations involved in services to Deaf and Deafblind people to discuss and bring matters before the Scottish Government and other statutory bodies. Our new sub-committee set up this year for policy & research and campaigns officers from diverse organisations to discuss matters in depth will build on this work in the future.Our open meetings have also given us the opportunity to consult directly with deaf people

all over Scotland. This has meant we were able to use the actual experiences of deaf people in this country when responding to consultations and deciding on policy.

We would like to thank the Scottish Government, Big Lottery Fund, Electoral Commission, trusts and individual donors for their financial support. We are also grateful for the work of the Management Committee and National Council which has allowed us to work effectively as the lead organisation for deaf people in Scotland.

Lilian Lawson OBE

Director

page � scottishcouncilondeafness annual report 2008/9

Treasurer’s ReportYear Ended �� March 2009

RestrictedFund

£

Un-Restricted

Fund£

Total2009

£

Total2008

£Incoming resources 202,461 139,975 342,436 303,370Resources expended 163,766

------------170,516

------------334,282

------------ 249,212

------------Net incoming/(outgoing) resources in year 38,695 (30,541) 8,154 54,158Gross transfers between funds (24,177) 24,177 - -Other recognised gains and (losses) -

------------(39,567)------------

(39,567) ------------

(25,711)------------

Balance at 1 April 2008 14,51812,647

------------

(45,931)209,798

------------

(31,413) 222,445

------------

28,447193,998

------------Balance at 31 March 2009 27,165 163,867 191,032 222,445

========= ========= ========= =========

Balance Sheet £

2009£ £

2008£

Fixed assets 81,397 118,815Current assets 130,117 117,720 Current liabilities 20,482 14,090 ------------ ------------ Net current assets 109,635 103,630 ------------ ------------Net assets 191,032 222,445

========= =========

General fund 163,867 209,798Restricted funds 27,165 12,647 ------------ ------------ 191,032 222,445

========= =========

RestrictedFund

£

Un-Restricted

Fund£

Total2009

£

Total2008

£Incoming resources 202,461 139,975 342,436 303,370Resources expended 163,766

------------170,516

------------334,282

------------ 249,212

------------Net incoming/(outgoing) resources in year 38,695 (30,541) 8,154 54,158Gross transfers between funds (24,177) 24,177 - -Other recognised gains and (losses) -

------------(39,567)------------

(39,567) ------------

(25,711)------------

Balance at 1 April 2008 14,51812,647

------------

(45,931)209,798

------------

(31,413) 222,445

------------

28,447193,998

------------Balance at 31 March 2009 27,165 163,867 191,032 222,445

========= ========= ========= =========

Balance Sheet £

2009£ £

2008£

Fixed assets 81,397 118,815Current assets 130,117 117,720 Current liabilities 20,482 14,090 ------------ ------------ Net current assets 109,635 103,630 ------------ ------------Net assets 191,032 222,445

========= =========

General fund 163,867 209,798Restricted funds 27,165 12,647 ------------ ------------ 191,032 222,445

========= =========

The summarised financial statements have been extracted from the full financial statements which were approved on 25 August 2009 and do not constitute the charity’s statutory financial statements. The full financial statements have been audited and the auditors’ opinion was unqualified. The summarised financial statements may not contain sufficient information to allow for a full understanding of the financial affairs of the charity and do not constitute the charity’s statutory financial statements. For further information, the full annual financial statements, the auditors report on these financial statements and management committee’s report should be consulted. Copies of the audited financial statements can be obtained by writing to the Scottish Council on Deafness. The Management Committee has decided that the reserves policy is equivalent to 50% of annual net expenditure. The unrestricted funds of the charity at 31 March 2009 are £163,867.Approved by the Management Committee and signed on its behalf by:-Helga McGilp, Convenor Alan S Macdonald, Honorary Treasurer


We have examined the summarised financial statements of The Scottish Council on Deafness.

Respective responsibilities of The Management Committee and auditorsThe Management Committee is responsible for preparing the summarised annual report in accordance with the recommendations of the charities SORP.

Our responsibility is to report to you our opinion on the consistency of the summarised financial statements with the full financial statements and Management Committee’s Report. We also read the other information contained in the summarised annual report and consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the summarised financial statements.

Independent Auditor’s Statement

Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors, 61 Dublin Street, Edinburgh EH3 6NLwww.chiene.co.uk

Basis of Opinion We conducted our work in accordance with Bulletin 1999/6 “The auditors’ statement on the summary financial statement” issued by the Auditing Practices Board for use in the United Kingdom.

OpinionIn our opinion the summarised financial statements are consistent with the full financial statements and Management Committee’s report of The Scottish Council on Deafness for the year ended 31 March 2009.

page � scottishcouncilondeafness annual report 2008/9

Mental HealthIn May 2008, we launched our research report “Making the Case – Specialist Mental Health Services for Deaf People in Scotland

to an audience consisting of representatives from the Scottish Government, NHS National Services Division, Health Boards, mental health organisations and deaf organisations. We then had a meeting with the Scottish Government Mental Health Division to go through this report and the Scottish Government has since drafted a Business Case for a national deaf mental health service. Three health boards have expressed interest in hosting this service. The Business Case had been discussed by the NHS National

Services Scotland and NHS Board Chief Executives. We are now waiting for an outcome from the Scottish Government.We have been involved in the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Sensory Impairment Mental Health Working Group and are working to address the local needs for a mental health service. We assisted this working group in planning a Stakeholders event for deaf people and it took place in Glasgow in September 2008. More than 60 deaf and deafblind people came and offered strong views on the mainstream mental health services they had received in the Greater Glasgow & Clyde area.

We invited Dr Joe Morrow, President of Mental Health Tribunals for Scotland to come

and speak to the SCoD National Council about how these tribunals worked and how deaf people could access them.

TransportWe continued to raise transport issues with Transport Scotland and through Scottish Accessible Transport Alliance (SATA) where we expressed concern about eligibility criteria for deaf people to apply for national entitlement cards, lack of emergency information on trains, staff attitudes, inaccessible help points in railway stations.

HealthWe were invited to join the NHS Education for Scotland’s Sensory Impairment Sub-group and this

Activities and Campaigning


Scottish Party Political ConferencesIn March we attended the Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democratic Party Conferences where we took the opportunity to raise deaf related issues with MPs, MSPs and political activists and at the same time raise the profile of SCoD.

Cross Party Group on DeafnessWe continued to provide the secretariat to the Cross Party Group on Deafness. During the parliamentary year, we raised a range of issues including: legal recognition for British Sign Language, Linguistic Access, Low Incidence Disabilities, lipreading classes and lipreading tutors’ training.

Access to JusticeIn late 2008 we were approached by a consultant working on behalf of the Justice Disability Steering Group to offer advice on how to organise a Justice Disability Involvement event in late 2009. Membership of this group includes representatives from the Crown Office, the Law Society of Scotland and Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. We were then invited to join the Justice Disability Steering Group so that we could directly advise the members on how deaf people could attend and participate fully in the event.

gave us the opportunity to comment and contribute to the NES’ development of a training strategy for health professionals. We were also asked to advise NHS Health Scotland on how to make their health information website more accessible to deaf people. We are now working with NHS24 on how deaf people’s access to their helplines can be improved.

TelevisionOn behalf of many deaf and hard of hearing TV viewers, we wrote to television companies, Ofcom and ITC about unnecessary background noise, loud sounds in advertisements and poor subtitling. We expect to hear the outcome of this shortly.

Activities and Campaigning


Events

We organised a very successful Open Meeting in April to gauge deaf people’s interest in having a Scottish deaf history organisation. A steering group of seven deaf people was set up to draft a constitution and a membership structure, design a logo, commission a web developer and plan an inaugural conference. We provided the secretariat support to this steering group. The Inaugural Conference took place in Glasgow on 25th October and Deaf History Scotland was launched with a flourish!Visit the site:www.deafhistoryscotland.org.uk

National Council meeting in October

As well as inviting Dr Joe Morrow of Mental Health Tribunals for Scotland, we also had Sabina Iqbal speaking about Deaf Parenting UK, Fiona Miller of BT about the TextRelay service, Tasnim Sharif and Maryam Imran of Deaf Connections about ISHARA Project to SCoD members. We also had an open forum on SCoD’s future and it was very useful to have the National Council’s views.

SCoD National Council Meetings & AGM

Following Sabina Iqbal’s excellent presentation, SCoD and Deaf Parenting UK worked on an outline for a scoping project to identify and assess issues that are facing Deaf parents in Scotland; the need for support and advice from Scottish service providers including SCoD member organisations and the need for Deaf Parenting UK to set up a Scottish region. Funding for this project is being sought.

Sabina Iqbal

annual report 2008/9 scottishcouncilondeafness page 9

Once again our Annual Open Day, in October, proved popular. Visitors (including members and associate members) enjoyed chatting with staff, picking up information and finding out a little bit more about our work and in particular our new projects.O

pen

Day

For the AGM in October, we were delighted to have Craig Crowley MBE to speak about “Equality through sport”. As SCoD members agreed that we should address deaf people’s sport related issues, we held informal meetings with Chris Ratcliffe of NDCS Scotland, Paul McCusker of Deaf Connections and Iain Cameron from the Sports Council for Glasgow about the possibility of setting up a Scottish Deaf Sports Federation.

We were subsequently invited to speak at a seminar entitled “A Fresh Start for Deaf Sport in Scotland”, which will take place in April 2009. At this meeting the challenges facing a newly formed sports federation for deaf people - such as funding, training, and improving the poor representation at national level - will be discussed.

Events

Craig Crowley MBEfrom UK Deaf Sport

page �0 scottishcouncilondeafness annual report 2008/9

Policy & ResearchIt has been a busy twelve months for the Policy & Research Officer, Mandy Reid. There have been many Scottish Government consultations to respond to – health, audiology, respite care, access to GP services and UK Government consultations on ID cards and the Welfare Reform Bill.

In May 2008, the research paper into the mental health provision in Scotland was launched – “Making the Case for Specialist Services for Deaf People in Scotland: with recommendations for action”. Following the launch, SCoD was asked to a meeting with the Scottish Government to look at the recommendations and how to take them forward, and to give evidence at the

Scottish Parliament Health & Sport Committee. A business case was put together by the Scottish Government and three area health boards for specialist community mental health services for Deaf and Deafblind people and included the needs for an in-patient unit.

During September - October, Mandy went to six meetings around Scotland to tell deaf people about her job and to find out what the issues are for deaf people in their day-to-day lives. Issues raised included access to public transport and health services, appropriate communication support and information. The lack of deaf awareness in public services was also highlighted. Mandy has been able to use the personal

stories gathered to highlight specific issues in consultation responses.

Mandy is planning to carry out research into how much is spent on communication support for deaf people in local authorities and health boards, and what the provision of services are for deaf people in the Single Outcome Agreements between local councils and the Scottish Government.

Mandy Reid

annual report 2008/9 scottishcouncilondeafness page ��

Barbra Wylie

Counselling AwarenessIn 2008 we were delighted to receive support from The

Big Lottery Fund for the 2 year Counselling Awareness Project. This project aims to increase deaf and deafblind people’s awareness of counselling and their confidence when accessing it, as well as improving access to mainstream counselling services. Barbra Wylie joined SCoD as Project Co-ordinator in September.

Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and deafblind people were invited to attend workshops around the country. At these sessions, Barbra, along with counsellors who work with deaf and deafblind people, aimed

to increase their knowledge of counselling, telling them about counselling services that exist specifically for deaf and deafblind people as well as giving them an insight into the counselling process itself.

While attendance could have been better, those who made it along offered very positive feedback about the sessions.

A different approach was then planned with Barbra visiting lipreading classes, hard of hearing groups and colleges and presenting to them during their regular meetings.

The project also aims to boost the number of counsellors that are accessible to deaf and deafblind people. This will be achieved through counselling

trainingpathways workshops where representatives from local colleges and universities will offer an insight into their courses and what students should expect if they decide to train to become a counsellor.

GPs, counselling organisations and freelance counsellors were sent a questionnaire to assess their accessibility to deaf and deafblind people and to consider what they have in place to make themselves accessible. They have also all been invited to attend Deaf and Deafblind Awareness Training which will take place later in 2009.

Information about forthcoming workshops and training events can be found on our website:www.scod.org.uk


Access to Democracy

Derek Todd

A2D, the Access to Democracy Project started in 2008 with funding from the Electoral Commission for two years.

The project aims to increase awareness, among deaf and deafblind sign language users, of the political process as well as encouraging them to participate by explaining everything from voter registration to polling station in BSL. Derek Todd, joined SCoD in April 2008 to co-ordinate the Project.

A DVD with information about democratic institutions in Scotland, Wales and England was produced in BSL with subtitles and voice over. The

DVD - Result! - explains voting systems and the different processes in Scotland, Wales and England.

Result! has been distributed to individuals and organisations throughout Scotland, England and Wales.

In order to promote the project and to encourage Deaf and Deafblind People to apply to become trainers, we had a busy schedule of 16 open meetings during the months of September and October. Held all over Scotland – from Shetland to the Borders - we reached a total of 149 people.A Deaf Democracy Day at the Scottish Parliament was

also held in October which was well attended.Following the open meetings, twelve Deaf and two Deafblind people were recruited to deliver democracy workshops. After successfully completing their two-part training, they will begin delivering their democracy workshops around Scotland.


Here at SCoD we continue to enjoy having visitors to our office. We welcome members and associates to drop in and meet us any time they are passing. We have some “regulars” who come in to keep us informed of their various activities and members of the public come in to get information on a vast range of topics.

Of course we have our annual Open Day when we invite visitors to meet us and talk about our work. This is always a great success and we enjoy meeting people of various backgrounds and interests as much as they (we hope) enjoy meeting us.

In addition to this we welcomed two young Deaf people to come and work with us. Kathleen Summers continues to help the

Administrator with her duties on a Thursday and in February, David Aitchison, a pupil from St Vincent’s school undertook his first work placement with us.

We understand what a big event this is for students like David and we endeavour to make their time with us as rewarding and stress free as possible. We are there to answer questions and always have information about our office procedures, our organisation and each staff member’s role ready before their arrival.

In David’s case, the Administrator found her supervisory duties quite easy as David had such a delightful manner and clearly understood the work which he carried out with minimal supervision.

Our Open Office

Countersigning disclosures is a new service that as an umbrella body we introduced in 2008.We countersign standard and enhanced disclosures and last year did so for 39 applicants.

David gets to grips with the postal book

page �� scottishcouncilondeafness annual report 2008/9

Information ServiceIssues 18 and 19 were published and distributed to almost 6000 individuals and organisations on our mailing list. You can view current and past newsletters online in pdf on our website.

12 monthly issues prepared and circulated in print format

and by email to SCoD members, associates, friends and all 129 MSPs. The bulletin can also be viewed online on our website.

SC

oDne

ws

Bul

letin

12 monthly parliamentary digest reports, featuring questions, answers, motions and other business in the Scottish Parliament, were prepared and distributed in print, email and via the website. While the report is distributed monthly with the bulletin, it is actually updated more frequently and available to read

online or download from our website: www.scod.org.uk

Par

liam

ent

Web

site During 2008/9 our website received �8,2�0 visitors, averaging 2��

every day! The website calendar, which provides details of captioned cinema, theatre, BSL interpreted theatre performances, accessible courses, meetings and events throughout Scotland set an impressive new record with 2�8� individual listings. That averages out at seven events a day! The web calendar is a unique resource and maintaining it is a time consuming business, so make sure you visit us regularly. June 2008 saw the much anticipated relaunch of the site which is now a lot easier on the eyes! Especially useful is the news area on the main page which allows us to make regular important and immediate announcements. Why not visit the site and tell us what you think?

Issue Eighteen

Lilian Lawson OBESCoD Director

Scottish Council on Deafness Central Chambers Suite 62 93 Hope Street Glasgow G2 6LD

Tel (v): 0141 248 2474 Tel (v/t): 0141 248 2477 & 1854

Fax: 0141 248 2479Web: www.scod.org.uk

Email: [email protected]

Page 5Kathleen Summers:A Year at SCoD

Page 4Policy & Research

Page 2New SCoD Website

Page 3Deaf History Scotland

Page 6New Face at SCoD

Page 8Making the Case

Page 10Challenge Alison!

Page 11Associate withSCoD

Page 2QuestionTime

Ass

ocia

tew

ith S

CoD

Did you have a good summer break? Holidays are always a great measure of public awareness of deafness - the world over. We would be delighted to hear about your holiday horror stories - and your happy stories too!

Since our last issue, we successfully secured grants for our Access to Democracy project (from the Electoral Commission) and our Counselling Awareness project (from the Big Lottery Fund). Find out more about Access to Democracy inside.

Funding for the Policy & Research Officer’s post has been extended for three years, thanks to the Scottish Government Equality Unit. This means more visits to local deaf and hard of hearing groups throughout Scotland over the next few years, engaging more closely and collecting more views from deaf and hard of hearing people. This information will help us shape our future policies and plans.

Our Public Petition PE808 has moved on and our research paper Making the Case for Specialist Mental Health Services for Deaf People in Scotland was launched in May. Read about our progress since then. We fare feeling very positively now, after many, many years of campaigning.

We are setting up a sub-group of Policy/Campaigning/Research Officers working with deaf and deafblind organisations to strengthen our awareness-raising and lobbying work. This will help us and member organisations identify, share and raise common issues with Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament and other statutory bodies. These issues will also be raised at Cross Party Group on Deafness meetings.

Our membership has at last been extended offering anyone who shares our passion for deaf issues the opportunity to become a SCoD Associate. Find out more inside!

Finally, our annual Open Day is this year on Tuesday 7th October from 1pm to 6pm. This is an excellent opportunity for you to meet SCoD staff and learn more about our work ... and, of course, it also gives you the chance to tell us what you think we should be doing for you!

wel

com

e

Page 7 SCoDnews

Ben Nevis, forms a horse-shoe shape ridge with Carn Mor Dearg,

the massive Nevis dwarfing the latter (9th highest). These two mountains

are connected by a narrow ridge with a rocky crest, the Carn Mor Dearg

arete.The path can be reached from Achintee or Glen Nevis Youth

Hostel, and the ascent is likely to take at least 5 hours. The weather on

the summit plateau, even in midsummer, can in exceptional cases be

quite Arctic.

At 4406 feet (1343 metres) the Ben is Britain’s highest peak, and rises from sea level

two and a half miles south-east of Fort William. The popular method of ascent is by the

so-called “Tourist’s Path” which is a misnomer because it belies the extremely strenuous

nature of the climb, which is technically easy but tiring.

AchinteeMeall

an Suidhe

Carn Dearg

FiveFingerGully

BenNevis

Red Burn

River Nevis

YouthHostel

The Ben Nevis Challenge

On good days, however, the views

from the summit are awe-inspiring,

the most immediate being to the

east, over Aonach Mor and Aonach

Beag beyond. To the south beyond

Glen Nevis lies the rocky ridge of

the Mamores, and still further the

mystical mountains of Glencoe.

The experience of standing on the

roof of Britain will provide the

memory of a lifetime.

The Walk (approx 5 hrs)

ch ritytrekv

Scottish Council on Deafness

Friday 15th May -

Sunday 17th May 2009

ch ritytrekv The Great Glen Way

Loch Ness, which is 23 miles long

and has an average depth of 430

feet, holds more water than all

the lakes and reservoirs in England

and Wales put together. This

mighty loch is a major feature of

the first two-and-a-half days of

the walk, and the path, which rises

in places to 1000 feet, provides

enthralling views to the east and

south over the loch and the hills

beyond.

After the southern end of Loch

Ness is reached at Fort Augustus

the walking becomes extremely

easy and follows very closely the

route of the Caledonian Canal

and two further beautiful lochs –

Oich and Lochy. The second half

of the walk is dominated by

frequent glimpses of Ben Nevis,

which as it grows larger and nearer

provides ample motivation for

tiring legs to reach the end of the

walk.

A feature of the final day is the

famous Neptune’s Staircase, a

series of eight locks lifting the level

of the Caledonian Canal by 64

feet.

The entire walk is steeped in

history dating back to the Iron

Age. Craig Phadraig, one of ten

hill-top forts in the area, is believed

to date from 350 BC. More recent

military importance of the region

is evidenced by the names of two

of the towns – Fort William and

Fort Augustus. Castles, military

roads and bridges along the way

give a sense of timelessness in this

most historic area.

No walk in Britain can provide a

greater diversity of bird and wild-

life. Oyster-catchers, ospreys,

gu i l l emots , g rey herons ,

cormorants, kittiwakes, fulmars,

crested tits, siskin, buzzards, kestrel,

goshawks and golden eagle; pine

martens, red squirrels, roe deer,

red deer and sika deer; they and

numerous others are all there.

The Great Glen Way, for long

closed to walkers by unco-

operative land-owners, is now

thankfully open to all, and to walk

it is a richly rewarding experience.

Please note: this walk can be

undertaken either from North

to South or vice versa.

The Walk (5 days)

Inverness

Drumnadrochit

Invermoriston

Fort Augustus

South Laggan

Gairlochy

Fort William

LochNess

The Great Glen Way starts in Inverness, the capital of the Highlands and Scotland’s newest

city. It follows Britain’s greatest geological fa

ult – the glen linking the Atlantic to the

North Sea – and finishes in Fort William in the shadow of Ben Nevis.

Scottish Council on Deafness

Saturday 15th -

Wednesday 19th

August 2009

We are offering you the chance to experience some of

Scotland’s most spectacular scenery and improve your

fitness levels while helping to raise vital funds for our work.

Why not join us on our Spring Challenge and climb Ben

Nevis in May, the perfect way to prepare yourself for our

five day trek along the Great Glen Way. We will take care

of all of the logistics for you. Experienced guides from

Charitytrek will accompany you throughout.

No? Then why not climb the UK’s highest mountain or take a trek through the splendour of the

Scottish Highland countryside? Help us to support deaf people across Scotland by taking

part in one or both of these treks. To secure your place, all

you need to do is complete and return a registration form

along with a deposit of £75.

Contact our Fundraiser, Linda (contact details are on the

back page) for a registration form or more information.

Full details can also be downloaded from our website:

www.scod.org.uk - click “Support us”.

The Great Glen Way, from Inverness to Fort

William, is a five day trek. It sta

rts on Saturday

15th and ends on Wednesday 19th August 2009.

Accommodation for four nights is included in the trip.

Buses will follow you along the route and carry your

luggage so you’re not weighed down on the trek. Just

raise a minimum of £575 to participate.

The Ben Nevis Challenge takes place from Friday

15th to Sunday 17th May 2009. Accommodation

for two nights is included as is a

packed lunch on

the day of the climb, transport to and from your

accommodation to Ben Nevis and back and transport

to and from Fort William. All we ask is that you pledge

to raise a minimum of £375.

Challenged

yourself recently?


2008/9 was another busy year for the Information Officer. In addition to running the information service for members, associates and friends (see last page!), she

also worked with the Policy & Research Officer in the preparation of the ‘Making the Case’ report

and produced two position statements: Access to Information and Consultations.

January saw us develop a YouTube presence with the

launch of our channel, DeafScotland. List your accessible event with us. Email your copy to [email protected].

By tackling a DVD about Self-Directed Support for the Scottish Government, we became more involved in video production in February and March. Scripting, filming, editing, designing and preparing the master copy of the BSL DVD were all successfully carried out in-house for the very first time.

Two project staff started with SCoD, one in April, the other in September. Both needed workstations and it was down to the Information Officer to arrange the purchase and installation of their new equipment. The additional network load then highlighted the need to upgrade our server. This was taken care of seamlessly by the Information Officer, completing the migration just before the Christmas closure.

The Information Officer would like to thank all contributors to the bulletin, newsletter, website and web calendar over the past year. Your support and assistance are very much appreciated.

The Information Officer continues to represent SCoD on the Scottish Accessible Information Forum and the Ecommunication sub-committee.

Information Service

page �� scottishcouncilondeafness annual report 2008/9

FundraisingThe financial year started well with a two year grant from the Big Lottery Fund for around £145,000 in April. This initiated the launch of our Counselling Awareness project and the recruitment of the new post of Project Co-ordinator. Barbra Wylie started in September 2008.

The aim of the Counselling Awareness project is to increase the awareness and accessibility of counselling services within the deaf and deafblind communities. The project builds on the success of the previous Counselling Training project.

Derek Todd also came into post at the beginning of the year to work on the Access to Democracy project, which

came about as the result of a successful application to the Electoral Commission.

In addition, we once again received a 3 year Section 10 grant from the Scottish Government, with an increased contribution from previous years. This has helped to secure the core activities of our charity.

We also met with the Lottery Heritage Fund in August 2008 to discuss how best to approach them for funding for a Scottish Deaf history project. It was agreed the best fund to apply to at this stage is Your Heritage which awards grants up to £50,000 and following the success of our outline form their Grants Officer gave feedback on draft applications and what

additional research it would be beneficial to carry out. This is a fairly lengthy application process which requires the support of outside organisations such as the Scottish Oral History Centre. The application will be submitted shortly.

Our rolling programme of trust applications has continued and we received funding this year from a number of trusts including: Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust, A M Pilkington’s Charitable Trust, Cruden Foundation, Row Fogo Charitable Trust , JTH Charitable Trust, and Souter Charitable Trust.

Linda Ogston


We also registered with Charitytrek, one of Scotland’s leading service providers for walks and treks, to promote some of their walks in Scotland for 2009, including the Great Glen Way and their Ben Nevis trek. We are also now working with Recycle 4 Charity who has provided us with bags for the recycling of mobile and ink cartridges for our charity (please contact us if you would like a bag).

We are indebted to everyone who has financially contributed towards the success of our charity, including the many individuals who have supported us over the years. It is thanks to the generosity of our supporters that we are able to continue the vital work of SCoD.

As you can see from this report, at SCoD we work hard to improve the lives of deaf people in Scotland: to help promote their rights as individuals and reduce their sense of exclusion. Only with your help can we continue this work. Please give generously.

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SCoD MembershipThe new membership category of associate was finally launched in June 2008. We were pleased that many associate members made use of their membership

rights by turning up at National Council meetings and the AGM.

Becoming an associate member offers you the opportunity to get more involved in our work, receiving as you will invitations to our national council meetings and AGM, a copy of our monthly

bulletin, SCoDnews and reports on business at the Scottish Parliament.

Visit our website for more information and an application form in pdf which you can download. Alternatively, you can visit our office and pick up a form or contact us and we will send you a copy.

New Members

Full membership (for organisations) offers all of the benefits of associate membership but additonally, as a full member you can stand for election to the Management Committee and vote at national council, annual and other general meetings. It represents a very real opportunity to shape and influence government policy.

We were pleased to welcome:Aberdeen Association for the Hard of Hearing, Sign Language Interactions, Moray Council Sensory Impairment Centre and Deaf Links as new members.

Our new members are in good company with around 90 other like-minded organisations who realise and enjoy the benefits of SCoD membership.

annual report 2008/9 scottishcouncilondeafness page �9

Representations

NHS Health Scotland’s Disability Reference GroupNES Training Advisory Group’s Sensory Impairment Sub-groupScottish Accessible Information ForumSCVO’s Policy Officers NetworkScottish Accessible Transport AllianceTransport Scotland’s Road for All ForumHealth Rights Information Scotland’s Multi Audio Information Resource Steering Group RCA Trust’s Sensing Change Steering GroupScottish Sensory Centre’s Advisory Group NHS Greater Glasgow Sensory Impairment Mental Health Working GroupDeaf Interest Group

Wide representation is essential to our awareness raising work so that issues affecting Deaf Sign Language users, Deafened, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind people are raised and discussed at these meetings. To this end, we continued our representation on the following committees and working groups:

Equality Unit BSL & Linguistic Access Working Group and BSL Sub-groupAudiology Services Advisory Group

Cross Party Groups: on Deafness on Mental Health

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scottishcouncilondeafness

Email: [email protected]: www.scod.org.ukCharity number: SC016957

SCoD @ Central Chambers Suite 62 93 Hope Street Glasgow G2 6LDVoice: 0141 248 2474 Text & Voice: 0141 248 2477 & 1854 Fax: 0141 248 2479

Face to FaceThis year SCoD staff were lucky enough to be able to get out and about and meet with deaf people all over Scotland. Places visited included:

Lerwick, Stornoway and ThursoAberdeen, Dundee, Elgin, Kirkcaldy, Perth and Stirling

GalashielsDumfries, Paisley and PrestwickEdinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Lenzie, Linlithgow and Motherwell

Annual Report 2008-09

Documents

Transcript of Annual Report 2008-09