Rebuilding a deaf community

[Miss-Delectable]

The Deaf Association of Gwent wants to rebuild the deaf community in the region, after feeling it has become fragmented.

They have been awarded a grant of £10,000 towards the setting up and running of an office in Newport.

The group also wants to build up a database of deaf people in the area in order to establish better links.


Bob Webb, secretary with the association, said that over the years the close knit community of deaf and hard of hearing people in the region had dwindled.

He said this was mainly due to the location of a deaf club in Newport moving to a different part of the city.

RNID Statistics in Wales
Mild / moderate deafness: 439,000 adults in Wales
Severe / profound deafness: 36,000 adults in Wales
An estimated 475,000 people in Wales have some level of deafness

"It used to be a very strong community with people coming in to Newport from Ebbw Vale, Brynmawr, Abertillery and other places to meet up," he said.

"It was easy to get to and people would come from everywhere in Gwent.

"But then it moved to its site in Alway and people have stopped coming and the community has splintered.

"It has got to the point now where we just don't know how many people in the Gwent area are deaf or who they are."

The Deaf Association of Gwent plans to set up a central office in Newport, which would also act as a drop in centre.

We want to be able to provide help and support to people in the deaf community as well as a befriending service

Bob Webb, Deaf Association Gwent

The group has been awarded a £10,000 grant to run the centre for a year and members are now searching for a suitable premises.

It is hoped that when the database is completed a study can be done to assess if there is a need for a community support worker who can link the community even further.

"We want to be able to provide help and support to people in the deaf community as well as a befriending service," said Mr Webb.

"At the moment we simply don't know where or who the people are who might benefit from this and we want to change this and rebuild the community," he added.

 

[Nesmuth]

Bloody Jungle

It would be lovely to see a program to bring back together the deaf communities in California. Its become fragmentized and even worse babelized (lack of standard communication) that it's become a bloody jungle.


Of course I'll admit I'm a party to it but we live in an eye for an eye society these days.

Richard

 

[VamPyroX]

How has it become a "bloody jungle"?

 

[Gemtun]

Of course I'll admit I'm a party to it but we live in an eye for an eye society these days.

Richard[/QUOTE]

Why not be an exception and break the cycle, Richard? Why admit and try for eye to eye. Sounds like a win/lose situation.

Nothing makes me more exasperated than hearing how someone wants to get back at that person, etc etc when they could invest that energy/time into something more efficient and be able to sleep at night, knowing that she/he contributed positively.

 

[Nesmuth]

I aint the one who started it. In fact I never wanted to contribute to the fragmentation. Until i see a knife on my back by a deaf leader. My bloodline is from european knights and we dont cry like babies to our mommies when something like that happens. So I send the knife back to them harder. The cycle had been going on already for like 15 yrs before I jumped in.

Richard

 

[Gemtun]

Egads, Richard

But youre entitled to your own opinions. What you give out is what you will get too.

Of course, it is not a delight to have someone stabbing you in the back but I wasn't suggesting that you go crying to mamma or whatnot, but you can simply reverse the course with dignity and education that would make others pause and try to stop this senseless cycle of crab theory, etc.

 

[Liza]

Truth be told, I'm pretty tired of those formula deaf cliches myself and the goatherding. What or who defines the person you are, and how you do things? How you look at things? LOL Let's take responsibility for ourselves in any way we deem fit. No excuses.

Deaf leaders aint the only ones that shape this thing we call deaf community... I think just about all aspects of life do.

 

[Gemtun]

Deaf leaders aint the only ones that shape this thing we call deaf community... I think just about all aspects of life do.[/QUOTE]

Behind every successful leader, there is a successful community. No one can do it alone. Just that some leaders are powerhungry and alienate from the supporters.

 

[Passivist]

Hi all

I read with interest the issue of re-building the Gwent community, knowing (As I do), people there. I was puzzled about some things said, I have to say, the change of venue is many YEARS old (15 ? 20 ?), so it's not something that happened overnight, and not all that widely felt is a major contributor to dwindling attendances.

Like everywhere else in the UK, our deaf youth no longer have interest in clubs, they prefer to go to pubs instead, and all clubs are unable to compete, or, get youth interested in the one thing that would perhaps provide the glue for the community to carry on at a club, SPORT.

Clubs are struggling to get youth involved, most aren't interested anymore. I have nil but admiration Mr webb and others were able to raise such a staggering amount, on the basis they had little idea who could benefit from the services offered, or even how many deaf lived in the Gwent area, that they are still looking for a target audience is mind-boggling !

RNID statistics are meaningless,as they aren't proven, it is the 'educated guess' (1 in 7 of the population), they quote. The Audit Commission of 1999 told a very different story, less than 2000 in all wales deaf with no speech, SS statistics FOR Gwent, at that time published 300 in the Immediate Newport area, which was challenged by a local paper who said the figures were based, on a registered user database held by the support services (Social Services), which hadn't edited out for 15 years, people who had actually passed away !

Of course most deaf here have issues, and they are more pressing than building a community back up. Prior to most applications for funding one usually has to show a target sector, what is being provided, and identify it, I don't think this was really done, there is a danger this 'office' OPEN AND IN THE PENTONVILLE AREA of Newport), is going to eat up the funding, and, many grass roots simply have no idea it exists or, where this office is, and they live there, so, TELL the deaf the DAG exists is a good starting point.

If Mr Webb and Co want advice as to where to spend this funding, please post here, and I will point him in any amount of directions he wants, this is a genuine offer. There ARE huge support gaps in Gwent, really Huge. Forget rebuilding club things, they're gone I'm afraid, but there is a need for support and provision, which in the long run is what is important.

Ms D, would you PLEASE, post your comment TO, people IN Gwent ? so at least they know what's happening ? Alway is pretty much finished as a deaf centre for Gwent, why throw good money after bad ? is the first question I would have asked, only old people go there now, and harking back to the good old days, is just not productive, or answeringthe question WHY, youth won't attend, youth are any future.

Please feel free, to post MY comment on to them too, I'm sure, they will agree. Older deaf at Alway do NOT want any changes, they have resisted all suggestions for years, and they, are the only people keeping it going. Smaller local clubs are making much more headway, Cwmbran, Pontypool, Abergavenny, etc, and are questioning whether Gwent actually exists, and since local authorities split into smaller units, and each, has their own people to consult.

There are mutterings why the funding went to the least successful club in the area, and, no-one else was consulted. Newport isn't any centre for the deaf any more, most who attend, come from outside the Newport Boundary. Small, is now beautiful. Big is a Nice idea, but things moved on a while ago. I hope this isn't seen as being negative, I'd like to think it's more constructive to make these points, especially, as youth were pretty much not involved.

As we speak, how much of that £10K still exists ? and what is being shown for the investment ? They could, have set up a new club somewhere for that, something that belonged TO the deaf there, as opposed to using a building provided by the state for them, and where they blame the dwindling membership cause. The DAG is a group of which most deaf in Gwent have no idea exists, not even a poster states it on their deaf club notice board.

 

[knightwolf68]

Hi all

I read with interest the issue of re-building the Gwent community, knowing (As I do), people there. I was puzzled about some things said, I have to say, the change of venue is many YEARS old (15 ? 20 ?), so it's not something that happened overnight, and not all that widely felt is a major contributor to dwindling attendances.

Like everywhere else in the UK, our deaf youth no longer have interest in clubs, they prefer to go to pubs instead, and all clubs are unable to compete, or, get youth interested in the one thing that would perhaps provide the glue for the community to carry on at a club, SPORT.

Clubs are struggling to get youth involved, most aren't interested anymore. I have nil but admiration Mr webb and others were able to raise such a staggering amount, on the basis they had little idea who could benefit from the services offered, or even how many deaf lived in the Gwent area, that they are still looking for a target audience is mind-boggling !

RNID statistics are meaningless,as they aren't proven, it is the 'educated guess' (1 in 7 of the population), they quote. The Audit Commission of 1999 told a very different story, less than 2000 in all wales deaf with no speech, SS statistics FOR Gwent, at that time published 300 in the Immediate Newport area, which was challenged by a local paper who said the figures were based, on a registered user database held by the support services (Social Services), which hadn't edited out for 15 years, people who had actually passed away !

Of course most deaf here have issues, and they are more pressing than building a community back up. Prior to most applications for funding one usually has to show a target sector, what is being provided, and identify it, I don't think this was really done, there is a danger this 'office' OPEN AND IN THE PENTONVILLE AREA of Newport), is going to eat up the funding, and, many grass roots simply have no idea it exists or, where this office is, and they live there, so, TELL the deaf the DAG exists is a good starting point.

If Mr Webb and Co want advice as to where to spend this funding, please post here, and I will point him in any amount of directions he wants, this is a genuine offer. There ARE huge support gaps in Gwent, really Huge. Forget rebuilding club things, they're gone I'm afraid, but there is a need for support and provision, which in the long run is what is important.

Ms D, would you PLEASE, post your comment TO, people IN Gwent ? so at least they know what's happening ? Alway is pretty much finished as a deaf centre for Gwent, why throw good money after bad ? is the first question I would have asked, only old people go there now, and harking back to the good old days, is just not productive, or answeringthe question WHY, youth won't attend, youth are any future.

Please feel free, to post MY comment on to them too, I'm sure, they will agree. Older deaf at Alway do NOT want any changes, they have resisted all suggestions for years, and they, are the only people keeping it going. Smaller local clubs are making much more headway, Cwmbran, Pontypool, Abergavenny, etc, and are questioning whether Gwent actually exists, and since local authorities split into smaller units, and each, has their own people to consult.

There are mutterings why the funding went to the least successful club in the area, and, no-one else was consulted. Newport isn't any centre for the deaf any more, most who attend, come from outside the Newport Boundary. Small, is now beautiful. Big is a Nice idea, but things moved on a while ago. I hope this isn't seen as being negative, I'd like to think it's more constructive to make these points, especially, as youth were pretty much not involved.

As we speak, how much of that £10K still exists ? and what is being shown for the investment ? They could, have set up a new club somewhere for that, something that belonged TO the deaf there, as opposed to using a building provided by the state for them, and where they blame the dwindling membership cause. The DAG is a group of which most deaf in Gwent have no idea exists, not even a poster states it on their deaf club notice board.

IF THAT'S SO .... I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO DONATION SOME MONEY TO HELP UR AREA TO BE GOOD FUND OFC I AM FROM AMERICAN HEHE ALTHROUGH I AM VERY WILLING TO HELP ANY DEAF COMMUNITY ROUND THE WORLD AS CONSIDER BIG DEAF BROTHER HELP LITTLE SISTER AND BROTHERS CROSS THE WORLD ...

 

[Nesmuth]

Rebuilding any deaf community usually has to start with pulling the knives off the backs of the deaf leaders and encouraging them to interact with the other deaf leaders. Try some ice breaking events.

Richard

 

[Passivist]

Rebuilding any deaf community usually has to start with pulling the knives off the backs of the deaf leaders and encouraging them to interact with the other deaf leaders. Try some ice breaking events.

Richard

There is the rub, it's old 'clubs' against looser and more transient, and flexible, new ones. Many smaller clubs in our area also encourage a wider range of deaf and Hearing Impaired members (Hearing too, mostly families), still a little 'contentious' in some circles, sign isn't as dominant there,but young deaf are. In the 'Old' club, people have been in charge since Adam was in diapers, and really can't cut it with the youth, or want to. It's not back-stabbing, these 'leaders' have lost touch with young deaf. So far all they've offered youth here, is bowls ! 10 years it'll close if they carry on, maybe even 5. I think it's a case, where it is believed, no clubs, no culture, which is no longer true. It's simply, age, versus youth and they can't see it.

Deaf or Hearing that, never changes. culture and community STILL exists here, it's form has changed, it's leaders, not.