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Tina Lannin Nominated for the UK’s Largest Diversity Awards

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Entrepreneur-of-ExcellencePress release

Tina Lannin Nominated for the UK’s Largest Diversity Awards

Tina Lannin, an entrepreneur from London, has been nominated for the Entrepreneur of Excellence at The 2015 National Diversity Awards.

The ceremony celebrates some of the excellent and inspiring achievements of positive role models and community organisations from across the UK. The awards aim to recognise nominees in their respective fields of diversity including age, disability, gender, race, faith, religion and sexual orientation.

Tina Lannin owns 121 Captions, a company run by deaf people for deaf people, providing live captioning and subtitling services of the highest quality in 17 languages. She is passionate about accessibility for deaf people, being deaf herself. She obtained a university education without captioning support and used captioning herself in the workplace for several years, and has a wealth of knowledge to share about captioning, subtitling, and access for deaf people.

The National Diversity Awards 2015 in association with Microsoft will be held in Liverpool on September 18th. Britain’s most inspirational and selfless people will come together to honour the rich tapestry of our nation, recognising individuals and groups from grass roots communities who have contributed to creating a more diverse and inclusive society.

The largest diversity awards ceremony of its kind has attracted a growing list of top employers such as Sky, Financial Ombudsman Service and Price Waterhouse Coopers.

The prestigious black-tie event has also gained support from a number of celebrities including Stephen Fry, Misha B and Ade Adepitan.

Theresa McHenry, of Microsoft UK, said ‘The National Diversity Awards 2013 were thought provoking, humbling, inspiring, and not least, entertaining. This is the reason Microsoft are delighted to continue to be involved and have committed to sponsoring the National Diversity Awards 2015’.

Amongst last year’s winners was James Partridge, who spear-headed campaigns for social change and pushed for anti-discrimination protection. Jessica Huie took home the entrepreneur of excellence award for race, faith & religion, for setting up the UK’s most successful multicultural Greeting Card and Gift Company. Birmingham LGBT were also recognised for opening the first LGBT Health & Wellbeing Centre in England and Wales

The National Diversity Awards received an astonishing amount of nominations for last year’s event.

Paul Sesay, Chief Executive of The National Diversity Awards said, ‘It is an honour to witness the extraordinary journeys of Britain’s unsung diversity heroes, and we will continue to recognise their extraordinary achievements during 2015’.

‘I know another fantastic spectacle of role models will be delivered and recognised this year’.

Nominations are now open and close June 21st 2015 – so don’t miss out on your chance to get involved!

Shortlisted nominees will be announced shortly after this date.
To nominate Tina Lannin please visit National Diversity Awards or for a nomination form please email: emma@nationaldiversityawards.co.uk

communication tactics

Deaf awareness & communication tactics

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Learning outcomes of a deaf awareness and communication tactics training session

communication tactics

There are 360 million deaf people in the world. It makes business sense to be aware. At the end of a typical deaf awareness training session, you will be able to;

  • Understand the diversity of deafness.
  • Understand the numbers of deaf people in the UK.
  • Understand a range of communication tactics used by deaf people.
  • Describe a range of environmental and other factors that can affect communication.
  • Understand the factors that affect the deaf person’s choice of language and communication tactics.
  • Define discrimination and list the barriers to communication and information commonly experienced by deaf people.
  • Understand how these barriers can be overcome through technological aids and personal knowledge.
  • Experience different forms of communication support and know how to arrange a booking.
  • Carry out a conversation with a deaf person using clear speech and communication tactics.

To find out more about our training courses or to book a place, contact us

A deaf antiques dealer

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 Lesley deaf antiques dealer

A deaf antiques dealer?

I am a self employed antique dealer, who happens to be deaf. Ok so what does it take to become one? The only answer I have today is energy, commitment, bags of confidence and being slightly mad helps.

Previously I worked in the deaf field for many years, finally becoming a Chief Executive officer. Looking back I was sitting in an ivory-tower in Utopia, there was little job satisfaction, too much politics, and people who didn’t even understand being deaf, dictating how deaf people should live.

After I left I worked briefly for a disability organisation which collapsed in 2012 – a victim of board incompetence. By then I was getting pretty fed up and when I found how difficult it was in the recession to find another job, I sat down and thought long and hard about setting up my own business. Ok…but WHAT business? The market was already saturated with consultants, trainers and tutors so I would have to step outside my usual skills zone.

I had always been passionate about history and antiques, so I became a volunteer for Leicester Museums and on a local archeological dig. I still do now in my free time, I work at the new Richard III Centre in Leicester as a volunteer, giving tours to people with a hearing loss when required, when not… I am usually on graveside duty at the grave site of where he was found. However these don’t make money. I sat down with my husband who was a long time experienced dealer on eBay and with Railwayana (as well as holding down a full time job) so I decided to try the big world of Antiques.

First of all I set up “Lesley’s Loft”, created a website and a Facebook page. My son in law designed my logo. I visited many antique centres with the view of renting space there, and then set up my business plan (yawn).

The “loft” on Facebook took off nicely and I found places to rent. Over the years I have learnt a HUGE amount, it has been incredible. It has been dreadfully painful, frightening, hugely expensive and cut throat, with more jealousy and rivalry then I have ever experienced before.

On the upside it has been hilarious, exciting, uplifting, motivating and inspiring. I have met the most weird and wonderful people, many of who have become friends. I am finally “accepted” into the closed community of antique dealers as a “trusted” member (a bit like joining the mafia I guess).

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Peterborough 2013

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I have learnt to become savvy, careful and cautious. I have learnt to put up marquees in howling gales, sleep in a camper van without a heater in sub zero temperatures, eat pot noodles (ugh) and boil a kettle under the stall.
I have learnt how to cope walking around with wet socks all day, packing everything to get ready to go to a antique fair (if you thought packing to move go on holiday was hard, this is like moving house every week). I have learnt how to do accounts (I hate maths) and bid on on-line auctions as well as on live auctions. Usually for a fair it goes like this;

5.30am Get up
6.00am Grab a cuppa, argue with Tony and then set off, argue with the Sat Nav and calm down by listening to Snow Patrol (Oh I just Love them)
7.00am Arrive at destination, find our pitch and start setting up – about 20 arguments later, numerous cups of tea, tons of bubble wrap and boxes we finally after 3 hours can admire our handiwork ready for opening.
Pitches outside can cost around £30 plus, inside £60 plus – depending on many things. The bigger the fair, the more expensive. Big fairs like the NEC, to buy a pitch inside can cost thousands. That is per event, not per year.

 

Amazing times

Once at Peterborough we witnessed an incredible event. In the area we were in, there were around 12 long hanger-like barns side by side, each had about 40-plus traders selling various antiques, collectables, retro and so on.<
On this day it was a lovely day, lots of people around. Suddenly there was almost a rippling wind come down the barn we were in (like when you are waiting for a tube in the London underground) and suddenly through the big doors marched a small army of Japanese people. In the front were 5 people who seemed to be marching along pointing out items, behind them was a retinue of about 8 people with bags of red sticky labels which they were putting on all the items pointed out, behind them were a group of people carrying noteboards and pens, then followed by 4 security guards in uniform.
They came down the barn almost like a Tsunami, quite fast, leaving a trail of red stickers. One landed on an expensive lamp I had on my stall after being pointed out by an intense-looking Japanese gentleman. I was then confronted by a business-like lady with a noteboard who wanted to know the price, make, age and my name. After having the cash placed in my hands, I was then instructed to pack it well for collection in a few hours to go into a shipping container.
They vanished to the next barn, leaving all us traders gobsmacked looking at each other as if to make sure we were not dreaming.
The woman opposite me was in a state as they had bought every single thing on her stall which was retro furniture and was in a tizzy as she was having to call her husband to bring more furniture.

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Bargain hunt – with deaf customers!

We see them all the time at most antique fairs and tend to ignore them. However, Grimsthorpe Castle Antiques Fair this summer, the first team on the Saturday came to our marquee, so I beat a hasty retreat and hid myself in the camper van leaving my other half to deal with them. Feeling smug I had avoided the cameras, the next day I was sitting outside when two people came up to me, one started signing using British Sign Language. Thinking nothing of it I went to greet them, only to find out it was reps from Bargain Hunt and See Hear. Apparently there were going to be two deaf people on Bargain Hunt that day (Sunday) and you guessed the rest. I couldn’t hide this time as I knew the couple well and as I had already been earmarked for assault so I went with the flow. I must say I found the Scottish lady Anita, absolutely adorable, she was really a nice genuine person and had learnt a bit of sign language. They bought two things off us, and the show was aired in November this year. They won!

Episode: Bargain Hunt Series 39:20

lesley on Bargain Hunt

lesley Bargain Hunt

lesley Bargain Hunt 2

Well that’s me for now, I am about to prepare for yet another Antique Fair, this one is at Peterborough East of England showground (another famous Bargain Hunt stomping ground). I wonder if the Japanese will turn up again too?

On an end note….ok its been hard work, having a hearing loss is very difficult in this area of work – but I can do it. Challenges are not for everyone, but my mantra has been never to allow my hearing loss to get the better of me – don’t let it get the better of you!

Lesley | Facebook | Lesley’s Loft | Tel: 01933 651377 | lesley@lesleysloft.co.uk

If you’d like to be a role model for younger deaf and hard of hearing people, all you have to do is write up to 500 words on how you got to where you are today. You’re welcome to email us at bookings@121captions.com for direction or contact us on Twitter or Facebook.

Being positive about hearing loss

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Tania Le Marinel, creator of a new independent online directory for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, Soundz Off, has moderate low-frequency hearing loss and wears two hearing aids.  As a self-employed management coach helping people overcome problems in their personal and professional lives, Tania is passionate about the vital role positive thinking plays in coping successfully with hearing loss.

Have you ever had this experience?  You’re thinking about going out with friends to a restaurant or a party and thinking of all the things you won’t be able to hear.  Or perhaps you’re worried about making a fool of yourself or missing out on all the fun because you can’t hear properly?

I managed to catch myself in a similar negative spiral recently.  I love meeting friends and finding out what’s going on in their lives, but sometimes I feel like a fly on the wall as I watch them chatting away to each other while I turn my head from side to side like a spectator at Wimbledon, trying and often failing to keep up with the conversational ball.  It got to the point where I didn’t even want to go to parties at all and my husband had to drag me there almost screaming and kicking!

I used to find myself with brain-freeze, standing in the corner feeling incapable of joining in and unable to think of a thing to say.  There I was, trapped with negative thinking like: “Why it is always up to me to remind them that I can’t hear? What’s the point of starting a conversation when I always get lost off half-way through?  This is too hard.”  And so on.  No wonder it made me feel like going home early!

It’s obvious how much time and energy I was wasting on negative thinking.  Not only that, I was making my evening so much harder and more unpleasant for myself.  So I knew if I was ever going to enjoy my social life fully, I’d have to get rid of all those negative thoughts.  I even started a file called “Negative Thoughts” so I could have a real place to put them!

I’ve made it easier for myself by first relaxing with a cup of tea (or glass of wine!) while I get ready to go out.  I imagine myself sitting in a comfortable seat chatting easily to a friend right next to me.  I choose beforehand who I might want to speak to and new topics of conversation to get the talk flowing with ease.  I remind myself to focus on the positives – the joy of having friends and family who care about me and how much fun it is to people-watch. Our lack of hearing is often compensated by the heightening of our other senses so our ability to read body language is usually better than normal … in fact, I often pass somebody the salt before they even ask for it, much to their amazement, because I’m observing people more closely!

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Try this yourself by examining your thinking about a party or event that you dread or avoid.  What are you thinking about yourself?  Are you focusing only on the negative stuff?  The truth is you can’t afford the expense of a single negative thought.  Just relax, look for ways to enjoy what you’re doing and replace those negatives with encouraging thoughts such as: “I can do this.”  It really does work and it’s much more fun than staying at home and feeling like a party pooper.  The old saying: “what you think is how you feel” is true – think yourself miserable and you’ll feel miserable … think yourself positive and you’ll not only talk and act positive, but you’ll feel positive too! Got to be worth a try surely?

More ideas and suggestions and ways to help cope with hearing loss can be found at Soundz Off.

Deaf? #ICAN : Lisa Baldock

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lisa deaf role model

Lisa is a role model for other deaf people. We asked her how she got to where she is today – read on and pick up some tips.

Q: What do you do? 

I’m an Administrator civil servant for a government agency – I basically gather information and maintain accounts /claims.  I voluntarily work for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People as a trained speaker and help to fundraise whenever I can – my latest event was an abseil out of the Spinnaker Tower Portsmouth – raising a total of £1200 for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Q: What inspired you to do the job that you’re doing now, and how did you get there?

I gained my employment by accident – when applying for jobs in my local jobcentre I gave some technical advice to a member of staff – a line manager was overseeing her work and suggested the vacancy. I then applied and got it – I always liked helping other people and paperwork so saw this as the opportunity to gain some experience. I did a whole variety of qualifications (GNVQ /A Level) at my local college to keep my options open, such as administration and word processing.

Q: What would you like to see more of in your world?

I have so many more things I’d love to see – I’ve never had the opportunity to travel much due to having a child so young  and financial difficulties so my list would be endless! For now I stick to the UK. The New Forest in Hampshire is my second home and I regularly walk there with Inca (my Hearing Dog) in my spare time. I love being outside and appreciating all the new sounds that I can learn.

Q: What is your favourite experience?

My favourite experience has to be learning to hear again through my cochlear implants and facing my fear of heights by abseiling – I feel like I have achieved far beyond what I  thought I’d achieve. I still hope to be able to push myself to realise my many dreams – one of them to do my Open University course and get my degree (I had to defer due to having my daughter so young).

Q: Can you give us a career tip for other D/deaf, deafened & hard of hearing people

My tip to other deaf people would be to remain positive – it can be quite hard in the big wide world but try not to let being deaf defeat you – remember not everyone understands hearing loss and how it impacts us – so try to be patient, and take the time to explain – after all we are unique and educating them will help others alike

Lisa Facebook

Nothing’s impossible. Lisa can be successful. You can too!

#ICAN on Twitter @121captions

If you’d like to be a role model for younger deaf and hard of hearing people, all you have to do is write up to 500 words on how you got to where you are today. You’re welcome to email us at bookings@www.121captions.com for direction or contact us on Twitter or Facebook.

Interview with Ofcom: Subtitles on television

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Ofcom talk about subtitles on television

DURATION: 11:28

Are you interested in the quality of subtitles on television in the UK? See Hear speak to Peter Bourton of Ofcom about the regulation of subtitled and signed television in the UK, as well as a new consultation about signed television services.

To find out more about subtitles for your pre-recorded TV program or video, contact us at bookings@121captions.com

New textphone service for UK

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Textphone service revolutionised

With the NGT Service and NGT App, deaf and hard of hearing people can communicate with other textphone users using realtime text, either directly or via a text relay service. The text relay services are now moving forward with developments in technology which means more and better access for deaf and hard of hearing people.

This is the new textphone relay service for deaf people, an upgrade from the TypeTalk textphone relay service which had been in operation for over 20 years.

Now, all calls, including emergency, are now going through the NGT service. This means that you can make calls using the standard 18001, 18002, 18000, and Assist numbers.

The NGT App is now available on the Google Play Store, just search for NGT Lite.

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textphone phone relay 3 textphone relay 4
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Important: When linking your mobile phone some mobile networks insist that you dial 0800 numbers without the first 0. If linking doesn’t work try dialling 800 500 888. This also applies if you call the helpdesk without using the 18001 prefix. BT are finding out which mobile networks are involved so they can put the information on the website.

The iOS version of NGT Lite is available on iTunes.

NGTS: Next Generation Text Service

Hard of Hearing on the Yoga Mat

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The Hearing Husband and I sat on individual floor mats, waiting for the instructor to arrive for our first-ever yoga class.  It was an introductory session offered by our fitness center and we thought why not?   

I was about to learn why not.

Entering the room, the instructor lowered the lights, and as he walked to his mat in the semi-gloom, his silhouette made him look like Aladdin.  When I saw him more clearly, I realized it wasAladdin, complete with turban, tunic, baggy pants and slippers with turned up toes.  He was mesmerizingly beautiful, until I saw his facial glory – an exotic mustache that covered his lips and spread sideways across his face, ending in elaborate curls near his ears.

Panic.  It was dark, there was a mustache and the instructor was going to start saying strange words – a speechreader’s nightmare.  Then it got worse.

“Close your eyes,” said Aladdin.

A class that was supposed to introduce us to a healing, calming, strengthening and tension-relieving discipline was stressing me out.  Before we even started.  You can’t tell a HoH (hard of hearing), a person with hearing loss,  to close our eyes, then continue talking and expect to us to relax.  We just don’t do that.   Years before, friends talked me into a session on creative visualization.  We had to lie on our backs with eyes closed, while the facilitator droned on in a soft voice that I would not have understood even with my eyes wide open.  So I went to sleep. That was a veryrelaxing session for me.

I am writing this from San Jose, California, where we’re visiting the Hearing Husband’s son and his family.  Our daughter-in-law Kristina just returned from a five-day yoga retreat, feeling refreshed and strong. Although I’m reluctant to try it again, especially hot yoga, I’d like to have what Kristina says is the main benefit – finding one’s drishti, a focus that is both internal and external, and using it in other areas of life.  But because I work so hard to protect my expensive hearing aids from damaging moisture, I know the only thing I could focus on during an hour of contortions would be on how my technology will survive its thick steam bath.

Fortunately, hot yoga is just one of eight major types of yoga, and practitioners can try different classes to find a style – and instructor – comfortable for them.   About 20 million Americans (8.7% of the adult population) over the age of 18 practiced yoga in 2011, almost a 25% increase from 2008, according to a 2012 study.  And it turns out that I’m here in the Yoga Capital of the USA: according to the marketing firm GFK MRI, the residents of the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose area are 59% more likely to do yoga than the general population.

It must be something in the air.  When I saw the Hearing Husband doing what looked like a yoga stretch on the back lawn, I decided it was time to reach out to my Facebook hearing loss community:  Do any of you with hearing loss do yoga? Tried yoga and couldn’t hear? Find that yoga helps calm your frustrations and helps with dealing with hearing loss?

The response was swift.  People with hearing loss go to yoga for all the standard reasons – flexibility, strength, dealing with aches and pains, and stress reduction.  Several said that yoga helped them deal with tinnitus, although one person found it to be worse during meditation.  Many shared similar challenges – discomfort with being asked to close their eyes, inability to understand the instructor, and issues with personal hearing technology, such as keeping cochlear implant processors and hearing aids from falling off or out.

Cheri Perazzoli from Seattle offered a wonderful synopsis of the key challenges, fears and solutions.

“I love yoga. When I got down to 90 lbs the healthcare experts said: “You should do yoga”. Great advice, but how do you LEARN yoga when you are a HOH? How do you relax and focus while you are straining to hear? On top of that, all the positions sound alike: you’ve got the asanas –  darniikasana, the pranayama, the sukhasana, the tadasana –  just say Mountain pose already. Desperate, I hired a wonderful private instructor who walked me through the basics. On to Bikram, a specific routine! I studied the positions before class and arrived to find the spot directly in front of the instructor open (because it was the hottest spot in the entire studio). Bikram works if you can manage the heat, but it’s not the same kind of wonderful relaxing yoga with meditation. Today, I’m hoping to convince local studios to install a hearing loop! In the meantime, I do yoga at home with a video and use my TV loop. But I miss the routine and shared experience of a regular yoga practice.”

Understanding the yoga instructor is the most common barrier for many people:

  • I never close my eyes in public. I want to be aware of what is happening around me.
  • It was a challenge  trying to lipread the yoga instructor while in a downward dog pose.
  • I’m not fond of trying to copy the person next to me, as it defeats the purpose.
  • I just look at the person in front of me or the teacher and listen at the same time.
  • The teacher knows I don’t like to close my eyes because I can’t hear, so I peek.  But the relaxation and arthritis help that I get from yoga make it worth the effort.
  • It would be amazing if yoga studios were equipped with hearing loops.
  • I basically learn the routine from memory to know what positions to be in. If the routine changes, I’m lost.
  • I looked up the pattern of what the instructor says, and that helps during the class.
  • I speak with the instructor beforehand.  One instructor walks close to me so I can hear. Apparently looking up while doing poses isn’t good for your poses and neck. I do the same kind of yoga (hot yoga), so now I know the poses. By the way, it’s too hard to be relaxing.
  • I always ask the instructor to wear the microphone for my FM System. I think I hear the instructor better than the other participants.
  •  For yoga at home, try online sites  www.deafyoga.org and www.yogapah.com, and yoga DVDs and books.

My friend Linda Wolynetz says, “It is hard work – damn hard work.  But the rewards of yoga and meditation are well worth the struggle.”  So, since I”m here in the yoga capital, I’ll join the Hearing Husband on the lawn and maybe I’ll try a downward dog.  Whatever that is.

Original article by Gael Hannan, Editor. 21 July 2014, HearingHealthMatters.org

Reproduced with kind permission of HHTM

Lipspeaker v lipreader: A literary adventure

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Guest author: Deaflinguist

A fortnight ago I went to a conference in my academic field and definitely needed communication support for an intensive day of quite high-powered lecturing which was a challenge for my lipspeaker on several counts, not least that few of the speakers gave her any material to prepare, some had English as a second language, and others just spoke terrifically rapidly and had to be forcibly slowed down.

My lipspeaker was working solo since the other booked lipspeaker was ill, and she admitted to feeling as if she was struggling in the circumstances: however, she betrayed no sign of it and carried on as a true professional. We talked it over and came to the conclusion that because I was familiar with the field I could fill in the gaps from my own knowledge and supplement it with what I could hear. I think it helped as well being someone who was used to receiving communication support, and thus having an understanding of how it works and reasonable expectations.

The following week I went to a former colleague’s book launch in a church in Bristol as a social occasion, just with the Bear, who also knows him. Our friend gave a speech for 20 minutes which I followed in its entirety. OK, I knew the speaker, and had some idea of the subject, since we have a common background. Yet even with those advantages, I wouldn’t have been able to follow in the past by lipreading alone.

Thus emboldened, I dragged the Bear along to a local library a few days later, when I found out that an author of well-received historical fiction, based on his own researches which have overlapped with my own, was speaking. I’d never met him before so this was ratcheting it up a notch. Off we trotted and everything was in my favour – we were the first to arrive so had our choice of seats; small venue; nice bright lights which were not dimmed for the talk; a cleverly illustrated PowerPoint presentation; a clear speaker who was used to public speaking and thus spoke without hesitation, digressions, or backtracking on himself; and a manageable 45 minutes.

Again, perhaps, some prior knowledge helped me on my way, but I understood everything he said, apart from one or two occasions when he did put his hand to his mouth as he mused on something. However, I quickly picked up the thread again. Where I had some difficulty was in understanding the questions at the end, but the Bear repeated them for me and I was able to follow the answers. The issues, of course, lay in not seeing the speakers behind me (as I was sitting at the front), in the rather more random order of the questions, and in the demographic, of older people, the register of whose voices can sometimes have less clarity.

That week concluded with me giving a lecture to an audience of mostly older people. I knew that this would be a largish audience and that a certain number would, themselves, have age-related loss and be hearing-aid wearers, but would not request communication support, necessarily. We had a small venue with good acoustics which I requested specifically, no competing or intrusive noise, good lighting, and so on – all the things which worked for me the other way round as an audience member.

One of the things that I do as a speaker is to make the audience laugh a little bit every now and then – it’s not necessarily for entertainment value, to put them at their ease, or give them something memorable that will stick in their mind from the talk, although those are good things to do, but simply because it is a subtle way of checking that they’ve understood. If they all laugh together – they’ve got you.

For this audience, I requested a sign language interpreter as it is the unwritten law of presentations that the person who asks the most avid questions will be the mumbler with the beard at the back, and I won’t have a hope of understanding them. It’s less critical when I’m part of the audience myself. As a professional, though, it is crucial to comprehend questions correctly in order to answer them, but it is also important to put the audience at their ease, particularly with that demographic who may feel less confident about repeating their question if it isn’t understood first time. It went seamlessly and I was pleased that I had pitched the situation absolutely correctly and not gone swimming solo out of my depth.

The moral of the story is: don’t be afraid to stretch your boundaries with a cochlear implant and try new things, and the second moral is that it is always worth reviewing your communication needs, not only pre- and post-cochlear implant, but also for specific situations.