Check out our Supporters!

The Limping Chicken is supported by a range of businesses, charities and organisations linked to deafness, all of whom offer services that enhance deaf lives. Find out more about them below!

Phonak

Phonak is a proud supporter of The Limping Chicken and its commitment to raising awareness of deaf and hard of hearing issues.

Phonak’s goal is to improve the quality of life of people with hearing loss.

We are the innovative force in hearing acoustics. With our creative solutions, we strive to overcome technological limitations – so that all people are able to hear, understand and fully enjoy life’s rich landscapes of sound.

All our efforts focus on people. In our close cooperation with hearing care experts around the world, we want to give our customers the confidence to lead active lives. We produce modern technology and versatile products that offer a life without limitations.

• Visit us on www.phonak.com
• Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/phonak
• Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/phonak

Deaf Umbrella

Deaf Umbrella is proud to be sponsoring Limping Chicken, because we share the Limping Chicken’s commitment to informing deaf and non deaf readers about deaf culture and deaf awareness.

Deaf Umbrella has been supporting deaf students in further and higher education in the London & South East Region for over a decade by providing highly trained Language Service Professionals through our award-winning training.

We have forged close working links with The University of Greenwich and have now launched a Language Service Professional Development (LSPD) Course at Level 4 that attracts 60 University Credits. Our partnership will enable people with a minimum BSL Language Level 2 to study at University level to obtain formal recognition as a Level 4 Communication Support Worker.

We are dedicated to building career paths and providing deaf students with excellent support. Rachel Hubbard – CEO of Deaf Umbrella says: “Training and development of support workers is a necessity to allow Deaf students their identity and the independence they need to grow. We are excited to be a part of highlighting the great work of talented deafies across the country”.

Visit Deaf Umbrella’s website: www.deafumbrella.com/

121 Captions

121 Captions leads the field in bridging the gap between the hearing and deaf communities.

A group of independent professionals came together in 2003 and their services grew into 121 Captions. This group initially worked on assignments such as supplying speech to text for a deaf consultant in all her meetings, captioning international teleconference calls for a deaf professional, supplying transcripts of podcasts for an educational institution, providing sign language interpreters for a deaf entrepreneur at various social events in London, lipreading CCTV for the police and ransom tapes for the newsrooms, and providing deaf awareness consultancy and bespoke training to a team of hearing colleagues with a deaf member of staff.

Today, deaf and hard of hearing people are actively involved at all levels of 121 Captions, bringing a unique insight and wealth of experience that no other communication firm offers. Based on years of experience, we offer an “inside-out” view of meeting client needs, as opposed to other companies who offer an “outside-in” service.

To find out more, go to: www.121captions.com

Signworld

Signworld is owned by two of the UK’s most experienced and highly-qualified BSL teachers, teacher-trainers and interpreter-trainers, Linda Day and Tessa Padden.

It’s the biggest website of learning resources for BSL teachers and learners, from beginners to interpreters. Teachers use Signworld as part of their courses to achieve better results. Learners use our website to practise and refresh their BSL between classes, in their own time and at their own speed.

Some special features that make Signworld unique are: 14 regional variations from all over the UK; Wordsearch – find any phrase that uses the word/sign you want; flip-switch for left- or right-handed signing; optional subtitles for when you’re stuck; hundreds of interactive BSL tests, both receptive and productive; in-depth grammar and linguistic advice.

Packages include: BSL Levels 1, 2 and 3 (Levels 4-6 to follow); Fingerspelling – Beginner to Advanced; Medical & other specialisms; Teachers’ support packages, presented in BSL. We work with colleges, schools, universities, individual learners, teachers and national Deaf organisations such as NDCS and the Association of British Sign Language Teachers and Assessors (ABSLTA).

To find out more, go to the Signworld website: www.signworldlearn.com  or send them an email: info@signworldlearn.com.

STAGETEXT – making every word count

STAGETEXT is a charity which provides captioning and live speech-to-text transcription for events in theatres, museums, galleries and other arts venues. Similar to television subtitles, captions enable people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing to follow a wide range of arts and cultural events through English text.

STAGETEXT captions around 250 performances a year in over 80 venues around the country; more than 40 theatres now have their own in-house service, bringing the total number of captioned shows around the UK to over 600 a year. We work with venues to develop new audiences and bring former audiences back into the theatre, and encourage smaller community groups and amateur theatre to offer captioned shows by training volunteer captioners.

Last year we provided access to over 80 talks in museums and galleries in London, and we plan to roll out the service in other regions later this year.

To find out more about subtitled events go to www.stagetext.org/whats-on or email enquiries@stagetext.org to receive their monthly newsletter.

DeaFuture

OIBS is a new innovative system aimed at assisting NRCPD registered communication professionals in sourcing assignments anywhere in the UK.

Using OIBS you will be able to find assignments listed by interpreting agencies, businesses, or anyone who requires the services of a NRCPD registered communication professional.

What’s special about OIBS is that for every communication professional who registers with OIBS, £10 will be invested into our DeaFuture Recruitment Agency which offers deaf people employment opportunities, thereby creating more assignments for communication professionals.

In early 2014 OIBS will launch in the USA, New Zealand and Australia, soon to be followed by the rest of Europe. OIBS hopes to become the most effective, and largest communication professional booking system in the world.

To find out more, go to: http://deafuture.com/

Ai-Media & Bee Communications

Deaf Unity and Bee Communications both work to support and empower deaf people. Bee Communications recently joined the Ai-Media group and together we offer our clients real-time captioning through the online Ai-Live 4 platform.

Our captioning service can be fully funded through the UK Government programs of Access to Work and the Disabled Students Allowance. Our captioning service enables:

• Half an hour bookings
• Greater security with encryption and UK-based servers.
• Advanced transcript features; fully searchable and downloadable in pdf and Word.
• Enhanced options for reading the captions including a dyslexic font and optimised colour palettes.
• Ability to book and use our captions on mobile devices such as iPads.
• Captioners trained on our bespoke Ai-Skills training programme

Our clients tell us that “remote captioning is a real lifesaver for a deaf person.” Please get in touch for more information.

For more information go to: https://ai-live.com/CaptionViewer/Viewer/Demo

Krazy Kat theatre company

Krazy Kat Theatre Company creates theatre incorporating Sign Language Arts, accessible for deaf children and their hearing peers. Devised and performed by an integrated company of deaf and deaf-aware practitioners, Krazy Kat are developing a distinctive, ambitious style of highly skilled integrated Sign Language Arts.

Founding Artistic Director Kinny Gardner, formerly a member of Scottish Mime Theatre, has become a recognised leader in the development of visual theatre with integrated signing. He remains committed to the advocacy of diversity and accessibility in U.K. Arts.

Krazy Kat’s work promotes access to the arts for the deaf and champions the value of sign language to the hearing. We are seen by both the deaf and hearing communities as major innovators in the field of Sign Language Arts.

To visit Krazy Kat’s website, go to: www.krazykattheatre.co.uk

SignHealth

SignHealth is the healthcare charity for deaf people.

We want to see a world where deaf people are as healthy as hearing people. Deaf people can find it hard to get equal access to health care and health information. Because of this, deaf people are more likely to become ill.

SignHealth has been working for over 20 years to improve the health of deaf people  – initially in mental health and now more generally.You can download our vision statement here.

To visit SignHealth’s website, go to www.signhealth.org.uk.

Lipspeaker UK

Lipspeaker UK are the UK’s only specialist provider of lipspeaking support.  A lipspeaker is a hearing person who has been professionally trained to be easy to lipread.

Lipspeakers reproduce clearly the shapes of the words and the natural rhythm and stress used by the speaker. They also use facial expression, gesture and, if requested, finger spelling, to aid the lipreader’s understanding. Many lipspeakers also have BSL skills and can offer sign supported lipspeaking.

We are a reliable, unique lipspeaker booking company offering a premier service at an affordable price. Run by qualified and experienced lipspeakers, we cover national and international work. Bookable by text, email and our on-line booking form.

All of our Language Service Professionals (LSP’s) are qualified, registered and insured. Some hold (Developed Vetting) security clearance for the government and all are police checked though the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

To go to the Lipspeaker UK website, go to: www.lipspeaker.co.uk

Sign Solutions

Sign Solutions is an innovative language & learning company; we pride ourselves on our creative efforts to pursue unexplored avenues and bring a unique range of products and services to our customers. Our inspired portfolio includes Deaf Awareness via e-learning, a free finger-spelling app for smartphones, and Training DVDs for interpreters.

We also offer the panoramic benefits of video and telephone interpreting, as well as our face-to-face interpreting service. The company has grown since its foundation to become one of Britain’s leading providers of communication services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, operating 24/7/365.

Alert to the detrimental shortage of interpreters within the Deaf community, Sign Solutions’ award-winning and Signature-accredited NVQ6 Training & Assessment Centre is dedicated to the training and assessment of BSL/English interpreters. We also provide Deaf Awareness Training and Levels 1-6 British Sign Language courses for individuals and organisations.

Find out more by visiting www.signsolutions.uk.com

Lexicon Signstream

Lexicon Signstream was founded in 2002 and we have an in-house team of British Sign Language interpreters and an extensive database of freelance communication professionals that we work with daily, nationwide.

We work in many different settings including Medical, Legal, Training, Media and Community interpreting. All of our interpreters are fully DBS (formerly CBS) checked to an enhanced level, qualified and registered with the National Register of Communication Professionals for Deaf and Deafblind people (NRCPD).

We work with many clients throughout the country and offer a full package of services, training, advocacy as well as face-to-face communication support. We do not charge cancellation fees policy for our in-house team.

We became an accredited training centre in 2010 and use Deaf tutors who are qualified by Signature and are also DBS cleared.

Please visit our website www.lexiconsignstream.com and if you wish to book an interpreter, please email: bookinterpreter@lexiconsignstream.com

Action Deafness Communications

AD Communications provides Sign Language Interpreting and red dot online video interpreting, as well as other forms of communication support for Deaf, hard of hearing, deafened and deafblind communities.

The service currently employs five interpreters, as well as drawing on a large pool of freelance Language Service Professionals (LSPs). AD Communications works in partnership with Language Service Associates (LSA) to provide spoken language interpreting services.

AD Communications and LSA place quality at the forefront of its provision. We ensure that all Language Service professionals are CRB checked at enhanced level. We only use LSPs that are registered with the National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and deafblind People (NRCPD) or for spoken language interpreters, registered with the National Register of Public Sector Interpreters (NRPSI).

To go to Action Deafness Communication’s website, go to: www.adcommunications.org.uk

Hamilton Lodge School

Hamilton Lodge teaches each one of its Primary, Secondary and Further Education students to:

• successfully acquire language and communication skills
• develop emotionally, socially & spiritually
• be healthy and fit and enjoy their leisure time
• become confident and independent young people ready to be able to continue learning and enter employment

Both deaf and hearing staff work at the school and are highly trained to meet individual needs. Support is given by an Educational Audiologist and a Speech and Language Therapist.

The Care department runs an independence programme training students to access activities in the local community and in their home areas. We believe passionately in the role residential special schools can play in the lives of children; the lifelong friendships made, the emotional support and the opportunities for formal and informal learning.

We are in partnership with two local colleges, Brighton City and Plumpton, to provide FE students with an enriched college life. Students are supported by Student Support Workers on their courses and further guidance, curriculum support and reinforcement is provided by teachers of the deaf, Deaf Studies tutors and the Speech & Language Therapist within the FE department.

To find out more about Hamilton Lodge school, go to: www.hamiltonlsc.co.uk

RAD Deaf Law Centre

We operate on a national level, providing a range of legal advice services as well as training for Deaf people and the legal profession across England, Wales and Scotland.

We have offices based in Newport (South Wales) and London. We also regulate the Deaf Law Quality Mark for law firms, Law Centres and other legal services.

RAD aims to promote equality for Deaf people through the provision of accessible services, and as part of RAD’s mission, we have formulated our own vision, mission and values in order to create a better future for Deaf people.

Go to the RAD Deaf Law Centre website here: www.deaflawcentre.org.uk or contact referrals@royaldeaf.org.uk for more information.