In an article in the Sunday Mirror, BSL tutor Sandra Duguid has told the paper’s Carole Malone about how the government’s cuts programme means her business is about to be “snatched away by a bunch of faceless bureaucrats.”
Sandra Duguid doesn’t want to cry. It’s not her style. But as she fixes me with clear blue eyes and talks about the destruction of her life’s work, the tears come. And they won’t stop.
“For as long as I can remember I’ve had to fight for what I want,” she says, looking away embarrassed by the emotions she can no longer control.
“But I don’t think I have any fight left in me. I’ve always been proud of the fact I’m a fighter, a survivor, a worker, but now I just feel like giving up,” says the woman for whom “giving up” has never been an option.
The article describes how Duguid has built up her BSL teaching business over many years but now finds it under threat because of cuts to the amount of Access to Work support she gets.
She says: “If the small amount of funding I get is stopped, my business BSLworks will collapse and hundreds of people who depend on me will be denied the chance to learn to communicate with each other.”
Her business is already under threat, having made just £6,000 profit last year. She uses Access to Work ‘to pay BSL interpreters, communication support workers and a firm, Signvideo, which helps her to answer emails and phone calls.’
But she says: “Now my funding is being cut I can only hire two interpreters for three hours in a whole month, and to pay for that I would have to triple my course fees. The people I teach could never afford that so I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Read the full article here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/austerity-britain-deaf-sign-language-1926821
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Monkey Magic
June 3, 2013
Is it just me or wasn’t stated in the Sayce Report that Access To Work is considered to be a ‘best kept secret’? This is a really sad article to read particularly since Access To Work funding is protected from austerity measures. This is not a government decision, this is the work of an ATW adviser who is probably trying to appear cost effective to their superiors. I understand from the article that Sandra is having difficulty with contacting her ATW adviser but it might actually be more beneficial to get in touch with their line manager to make them aware of the situation. ATW funds are meant to be available to give people with disabilities access to their work not close them down. This article is a little misleading in that it suggests that it is government cuts that are to blame – this should not be the case with ATW as that money is protected – there’s actually a different issue at stake here and that is the varying level of response that deaf people get with regards to ATW funding. I have also heard that ATW is underspent so it is shocking that examples like this, and it’s not the first time I’ve heard about it, are happening. The Association of Sign Language Interpreters (ASLI) have an ATW working group and they are always looking for examples, like this one, to take to senior managers at ATW.
wmager
June 3, 2013
Interesting story – I was confused at first as I couldn’t understand how a sign language teacher would go out of business because of funding being cut! But when it’s AtW that makes sense.
I’m wondering if anyone else has had problems with AtW funding recently? In my own case I’m constantly being told off for underspending the money I’m awarded (I only really book support when I really need it), which in turn gives them a reason to cut funding in future…
KB1980
June 3, 2013
I get told off as well for underspending my Access to Work entitlement, and worry it will be removed completely as a result. I use communication support. I don’t understand the BSL tutor needing to use signvideo for emails/phone calls. I manage emails fine and phone calls via textphone??
Matt Brown
June 5, 2013
@KB1980 – English literacy is a factor for some Deaf people whose first language is BSL. Some people do have great difficulty expressing themselves in a language they could not learn or were not taught effectively during the critical age for linguistic development (0-7). In some cases, culturally Deaf people will be able to read and write written English to an extent, but their grammar and vocabulary will be mark them out, disadvantaging them (particularly in the domain of business communications). Part of the work of qualified sign language interpreters and communication support workers is to enable people who have difficulties with written English but are eloquent, persuasive and inspiring in BSL to express themselves in a way that is appropriate to and expected by the recipient.
Shane Gilchrist
June 6, 2013
Even I would need terps when making phone calls. A lot of people in Northern Ireland HATES getting BT Relay calls they would do anything to avoid that. It doesn’t help that I am from Northern Ireland and the relay operator isn’t from NI (leading to confusion and mistrust – am I English or what?) – using my own interpreter (locally i.e. Northern Ireland) would take away a lot of obstacles – until Northern Ireland has its own relay services and other things, AtW is very vital for deaf professionals like me.
SpinKing
June 3, 2013
Its all down to those who are abusing the AtW scheme, that is having a knock on effect to those you genuinely require AtW funding that its totally and genuinely appropriate according to their genuine need
barakta
June 3, 2013
I agree with others about going over the AtW adviser’s head if they’re not being communicable with – that’s what I did with my last one who was awful, would only answer my emails if I phoned and chased her loads even though she knew typing on a minicom was often problematic. Dobbing her into the main contact centre number for my area worked.
With a new application for AtW I specified that I wasn’t willing to have that adviser anywhere near my case cos she was awful and rude. She also knew nothing about deafness technology or communication support and was rude and nasty when I carefully explained things to her.
It sounds like Sandra does need to appeal to AtW and may need some help justifying her BSL and CSW budget to ensure she’s getting the most effective use. Sadly this sort of advice doesn’t seem to be widespread – I found out about the “tot up the problems you have, identify if there’s possible support you need and work out number of hours per month/year from there” tactic from one of my AtW deafness assessors who was herself Deaf and used AtW.
You also have to be prepared to justify why you’re not using cheaper options like textrelay for phonecalls (English language difficulties, problems typing, incoming call issues, etc etc) and AtW may also rule for a small business (I’m not sure of the regs) that only paid work is eligible and “drumming up business” doesn’t count – even though it clearly should.
I wonder if Sandra would benefit from going to somewhere like BID or whoever the local deafness advice orgs are and getting advice on challenging her AtW allocation.
Linda Parkin
June 8, 2013
I agree this article seems a bit odd: as far as I know there aren’t any cuts to Access to Work – if anything, overall funding has been increased. The advisors I have dealt with have all been reasonable and willing to negotiate on points we have challenged. As others have said, maybe she needs to take it up a stage above her advisor’s head.
I know some agencies have a 3-hour minimum for face-to-face interpreting but RAD’s is two hours, and there are other options, e.g. video relay (BSL interpreter via webcam) for short phone calls, that are becoming more widely available.
And yes, it’s a good idea to get some advice and support from her local Deaf association. Does anyone know her or where she lives?