Deffo! & The Deaf Youth Club
Young Cardiff people who are deaf or have hearing difficulties are welcome to attend the twice monthly Deaf Youth Club on Newport Road.
Held at Cardiff Deaf Club (which is on the corner of Newport and Partridge Roads), the venue offers a range of activities for young people including pool, arts and crafts and a chance to socialise.
Some members of the club are also representatives of Deffo! - the Welsh Deaf Youth Forum, who last summer met with the Welsh Assembly's Minister For Children, Education, Lifelong Learning And Skills, Jane Hutt.
TheSprout spoke to two members of the group - Rhian Greaves and Katelyn Monsell - who explained why the forum and youth club is open to all.
Tell us about the Deaf Youth Forum For Wales.
It stands for representation for children and young people around Wales. It’s basically to improve access and provide information in a way that people can understand, because you have got things that are translated into Welsh that don’t translate into British Sign Language (BSL).
We’ve had issues covering transport and doctor’s surgeries, and our leaders have told stories where they have been to police stations and they have seen signs saying ‘if you need an interpreter ask us’ but they don’t have any for BSL. So we have been trying to sort out access for that as well. Know what your rights are, really.
How long has it been going and who set it up?
It has been going for about two or three years, maybe a little big longer, it started out as a summer camp for deaf people where they decided they wanted to have an official forum. There is only one of the original members left because it is based around young people of 18 who then go off to university who can’t always carry on, but we are getting new members. As one person goes another two or three come along. There are about nine or ten members, we have people coming and going so it’s really hard to keep track!
What kind of work does the forum do?
At the moment we are just finishing of a DVD called Extending Entitlements which is about the rights we have. It’s about the right to be healthy, have access to education, and to be safe in your own home.
A DVD came out by Funky Dragon. It was a cartoon but wasn’t subtitled and we couldn’t lip read it, and there was no interpreter. So basically we thought of making our own DVD with information about Deffo! and information about its entitlements. We also met the children’s commissioner Keith Towler who is a lovely man. We have had a few meetings with him we have been to see Jane Hutt as well.
What has 2009 been like for Deffo!?
Busy! We had people come down from Scotland to a camp in Swansea to see how we had set up our youth forum because they are in the middle of doing the same thing. We have also held workshops and been giving presentations. Cardiff Deaf Youth Club has also just been set up.
How well would you say young def people are represented in Cardiff and Wales outside of the forum?
I don’t think they are represented that much. I think there is a big gap between representation and the support you can get, especially in rural areas. I don’t think there is much out there, especially in north Wales. There is not a lot of access to stuff like interpreters. Not every deaf person can get help in school. Until I got involved in the forum I had no idea about what sort of things I could do to help. There is pretty much nothing.
Tell us about the presentations you have been giving?
We have done it in Newport, Swansea, Cardiff, Conwy, Wrexham and Flintshire. Basically it’s about meeting and greeting youth workers who don’t know how to approach a deaf child. Stuff like how you tell if someone is deaf and how you should communicate with them. It’s also about sign language and how to get their attention. i.e. pat them on the shoulder rather than waving right in front of their face!
We have also done ice-breaker games, held some competitions and have talked about gestures because some that are used in sign language are not the same as similar ones used in everyday life. Everyone who saw the presentation said it was enlightening in how to approach deaf people.
What partnerships do you have and how are you funded?
We work with the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) who we meet with. We also have a lot of help and support from Deaf Association Wales, the British Deaf Association and Deaf Youth Association Cymru. Recently we have tried to become a little more self sufficient. We get grants from WAG but are looking at ways to fundraise so we can do more stuff. We have sponsored events and there is a lot else that we are planning at the moment
What advice would you like to give to other young people reading this?
If you are a young deaf person and you want to know how to get access to information, this is the place to come. We are very welcoming, even if you don’t sign. We have got quite a few hearing people who help out at the youth club in Swansea so we are not anti-hearing in any way. We have different levels of deafness: we have some members who only communicate through sign language, and others who only have one hearing aid.
What do you have planned for 2010?
We are going to be deciding who has got what role in the committee. We are also looking to doing an exchange programme with young people from Gibraltar or Hungary because they have got big deaf populations. Especially Hungary where they used to have no recognition for sign language, now they have got more than the UK in terms of the laws and it being encouraged ins schools.
We will also be looking at doing a sponsored cycle on exercise bikes from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for the forum. We will both be doing that but will have to get the training in first!
Our next topic will be BSL Awareness: promoting it and going into schools and showing people that it isn’t a weird thing. A lot of people – including some of my friends – are like, “Oh my god, you sign?! What’s that about?!” and I’m like, “obviously!”
So it’s about raising awareness that it is not something that is that different. We are also looking at setting up a website, although we already have a Facebook page.
There is also no deaf school in Wales. If you want to go to a deaf school you have to go to England which is really bad as you could lose some of your cultural identity. That’s one point which is being looked at through our Facebook space, so any feedback is definitely welcome!
The Deaf Youth Club is based at Cardiff Deaf Club, 163 Newport Road, Roath, Cardiff CF24 1AG and opens every two weeks on Thursdays from 6.30pm - 9pm for ages 11 - 25.
Contact Youth Development Officer Rob Murphy: 029 2087 2437 / RMurphy@cardiff.gov.uk or Senior Youth Worker Stuart Parkinson (text messages only): 07976 056219 / SParkinson@cardiff.gov.uk.
LINKS
The National Deaf Children's Society
