Went to a group session today and the hearing people there were anxious about getting good D/deaf feedback and then it was (yes, same old, same old) “Hey guys! Let’s set up a user forum!”.  Can I ask (again through gritted teeth) “Why?”. I guess some of those people in the room are earning £25K (each) and yet they are a) unimaginative and b) reluctant to dig into the budget to find more money (the government did it, didn’t they, once their backs were to the wall) . I am not suggesting D/deaf people be paid for every single contribution – goodness knows, most of us are on some unpaid committee (if not several) or other. What I am saying is, “A bit of respect goes a long way and you know, you do get what you pay for”. So come on guys. how about it?

Why don’t organisations and companies use D/deaf people to monitor their services (like, pay them)? It’s such an obvious thing to do and yet you rarely see it done (nless the deaf person is so heavily disguised we don’t see them anyway). I know D/deaf mystery shoppers exist and a good thing too – but I am talking about staff who think they know but so obviously are missing what they are seeing. I went to an arts event the other day where 20 people turned up – a fantastic showing in a small gallery outside London where the event had not been well advertised. Great. I got an email afterwards from one of the staff saying how pleased they were. I did not have the heart to say “Well, actually, seventeen of those people were hearing”. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with 17 hearing people turning up – after all, if they are learning signing (2 were trainee interpreters) then they need to “get out there” which they were certainly doing. It is that a service is being created for a group of visitors (D/deaf people) who were not actually there, and the staff have no inkling of this, and therefore will not notice what needs to be done so the service gets to the people it was intended for. (a bit like benefits not reaching the people they were intended for, but that’s another story). Why don’t people budget (when they are doing their grant applications for example) for a D/deaf monitor who could give such helpful and careful guidance to the organisation. I can think of several people who would be great at this. Surely it’s a no brainer?

A friend of mine went for a high level job yesterday (and I mean high level) and you know what? The sign language interpreter did not turn up. So we know this organisation is thinking “Well, sure looks like a hell of a lot of trouble to employ a deaf person”. But what is even worse is that the interview panel comprised seven other people from seven other organisations (including the government) who will now be having the same thoughts “Why should we employ a Deaf person?”. When I complain about this sort of outrageous thing (eg interpreters not turning up), people say to me, “Well, surely there have been times when you cancelled your workshop or conference presentation?”. The answer is “Frankly, I have never, ever cancelled when I know there is an audience waiting. And I mean never, in 25 years (actually, it’s 30 years but who’s counting?) have I cancelled. In fact, on one occcasion, I had to be poured into my car – as my back had given out big time – and I drove very slowly to Croydon, to get to the conference. So how about it, guys? Just don’t cancel and haul your ass over there!

A throw-away comment by a colleague got me thinking …. he said “Their Deaf Awareness training is only OK , they’re only in it for the money”.  I then did a mental calculation of my colleague’s estimated salary and (of course), he is earning far more pro rata than a freelance Deaf Awareness trainer. The next question I’d like to ask him would be “And so – at your hefty salary – you’re not in it for the money then?” . I wonder what his answer would be?  Can we all just be a little more supportive of freelancers, eh? Without freelancers, full time organisations would not be able to offer the right kind of training (as they don’t have the right trainer on their staff), career advice (their HR department hate doing this), completing a project (because the staff member has walked off). So lets all be friends without the judgements which are totally off the wall anyway.