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VIEW

Independent Social Affairs magazine for community/voluntary sector www.viewdigital.org Issue 30, 2015

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WE MUST NOT RESIDE AT THE BOTTOM OF PUBLIC POLICY HEAP

OUR 30TH PUBLICATION OF VIEW IS DEVOTED TO DISABILITY ISSUES

Editorial

VIEW, Issue 30, 2015

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VIEW, the online publication for the community/voluntary sector in Northern Ireland

wenty years ago, the UK Parliament passed the Disability Discrimination Act. This represented both official acknowledgement of the endemic inequality disabled people faced, and put in place an element of legal redress to challenge aspects of it when it occurred.

In the Northern Ireland context, further laws followed that appeared to signal that the particular needs and circumstances of disabled people would finally be addressed.

Firstly, as part of the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement, Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act of 1998 included disabled people as one of the groups that all public bodies here were required to overtly consider when planning and delivering their services.

Secondly, the 2006 Disability Discrimination Order placed

the required radically improved quality of life for disabled people here. Ironically, the fate of the Executive’s current Disability Strategy goes part of the way to explaining why this has been the case.

At the time of writing, two years after the delayed publication of the Strategy itself, the promised

OFM/DFM would go some way to demonstrating that improving the circumstances of disabled people is the priority Executive ministers consistently assert that it is.

Firstly, publicly acknowledge that implementation of the Disability Strategy has not been as fulsome as it could have been.

Secondly, engage directly with organisations run and controlled by disabled people as to the content and delivery of a new Disability Strategy capable of delivering the changes so desperately needed.

Thirdly, commit to a significant set of imaginative actions designed to meaningfully address negative attitudes to disabled people.

Fourthly, provide the modest funding required to support the small network of organisations run by disabled people here.

Last year, four of these were

obligations on public bodies to actively promote positive attitudes to disabled people.

Then in July 2009, the UK Government ratified the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This meant that national and devolved policies and practices had to comply with the wide-ranging obligations this international treaty requires.

Yet, with 40 per cent of complaints to the Equality Commission last year made on the grounds of disability, the lofty ambitions and fine words of this public policy framework have palpably failed to be translated into

first annual report detailing progress made has still not been published by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister, the Department responsible for the coordination of the strategy.

While there is no panacea to ensure that the barriers to participation by disabled people in the social, economic, political and cultural life of society here are overcome, a key ingredient is the political will to make it happen. The tardiness in publication of the details of concrete actions taken under the Disability Strategy appears to demonstrate that such political will is missing.

If it does exist, four actions by

identified by the UK Government’s Office of Disability Issues as capable of playing a catalyst role in addressing the root causes of disability related social exclusion.

The small grants they were awarded then end in March.

Surely such conduits to the views of disabled people themselves are critical if we are to see the meaningful design and implementation of a Disability Strategy worthy of the name.

OFM/DFM must now vigorously act in consort with disabled people if we are not to revert to accepting that disability naturally resides at the bottom of the public policy heap.

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By Harry Reid, public affairs consultant

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OFM/DFM must now vigorously act in consort with disabled people if we are not to revert to accepting that disability naturally resides at the bottom of the public policy heap

VIEW, Issue 30, 2015

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Appeal: Angela Fields, right and Nicole, below

Mum urges public to support hospice

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elfast mother Angela Fields, whose eldest daughter Nicole died from Rett Syndrome, has appealed to the public to support the work of the Northern Ireland’s Children Hospice.

The hospice is the only service of its type within Northern Ireland caring for children and young people with very complex needs.

There are over 1,300 life-limited children and young people and their families living in Northern Ireland who need the specialist care that only the Children's Hospice can provide.

“Nicole died in 2004 at the age of 16 from Rett

Syndrome, which is a rare brain disorder that causes severe disabilities,” said Angela.

“When she was alive, she was the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last thing at night.”

“The respite care that the hospice offered my husband and our other two childen was excellent.

The staff would look after Nicole and we would get a break. I can’t praise it enough.”

• The Northern Ireland Children's Hospice is at Horizon House, Newtownabbey Phone no: 028 9077 7635 children@nihospice.org

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VIEW, Issue 30, 2015

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PROFILE: Rosaleen Dempsey Children and Family Service Manager for RNIB Northern Ireland

‘Some of the big challenges that people with disabilites face are with attitude and awareness’

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ver a cup of coffee and a slow burning cigarette at home, I listened to Rosaleen Dempsey singing ‘She Moved Through the Fair’ – a haunting ballad which perfectly suits her distinctive voice.

An hour later, I was sitting across the table from 35-year-old Rosaleen in the offices of the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) in Belfast. We chatted about her early life, her involvement with an albinism society and her passion for music.

“I have been working with the RNIB for 10 years. I am the Children and Family Services Manager. I manage a team of family support and youth officers who work with children who have sight loss and their families.”.

I asked Rosaleen about the highs and lows of her job. “A high is when one of the projects has been a success.You may have achieved funding for a project and the interaction with the families is always enjoyable. Low moments can be be about trying to get funding in a difficult environment of cutbacks.

“When I hear the term ‘disability’, I think of people who are facing challenges from society. Some of the greatest challenges that disabled people face are with attitude and awareness.”

Rosie was born with Oculocutaneous albinism which affects coloring (pigmentation) of the skin, hair, and eyes. “I don’t tan and I have to be very careful in the sun.

“In my early childhood years I didn't think too much about it. As a teenager, I can remember looking in the mirror and thinking I wish my hair could be just a little bit darker. I did dye my hair once when I was in university. I had a good time when I was doing my degree, but on occasions, I had negative experiences. I was walking across the campus one day at University College Cork, when someone called me a ‘f**king albino’ ”.

She is impressed with the work of photographer Rick Guidotti who has created a not-for-profit organization named Positive Exposure (www.positiveexposure.org) “After meeting him and starting to talk to other people with the same condition, I developed a different attitude to the fact that I had albinism and I stopped dyeing my hair.”

We ended the interview by discussing Rosaleen’s love of singing. “I have always loved it. I recently recorded an EP with the help of Joe Kenny, who also works with the RNIB. It’s called Against The Sky.

• Against The Sky is available to download on Google Play Store, iTunes and Spotify.

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Helping childen to bridge the gap

Retired teacher Mairead O’Halloran with eight-year-old Fiona Henderson

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By Una Murphy

Image: James Pelan

former school vice principal is among a team of volunteer retired teachers who have chalked up five years bridging the gap for children with additional educational needs.

“Fifteen schools, eighty volunteers and 500 children”, Mairead O’Halloran, who worked at St Louise’s Comprehensive College in west Belfast said proudly of the ‘Back On Track’ programme She signed up to the innovative

scheme run by the charity Sólás after reading an appeal for retired teachers to get involved and found one of her former pupils Anne Cahill was the co-ordinator.

“Sólás give us very good teaching resources and Anne always makes sure we have everything we need to keep the children’s attention, she said.

“I deal with literacy, numeracy and reading through educational games and we make sure that learning is fun.

“One little boy wanted to do a

project about The Celts – so we did.

Another boy wanted help with learning the time and times-tables. That is want he wanted and needed to do.”

Ms O’Halloran added: “It is important to concentrate on the children’s needs and interests and get them to talk about what they do.”

UK Charity AbilityNet has been a leading authority on accessibility and assistive technologies for 20 years and provides a range of free services for disabled people, their family and friends, their employers and other people who care for them.

They have been showcasing technology to help disabled

people to MPs. The parliamentary showcase of accessible technology which organised by the Digital Accessibility Alliance, which AbilityNet supports.

AbilityNet’s Head of Digital Inclusion Robin Christopherson said: “Acccessible and inclusive technology is now all around us

thanks to the advent of smartphones and tablets. It’s so much easier for disabled people to customise a device so it works for them, without necessarily having to use specialist equipment.”

• For further information on AbilityNet go to their website: www.abilitynet.org.uk

• Sólás has now started a new cross-border ‘Back on Track’ programme. Find out more on Sólás website: www.solasbt7.com

Providing a free range of technology services

Bryson Energy handyperson service helps older people in Belfast

Do you have small jobs that you need sorted in your home?

From putting up a shelf, fixing stair rails, fitting security chains/locks, loose floorboards etc.

Bryson Energy, part of the Bryson Charitable Group, is providing a Handyperson service for residents over 60 living in the Belfast area. The cost is £15.00 per hour. (max 3 hrs) To find out more call free on 0800 14 22 865 A special discounted rate of £10.00 per hour available for all View Digital Readers. Quote: Digital HP

“Thank you all for this great scheme, as it is near impossible to get someone to do these odd jobs which people need doing.”

Contact details: To find out how to avail of the handyman service please contact Bryson Energy on 0800 14 22 865 or handyman@brysonenergy.org Bryson Energy provide a range of services including energy advice and also an oil buying club. To find out more ring our Freephone number on 0800 14 22 865 www.brysongroup.org All our staff are Access NI background checked

VIEW, Issue 30, 2015

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The first consultant that I saw said ‘I had tinnitus and to go away and live with it’

Christine Martin tells VIEW of her struggle with tinnitus and how she learned to cope with her condition

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hristine Martin, who has tinnitus, told VIEW how she has made a positive out of a negative experience by getting involved with Action On Hearing Loss to help other people with the condition.

Tinnitus is described as the term for noises heard in the ear or ears. It is typically described as ringing, whistling, hissing, buzzing, music or humming.

Christine, who lives in Belfast, has four children and nine grandchildren. She developed the condition in 2006. “I had been giving a talk at an event and I got two very massive surges of feedback from a microphone. Shortly after that incident I became aware of having a high pitch, constant noise in my ears.

“The way I describe it that it is very much like the old days if you had fallen asleep in front of the television and you woke up midnight and heard the sound from the TV as it showed a test card.”

“Initially it was dominant in the left and then gradually it was also on the right,” said Christine “The first consultant I saw said I had tinnitus and to go away and live with it.

That spiralled me out of control because I had gone for help and I didn’t get any. The second consultant carried out very specific tests. He asked me had I been anywhere

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‘I couldn’t go into a cafe as a teaspoon hitting a cup had me in tears’

near a very loud noise. When I told him about the microphone event, he said: ‘You have high frequency tinnitus’.”

“I had been about to do a PHD on literature and that went out the window. I couldn't even read a newspaper. The level of tinnitus was so much that it dominated everything. I use to call it ‘The Invader’ and a ‘Thief of Concentration’.

“It just followed me everywhere – I couldn't escape it. It impacted on all aspects of my life. I couldn’t sleep. I use to start to cry around 9.30 every night because it meant bedtime was approaching. I saw it as a form of torture.

“Then one day there was one of those moments, a bit like Hamlet – ‘To be or not to be’. I thought I have a family. I have to find ways of being myself. That is termed ‘the moment of acceptance’.

“I worked out a programme of auditory desensitization. I wanted to start meeting my friends again as I had become totally isolated. I couldn't even go into a

cafe as a teaspoon hitting a cup had me in tears. So I started to create sound in a controlled environment which helped me cope with the tinnitus.

“Bit by bit, things started to improve.”

A course about coping with tinnitus that Christine attended led her to become a volunteer with Action on Hearing Loss.

Christine became a bit emotional as she recounted her feelings during that period. “This has happened. It has happened for a reason. I can't do the PHD but I can make a difference now to the lives of so many people in the province who are suffering from this.

Ten per cent of the population have tinnitus and for one per cent the impact is dramatic and can impact on their mental health.

People need help and support in order to help them cope with tinnitus.

Christine added “I work with the various health trusts in Northern Ireland on delivering courses to inform people about how they can learn to manage the condition and that there is life with tinnitus.

“It's important that people learn to stay positive but in the early stages it can be very difficult.

“Some people have been dealing with it in silence for many years.”

Cedar - Delivering Services for people with disabilities for over 70 Years The Cedar Foundation is one of the largest voluntary organisations supporting children and adults with disabilities throughout Northern Ireland. Cedar delivers innovative services that enable people with disabilities to get the most out of life and to be fully included in their communities.

Our Vision is a society accessible to all.

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The Cedar Foundation, Head Office, 31 Ulsterville Avenue, Belfast, BT9 7AS. Contact us: Tel (028) 9066 6188 or E-mail: info@cedar-foundation.org A company limited by guarantee. Registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC101121 HMRC Charity No. XN47377

www.cedar-foundation.org

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Above: Students Chloe, Niamh, Stacy, Matthew, Colm, Sian and Ben and below the students enjoying their class at the Belfast Community Circus School

Belfast Met puts fun into learning

Brian Pelan reports on an innovative project at the Belfast Community Circus School

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n a cold day in February, a group of students warmed everyone up with their laughter and enthusiasm at the Belfast Community Circus School An excellent project, which started three years ago, has linked up Belfast Met students with learning disabilities and the circus.

The students learn to use circus routines as a way to develop team building, self-confidence and literacy and numeracy skills.

Allison Anderson, Curriculum Area Manager for the Centre for Supported Learning at the Belfast Met, said: “We provide full time and part-time education and training provision for young people and adults with complex and severe learning difficulties.

“We have enrolments in excess of 400, studying across a range of programmes and campuses.

“The young people who are at the Belfast Community Circus School today are full time students in their first year at college.

“Class-room based curriculum is not

always the best way forward for our students, so we try to make the experience for them as diverse and interesting as possible.

“Some of our students have physical disabilities and all have learning difficulties.

“Some have Down’s syndrome and others have Cerebral Palsy.

They may also have autism, Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or mental health issues on top of their learning difficulties.

“This is the third year that we have been involved in this project with the Belfast Community Circus School. It’s been a brilliant experience for our students.

“A lot of the students would see coming here as a highlight of their studying. It’s fun, it’s a different way of learning and being taught.

“They certainly respond very well to it. They do a show every year which is always great fun.”

Will Chamberlain, Director of the Belfast Community Circus School, told how the innovative project came about.

“About three years ago, circus trainer

Jacob Anderson expressed an interest in working with young people with disabilities. He put together a proposal for a project with very clear outcomes for Belfast Met. .

“We received funding from Children in Need and put the process into action.

Jacob and the team involved in this project have achieved great results.

“This project shows that circus isn’t restricted to people flying through the air on trapezes. It’s about making the most of every individual, irrespective of who they are, where they are from and what their starting point is.

“The students love it and the parents are also very happy with it. I enjoy seeing the students develop skills they will use in their lives outside the circus.

“Jacob really encourages the students to think for themselves and to support each other.”

With planned cuts in arts and Department of Learning budgets, there is a concern that the project may be affected. That would be a real shame as learning needs an element of creative fun.

The circus delivers this on all fronts.”

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Practical advice and a sensitive personal approach. We pride ourselves on our unrivalled commitment to clients’ needs.

Edwards & Co. solicitors advises charities and the voluntary sector in Northern Ireland on a wide range of legal issues including charity creation, charitable status and constitutional matters, trading and commercial arrangements, employment law, finance, fundraising and property law, as well as dealing with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.

Our team offers a full range of legal services including mediation, wills,criminal law, clinical negligence and personal injury claims, as well as family/matrimonial work.

Contact Jenny and Teresa: Edwards & Co. Solicitors, 28 Hill Street, Belfast, BT1 2LA. Tel: (028) 9032 1863 Email: info@edwardsandcompany.co.uk Web: edwardsandcompany.co.uk

VIEW, Issue 29, 2014

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Julie Leonard Comment

Disability Act: Know the law E

mployers must ensure that they treat employees with disabilities the same as other workers.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has set out some special provisions in regard to how disabled employees should be treated.

Under the DDA legislation it is unlawful for employers to discriminate against people with disabilities for a reason related to their disability, in all aspects of employment, unless this can be justified.

The Act covers things like recruitment and selection as well as other areas including: • Job descriptions and associated forms. Advertising and interviewing.

• Job offers • Terms of employment • Bullying and harassment • Pregnancy, maternity • Promotion, transfer or training opportunities • Dismissal or redundancy As can be seen there is a very wide range of areas covered by the Act. Often a disabled employee will require a reasonable adjustment to be made to the workplace, or to the working arrangements.

The employers’ duty is to ensure that the disabled employee is not in any way at any disadvantage compared to a non disabled employee.

The employer has to keep himself up to date with the condition and make themselves aware of what would considered to be a reasonable adjustment so that as a disabled employee, he/she are not at a disadvantage.

This disadvantage could be a physical feature within the workplace or a policy or procedure which discriminates.

Examples of the sort of adjustments employers should consider, in consultation with the employee , include:

• Moving you to another post or another place of work • Making adjustments to the buildings where you work • Being flexible about your hours - allowing you to have different core working hours and to be away from the office for assessment, treatment or rehabilitation • Providing training or retraining if you cannot do your current job any longer • Providing modifications to equipment • Making instructions and manuals more accessible • providing a reader or interpreter As always in employment situations, difficulties and problems are best discussed openly so that an agreed approach can be adopted, that suits both parties.

• Julie Leonard, who specialises in employment law, is a solictor at Edwards and Co Solicitors, www.edwardsandcompany.co.uk

Arts and Disability Forum pre

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llow yourself to be drawn into the atmosphere and suspense of a night in the 1920s Who’s been Framed? is a collection of photographs shot in the Culloden Hotel, featuring members of the Skyway Club (pictured above) as suspects in a murder

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mystery and taking inspiration from classic crime flicks like Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, as well as the board game Cluedo.

The exhibition is on view until March 5, from 11am to 3pm, Tuesday to Friday, at the Arts & Disability Gallery in Royal Avenue Belfast.

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The Skyway Club is a vibrant and creative group of adults with learning disabilities, based at Ballynafeigh Community House in Belfast. Their interest in photography was sparked by participation in classes led by photographer Carrie Davenport. Carrie then worked

esents Who’s been Framed?

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Usual Suspects: (left to right) Peter Gamble, club member; Linda Laverty, staff; Angela Bloomer, club member; Mark Hamilton, club member; Joanna McGuffin, club member; Dorothy Taylor, club member; Derek Radcliffe, club member; Matthew Lee, staff and Granville Green, club member with the group to stage, shoot and produce the images.

On Wednesday, February 18, beginning at 1pm, the Skyway Club will run a workshop exploring the story of the exhibition. The workshop will be suitable for people with learning difficulties but it is

open to anyone who wants take part.You must book in advance by contacting Leo Devlin at the ADF – leo@adf.ie or 028 9023 9450.

BSL interpretation and audio description can be made available for both the preview and for the talk. Please book

this support in advance by contacting Leo as above. When you have booked communication support, if you then change your mind about attending, it’s important to let us know.

• More pictures from the Skyway Club on pages 16 and 17

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Snapped: Derek Radcliffe (Skyway club member) as reporter Derek Doolittle with Linda Laverty (staff ) Image: Carrie Davenport

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Cards on the Table: Mark Hamilton (Skyway club member) as Mark ‘Mad Dog’ Hamilton Image: Carrie Davenport

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Using art to show support for the Independant Living Fund

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n recent months it has emerged that Northern Ireland, Scotland and most probably even Wales will retain the Independent Living Fund i(ILF) in some form.

However, the reprieve may only be temporary and England is still on course to close the fund in June 2015.

The show, A is for Activism by Brian Hilton, reflects use of the arts as a tool to create online campaign images.

Brian Hilton said: “As a disabled person with high support needs, the ILF enables me and other disabled people to live with choice and dignity in the community rather than locked away in a

nursing home.”

His exhibition will be presented at the Arts and Disability Forum Gallery in Royal Avenue, Belfast, this spring.

• For more information or queries about the work of the ADF go to www.adf.ie

image: Joel Simon

ADF creates a genuinely inclusive arts environment, where any disabled or deaf person can be involved as they wish!

www.adf.ie @adf011 Adf ArtsandDisability

‘Around 50 million in people in Africa are disabled’

VIEW, Issue 30, 2015

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By John Coghlan, Director, Disability Aid Abroad

eople with disabilities in developing countries are the forgotten voice of international development aid, and they need specific targeted help.

In many developing countries disability is seen as a social and cultural stigma, and that access to health services, education and employment opportunities are denied to disabled people.

The United Nations estimates that

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there are almost 800 million people living in Africa, 50 million of who are disabled. These one in 16 Africans form the highest proportion of Africa’s disadvantaged population: only two per cent have access to any form of rehabilitation; 90 per cent of children with mental disability die before the age of five; and 70 per cent of disabled adults are unemployed and live in abject poverty Around 20 per cent of all people living on less than one US dollar a day have a disability. Opportunities to rise above

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poverty are limited, in many cases by the lack of legislation to improve skills and employment options, and they are among the most impoverished and marginalised members of society.

The barriers to formal employment faced by people with disabilities are great.

Specific challenges stem from a widespread low level of education amongst disabled people. At most, just five per cent of children with disabilities attend secondary school and less than one per cent has finished vocational education. Only around

VIEW, Issue 30, 2015

15 per cent of people with disabilities have computer skills. Without an education, children with disabilities often become unemployed, isolated adults.

Women with disabilities in Tanzania are particularly vulnerable and face additional barriers to full equality and advancement because of such factors as race, age, language, ethnicity, culture, religion or disability. Persistence of certain cultural, legal and institutional barriers make women and girls with disabilities the victims of two-fold discrimination: as

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women and as persons with disabilities.

In households, which include a disabled person, average household consumption is less than 60 per cent of the national average which is a strong indicator of the links between poverty and disability.

Lack of adequate transport, accessibility and reasonable employment adjustments are also major factors, which effect employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

This is a situation which serves to perpetuate poverty levels for people with dis-

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abilities and their families, and continues to drain an economy to which disabled people could effectively contribute. People with disabilities are a human resource, which should be valued and harnessed to enable them to be productive members of society.

• Contact Disability Action at Portside Business Park, 189 Airport Road West, Belfast Phone: 028 9029 7880 or send email to johncoghlan@disabilityaction.org

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GIVE MY HEAD SPACE H

By Una Murphy

idden disability is the theme of performance artist Sinéad O'Donnell’s work. A Dubliner who now lives is Belfast she always knew she had learning difficulties but didn’t find out she was dyslexic until her 20s.

“It was then I started to bring hidden disability into my practice and received a commission to coincide with the London 2012 Olympiad”, she said We are sitting in the Golden Thread gallery in Belfast while under fives – some with disabilities and some without - are taking part in the free Makey Makey Mob! art workshop.

Sinéad worked with international performance artists from Japan, Iraq, Canada, Germany and Peru visiting them abroad to explore hidden disability which is the theme of her exhibition and book ‘CAUTION’.

It was commissioned as part of Unlimited – a project celebrating disability, art, culture and sport as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

In New York with another exhibition ‘Headspace: White Cube’ – in which she placed her head in white cube suspended from the ceiling she had an interesting encounter. “A woman came to the gallery who had read a review in the Washington Street Journal about ‘Head Space’ my exhibition on hidden disability and said she suffered from claustrophobia but she wanted to go in. I hesitated but the gallery attendant had been waiting for hours, so I stood beside her and told her to tap my arm when she was finished – she was in there five minutes”, she said.

“How do you define head space?” she asked.

I left the Golden Thread gallery – where the under fives were still enjoying creative fun with brightly coloured paints – and on the street I noticed a ‘Take Five’ poster promoting emotional well being. Much disability is hidden and all of us need a bit of ‘head space’.

Entranced: Children enjoying art at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast Image: Deirdre McKenna

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