You know how sometimes, hearing people just don’t get deafness, at all? Well, this story’s a prime example.
Attend meetings you can’t understand or get booted off a council? Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place…
Extract from Bedfordshire on Sunday: http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Councillors-dispute-falls-on-deaf-ears-20130203150000.htm
AN elected official could be booted off of an authority after he told colleagues he would not be attending any more meetings until they introduced a permanent hearing loop system.
Sandy Town Councillor, Ken Lynch, is refusing to go to meetings of the council until a permanent hearing loop system had been installed as he can’t hear anything other councillors or members of the public are saying.
However according to the authority’s clerk, Delia Shephard, if Cllr Lynch fails to show up to any gatherings at all within six months he could be ‘disqualified’ from the council.
He said: “I have been asking for a loop in the chamber for 18 months and now it has got to the point where I am refusing to go until it is in place. The council’s policy has to make sure members and visitors can hear what is being said, it is the law.”
Ms Shephard said: “I do appreciate the difficulties Ken is struggling with but it is not in the best interests of the people who elected him that he not participate in meetings.
“We have been exploring options for a permanent loop but this was delayed after the move to the Old Chapel building fell through in December. We are now considering alterations to our existing building and it is very much on the agenda.”
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Andy
February 6, 2013
This is one for the Equalities Commission and no mistake.
The council should long ago have installed a loop. To expect a deaf man to take part in something he cannot hear is just typical of hearing cruelty. They can’t manage to make an exception for someone with a disability but no, they must march blindly on and trample all over this man’s rights. What a cowboy outfit!
theszak
February 6, 2013
In Massachusetts Boston City Council declined to provide the stenographic record of the public meetings in plain English for folks with hearing loss.
Andy
February 6, 2013
I was going to send an email of protest but when I looked him up it seems that things have moved on : http://www.biggleswadetoday.co.uk/news/local-news/better-hearing-on-the-cards-in-sandy-1-4732602
Editor
February 6, 2013
Funnily enough, seems to have been published before the story we’ve featured! The plot thickens…
Katherine Coutanche
February 6, 2013
Perhaps people could contact the council with their views ob this?
The contact details of Sandy Town Council are:
Council Offices
10 Cambridge Road
Sandy SG19 1JE
Tel: 01767 681491
Fax: 01767 692527
clerk@sandytowncouncil.gov.uk
Aspinall Ink
February 6, 2013
I am very saddened to read this. I was an award-winning Councillor Development Officer at Kirklees Council before becoming External Relations Manager at Hearing Link. I supported 11 councillors with hearing loss (out of 69 Members). We installed state of the art equipment in our Council Chamber and meeting rooms in Huddersfield Town Hall. We also ran a 6 week course on lipreading + coping strategies for councillors with hearing loss and their families (delivered by my lipreading tutor).
This council needs to read the Equalities Act: they have legal obligations to ensure their meetings are accessible not just for the councillor but also for member of the public. They could easily provide a portable loop. Hearing Link could provide them with impartial information about suppliers.
Cllr Lynch is entitled to apply to Access to Work for equipment to be able to do his job as a Councillor. He may also benefit from advice and support from our Helpdesk at Hearing Link – http://www.hearinglink.org. If you’re reading this Cllr Lynch, please do get in touch. You are not alone.
Regards
Angie Aspinall
Angela
February 6, 2013
Get them to hire a real-live text captioner or hire one yourself and send them the bill. I suggest reporting this council to the Disability or Human Rights Commission for stalling in giving you access to information shared during meetings.
Craig Crowley
February 6, 2013
It’s rather sad state of affairs – all Councils & even Health Trusts need to be fully aware they have legal obligation to do so via Equalities Act; it is indeed frustrating that many other Councils do not always follow this line. Fortunately our AD Tech (www.actiondeafnesstech.org.uk) has been able to take advantage of Equalities Act to remind LA’s of their legal obligation for loop-system and other accessible needs. Agree with Aspinall’s positive suggestion of applying via AtW and reporting via Ombudsman route etc.
Jean
February 6, 2013
Interesting strategy to assign blame to the victim of inadequate planning and delivery of the Disability Discrimination Act obligations!!! Suggest that publication of the impact assessments undertaken of the council’s options in this case should be made public along with the action plan to remedy this disgraceful situation.
wix4ever
February 7, 2013
I’d be interested to know why Ken insisted on a PERMANENT loop. Why didn’t he propose either a portable loop or an elite personal listener? These can be bought off the shelf, are much less expensive than a permanent loop, and can be used immediately with no disruption to the room. True, a permanent loop would be the ideal solution but there’s an 80/20 rule here that would appear to point to a compromise, if only a temporary one. Sounds to me as though there’s more to this story than meets the eye……..
ls
March 11, 2013
We suggest inclusion of Real Time Speech to Text for all in the room – for all there with any hearing loss (one in five is the estimate). Also provides easier record-keeping for all meetings. Can be done in the UK by STTR pro, with all at meetings in person, or “remotely.” Please look into this. We need more politicians with hearing loss not less. Millions are too shy to talk about their needs and hearing differences. We celebrate our differences! LS/
http://captionmatch.com
if you need more info.
theszak
March 11, 2013
Captioning is needed on the webcasts of the Public Meetings of Boston City Council in Massachusetts. Ask for the stenographic record of the Public Meeting of Boston City Council http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=138
Katherine Coutanche
March 11, 2013
I emailed the Town Clark, Delia Shepard at the time, but didn’t get round to posting her answer on here. She replied:
Dear Ms Coutanche
Thank you for your email, I am grateful that you took the trouble to write and pleased to have the opportunity to set the record straight.
If you have had many dealings with the press yourself you may not be surprised to learn that the information reported in the Bedfordshire on Sunday paper was partial and did not accurately reflect the Council’s position or include the entirety of my comments to the reporter. This is always a problem in dealing with the press and, whilst I am very careful about what I say, I cannot always refuse to comment when specifically asked for the Council’s position. On this occasion I was particularly put out by the headline that Cllr Lynch’s protest “fell on deaf ears” since it did not and I had made that clear to the reporter.
This Council does take its responsibilities under the Equality Act very seriously. As the Council’s Proper Officer I have advised the Council on more than one occasion during the last year that it must make adequate provision for everyone to have equal access to meetings. This advice has not been disregarded but as the Council was planning a move to new premises (specifically chosen to improve public accessibility to meetings) the decision was taken not to put a permanent hearing loop in the existing Chamber.
Advice was taken from a number of quarters and, as I informed the Bedfordshire on Sunday, a portable hearing loop was introduced to the Chamber last year as a temporary measure prior to the planned move. Cllr Lynch initially advised that he could hear quite well by making use of this loop and I was also informed by other hearing aid users who came to the building that they too could participate effectively in meetings. It was by no means an ideal solution since the range of the portable loop was limited but as the cheapest quote we had had for a permanent hearing loop was £3,000 Council could not justify installing a permanent loop for what was expected to be a matter of weeks or months at most. Cllr Lynch attended many meetings with the portable loop and continued to report that he could hear well. It was not until late January that he contacted me to say that now he could now not hear and would not be attending any more meetings. The Council’s plan to move only changed in mid-December. Since that date we have obtained more specialist quotations because the Council intends to go ahead with a permanent loop as well as looking at other ways of improving the audibility in the existing chamber now that the move is not possible.
Obviously, I do not think it is fair to say that the Council lacked empathy or understanding about issues connected to disability although I agree that the impression created in the newspaper article is unfortunate. I have worked closely and at length with Cllr Lynch to try to ensure that he has full access to the proceedings of council, just as I work day in and day out with other members of the community who have a wide range if disabilities and inequalities to deal with. My comment about the Councillor’s lack of attendance not being in the best interests of the electorate was part of a longer conversation with the reporter none of which was intended to convey criticism of Cllr Lynch but reflected the facts of the matter.
Finally, although not strictly relevantly, I have two close family members (one of whom co-habits with me) who have severely impaired hearing and so I would be the last person to want to see hearing disabled people disadvantaged.
I hope this reassures you that this Council and its Clerk is mindful of the needs of disabled people. Unfortunately, as you say, the impression will have been conveyed to others that we are not. This is one of the continuing challenges for the Council.
Yours sincerely
Delia Shephard