13th May 2013 HADC’S Harrow Deaf Awareness Day at Harrow Council was a huge success, with attendance of over 200 delegates including our VIP Guests i.e. our Patrons John and Margaret Purnell; Michael Lockwood, Chief Executive of Harrow Council; Councillor Graham Henson, Cabinet Member of Performance, Customer Services and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder; Paul Najsarek, Corporate Director of Community, Health and Wellbeing; David Buxton, Chief Executive of British Deaf Association; Iain Sutherland, Deaf Equality Officer, Bristol City Council; Catherine Doran, Corporate Director of Children and Families; Marianne Locke, Divisional Director Community & Culture; Andrew Hoey, General Manager, Harrow VUE Cinema and Councillor Nana Asante, Deputy Mayor of Harrow.
The event also had 25 stalls, which offered great opportunities for deaf people to find out what services were on offer and for hearing people to see what support/ resources/ information they needs to improve their services and ensuring on accessibility. The event was supported by The Harrow Observer Newspaper, Harrow Community Radio, Harrow Times, Harrow Borough Council, CommunityID and Hatch End High School.
http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/10415858.Deaf_awareness_day_helps_promote_accessibility/
http://content.met.police.uk/News/Borough-Commanders-blog-20-May/1400017377512/1257246745756
Harrow Deaf Awareness Day, Harrow Council on Monday 13th May 2013, 9am – 4.30pm
Harrow Asian Deaf Club (HADC) were pleased to have the presence of Councillor Nizam Ismail, The Mayor of Harrow; John Purnell GM QPM DL, Deputy Lieutenant for Harrow and Margaret Purnell (Patrons of HADC) to launch Harrow Deaf Awareness Day on 13th May 2013 at Harrow Council.
HADC was also delighted to secure many excellent speakers with powerful messages being sent out across out to local community and service providers including:
- Asif Iqbal MBE, President of HADC
- Councillor Nizam Ismail, Mayor of Harrow
- John F Purnell GM QPM DL, Deputy Lieutenant for Harrow & Margaret A Purnell, Patrons of Harrow Asian Deaf Club
- Bilal Khaku, Hatch End High School, giving powerful messages of why Deaf Awareness is important.
- Michael Lockwood, Chief Executive of Harrow Council
Also at the venue, there was a range of 25 fantastic stalls, thus offering great opportunities for deaf people to find out what services are on offer and for hearing people to see what support/ resources/ information they needs to improve their services and ensuring on accessibility.
The event provided a platform of opportunity for service providers, council staff, deaf adults & their families, deaf children/ young people & their families and community groups to have a say in how they access services, the barriers they face and what support/ improvements need to be in place to remove such barriers.
The ‘Question Time’ sessions (similar to BBC Question Time) is a fantastic opportunity to enable deaf people and service providers to put forward questions to the panel members on the subject of accessing Council services, services for Children, and access to Leisure, Arts, Theatre and Cinema. Also to encourage further discussion and debate on what should happen to meet the needs of deaf children/ young people/ adults and their families and to enable them to have equal access to services.
The event was fully accessible to all delegates with BSL interpreters and Palatypist provided on the day.
Below is the list of all Question Time sessions and the Panellist members involved.
Morning:
1) Question Time: ‘Access to Council Services’
(Social Services, Housing, Community and Equalities)
Chair: Councillor Graham Henson, Cabinet Member of Performance, Customer Services and Corporate Services Portfolio Holder
Also present were the Panel Members to answer queries from the floor:
- Paul Najsarek, Corporate Director of Community, Health and Wellbeing
- David Buxton, Chief Executive of British Deaf Association
- Iain Sutherland, Deaf Equality Officer, Bristol City Council
Afternoon:
Opening remark – Suzy Talbot, Deputy Editor, Harrow Observer Newspaper
‘My dream and your dream’ – special poem by Ammaar Hussein, Hatch End High School
2) Question Time: ‘Access to Children, Schools and Families’
Chair: Professor Bencie Woll, Director of Deafness Cognition and Language (DCAL) Research Centre, University College London
The Panel Members:
- Catherine Doran, Corporate Director of Children and Families
- Nicola Ward, Director of London National Deaf Children Society
- Sabina Iqbal, Chair of Deaf Parenting UK
3) Question Time: ‘Access to Leisure, Arts, Theatre and Cinema’
Chair: Marianne Locke, Divisional Director Community & Culture
The Panel Members:
- Tim Bryan, Service Manager of librarians, Sports and Leisure
- Stephen Collins, Performer, Paralympic Opening Ceremony (TBC)
- Andrew Hoey, General Manager, Harrow VUE Cinema
Closing Remark: Councillor Nana Asante, Deputy Mayor of Harrow
This was also an excellent opportunity for each delegates to meet with other stakeholders including deaf children, young people and adults and their families and service providers, to work together and see how we can move toward to improve access to services for all.
The event was supported by The Harrow Observer Newspaper, Harrow Community Radio, Harrow Times, Harrow Borough Council, CommunityID and Hatch End High School
