Archives for November 2010

On today’s programme See Hear joins in the celebrations marking the 175^th anniversary of the oldest constituted Deaf society in the world, Deaf Action in Scotland. John Hay has compiled a booklet chronicling the society’s history. We join him in Edinburgh to find out more.

For more information on Deaf Action, please click here https://www.deafaction.org

We also join Deaf visitors on a trip to St Paul’s Cathedral. What does one of the most iconic tourist attractions in the capital have to offer the Deaf visitor? Production company, Remark, devised the media-guide that has recently become available for BSL users at St Paul’s. We go behind the scenes with them to find out what preparation goes into the production of the guides.

If you'd like to find out more about St. Pauls Cathedral and the new touchscreen multimedia guides, please visit https://www.stpauls.co.uk

And we talk to performer Rainer Hersch. In 1997, after contracting a virus, he went suddenly and profoundly deaf in one ear. This summer See Hear met up with him at the Edinburgh Festival.

On today’s programme See Hear joins a group of Deaf volunteers at the incongruous setting of the annual England Deaf Darby and Joan get-together in Lowestoft to find out more about a unique project into deafness and dementia. Some of the 800 holiday-makers agreed to take part in the first steps of this 3 year project investigating how Deaf people are affected by dementia. The ultimate aim of the ‘Deaf with Dementia’ project is to develop a diagnostic test for doctors to determine the onset of the disease in its early stages. Last month the government announced that new drugs will be available on the NHS to treat patients with the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease (the most common form of dementia) but there is currently no test in place to assist early diagnosis in Deaf people.

See Hear also met up with trainee Clinical Psychologist Sarah Powell, who is studying depression and the associated risks in the hard of hearing population for her doctorate. If you are interested in helping Sarah with her research you can do so online by logging on to Sarah’s research page at www.survey.liv.ac.uk/hearing

And we catch up with leading Deaf actor David Bower to find out why he agreed to take on the lead role in a film by three postgraduate students from the University of Glamorgan. If you'd like to know more about the film have a look at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-10850007

And, in the month of Remembrance, we meet a deafened Gurkha veteran who hopes that his recent arrival in the UK will spell an end to the hearing loss he has lived with for the last 31 years and which brought his career in the British Army to an end.

This Friday is the BBC’s annual Children in Need telethon appeal. See Hear recently visited one of the charities that received a donation from last year’s fundraising events. In today’s programme Radha joins deaf children from the Balloon Project in Cumbria at a residential centre in Keswick. The fun-packed weekend is part of the Balloon Project’s aims to improve opportunities and experiences for deaf youngsters in the region.

To find out details of how to be part of the BBC's annual Children In Need appeal, please follow this link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey

And if you'd like to know more about the charity featured in our story you can visit their website

https://www.deafvision.co.uk

We also join HRH The Princess Royal at the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Awards and pay tribute to the amazing animals that make such a difference to their owners’ lives.

If you would like to find out more about the 'Hearing Dogs for Deaf People’, please click below

https://www.hearingdogs.org.uk

And we meet the young deaf dancer who has her sights set on doing a hot shoe shuffle onto the West End stage.

A big thank you as well to everyone who e-mailed us in response to last week’s NHS Special! There are so many stories out there; we hope to do a follow up in the not too distant future...So watch the space ..and keep e-mailing in your stories!

Also, in the New Year we'll be looking back at some of our best and most enjoyable moments from over the last year since the programme settled into its new home here in Birmingham. If you have any favourite stories and characters you would like to see again, please let us know!

You can either leave a comment on this blog or e-mail us at seehear@bbc.co.uk

Here is your chance to get a sneak preview of next week's NHS special to be aired on Wednesday, 10th of November on BBC2 at 13.00.

See Hear investigates what provision the NHS has in place for dealing with the UK’s Deaf population. As the world’s largest publicly funded health organisation does the deaf community have access to the same services as its hearing peers? Clive Mason takes an in-depth look at Deaf people’s experiences, good and bad, and finds out what the future holds. 

And if you would like further information on health related services for all deaf people, please follow the link below :

https://www.signhealth.org.uk/

In today’s programme we catch up with Deaf actor Jacob Casselden as he takes centre stage in a new production called ‘Tribes’ at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Jacob takes on one of the lead roles as the deaf character, Billy, in a play which examines the questions of belonging and communication within the family unit.

We also join teenagers at the Ear Foundation in Nottingham as they put their TV production skills into practice at a special film workshop led by actor Colin Wells. Drawing on what Colin has learnt from his own daughter the event aims to encourage youngsters, who come together from all over the UK, to share their experiences of wearing cochlear implants.

And we meet a young Deaf woman who has a promising career in cakes ahead of her!