1. Sensory Services – myth or reality
Sensory Services – myth or reality? Liz Scott Gibson Scottish Council on Visual Impairment Annual Conference - 21st June 2011

2. About Deaf Action Registered charity – 1835
Deaf-led Board of Directors
90 full, part-time & sessional staff
20% deaf staff
Work across Lothian, Fife, Tayside, Aberdeenshire, Highland, Argyll and Bute.

3. Our Aims Raise awareness of the needs and rights of deaf people
Challenge discrimination
Provide services to promote independence and quality of life

4. May work with those who are………….
Hard of hearing & deafened
Deafblind
BSL users
Of all ages

5. BSL users
typically born deaf or have become deaf early in life.(95% born to hearing parents)
are not able to ‘decode’ speech through hearing aids alone
have speech which is difficult to understand initially

6. often use BSL which is grammatically distinct from English
may belong to a ‘Deaf Community’ and see themselves as a linguistic and cultural minority.
a significant number will experience difficulties with reading & writing English, which is for many a second language.

7. SERVICES Social care: - Social work - Specialist equipment
- Information/advice
- Mental health service

8. Support services:
- Care home/Slateford Green
- Visiting/outreach support

9. Community development :
- Health promotion
- ‘Including you’ project for hard of hearing people
Adult learning (SQA accredited courses)
Youth activities/parent-toddler group/parenting
course

10. Social Enterprise:
- Training
- Multi media translation
- Communication support
- Charity shop

11. Sports and social clubs
Overseas Development work

12. Areas in common History Aims Value base
Need for access to education, employment, information and services
Need for communication
Social exclusion

13. Areas in common Lack of trained specialist staff Lack of reliable data
Poor understanding of sensory needs
Cinderella service on the periphery

14. Sensory Services Sensing Progress 1997
West Lothian Sensory Resource Centre 2001
Sensory Impairment Action Plan 2003
Forth Valley Sensory Resource Centre 2005

15. 2006 - ‘..sporadic service provision for sensory impaired people ….’
‘Community care & mental health services for adults with a sensory impairment’ Scottish Executive 2006
Adam Ingram, Minister for Children & Early Years announced funding set aside to pilot Sensory Impairment Resource Centres

16. ‘… to support the development of one stop shops for all sensory impairment needs…’
(SNP Manifesto 2011)

17. Sensory Services West Lothian Sensory Resource Centre Argyll & Bute
Fife

18. Why? Community Care Outcomes Framework (2007)
‘Put services around people and not people through services’
‘To shift the balance of care, supporting more people at home for longer’
‘Users get the right support at the right time’

19. Why? Efficiencies - Core shared needs - Easier to manage
Cost saving/value for money

20. Why?
Demographics
80% of deaf/hard of hearing people are aged 60 or over
68% of those registered blind/partially sighted are over 75
20% increase over next 20 years

21. Current policies UN CRPD Equality Act 2010
Re-shaping care for older people (Change Fund)
Re-ablement agenda
Dementia Strategy
Principles of Inclusive Communication 2011

22. Challenges Co-location and collaboration Fragmented services
Protectionism

23. Challenges Lack of brand recognition Differing values Working culture
Management style

24. Challenges Multi-skilled practitioners Team identity
Holistic assessment processes
Fit for purpose services
Continued funding

25. Lack of specialist knowledge and experience (only 7 people in 13 authorities ‘fluent’ in BSL - SCoD 2009)
Service user perceptions
Lack of knowledge in commissioners/service planners

26. Chinese proverb
‘When the winds of change blow, some build walls, and some build windmills’