Glasgow Asian Deaf Club - 10 Year Anniversary

If you haven't already seen it, this is the video that was put together for the 10 Year Anniversary of the Glasgow Asian Deaf Club celebration event that took place 25th September 2010. It was a great night, enjoyed by all for a great cause!

Asian Deaf Club - Scottish Ethnic Communities Fund Project

The Asian Deaf Club were successful in their bid for funding from the Scottish Ethnic Minorities Fund to carry out a research and filming project to engage the deaf South East Asian in Glasgow, namely Indian and Pakistani communities. 

The engagement should provide some initial research, consultation and awareness to these communities about deafness and hearing loss within their own communities. We aim to provide this through a combination of a mini research and multimedia initiative.

Many of the Asian Deaf Club members are deaf and use British Sign Language as their first language so a more visual format would be preferable to the traditional written format. The project would aim to recruit members to design and deliver questionnaires/surveys with south Asian residents in south east Glasgow to encourage their views and knowledge on deafness and hearing loss. This will be documented via multimedia filming along this process.

The information will be collated and a follow-up event with participants and communities will organised to share this learning, showcase the documented film and a drama to emphasize the visibility and needs of this community. Deaf Connections has an internal Multimedia Unit as well as communication support which can provide the support to this project. Communication will be essential so the British Sign Language Interpreters will play a key role.

The outcome will have been to increase the self esteem and confidence of deaf Asian people and increase awareness in south Asian communities in Glasgow. There will also be a resource developed that can be hosted online or produced as DVD and disseminated to key stakeholder so learning can be shared.

Contact Tasnim or Maryam for more information or if you would like to get involved.

Tasnim@deafconnections.co.uk

Maryam@deafconnections.co.uk

Scottish Ethnic Communities Fund - Zubair Hussain

Deaf Connections would like to congratulate Zubair Hussain on his successful funding award from the Scottish Ethnic Communities Fund.

Awarded: £5,198

Project Name: Minority Ethnic Community Interpreter Project

This project aims to support Scotland's Asian Deaf Community. Currently there are no Asian British Sign Language Interpreters in Scotland. The needs of deaf people are very specific to the individual and it is often difficult for mainstream interpreters to fully understand the cultural context of people from Asian Communities. An interpreter from an Asian background will have the cultural knowledge and skills to effectively advocate on behald of Asian deaf people. The funding will be utlisied to gain the BSL Level 6 Interpreter Course.

Online and Drop in Surgery for minorty ethnic deaf people!

Ishara is excited to be present our new online and drop in surgery for the deaf minority ethnic community in Scotland. You can book an appointment for an online consultation or drop in for a face to face chat. We can help you deal with queries around benefits, housing, employment, learning. We also offer culturally sensitive support around cultural issues like forced marriage and honour based violence. Deaf Connections Ishara is also a Third Party Reporting Centre for reporting any Hate Crime so if you have been a victim or witnessed a Hate Crime, please contact our surgery for more information. The surgery will be supported by our support worker Tasnim Sharif who can be contacted at Tasnim@deafconnections.co.uk or SMS - 07749311524. Please see flyer below for more details:

Ishara Visits Aberdeen - North East Sensory Services!

Ishara and the Asian Deaf Club have managed to reach Aberdeen in recent training travels. 

Tasnim Sharif and Nafiesa Aslam from the Asian Deaf Club visited the Deaf Club in the North East Sensory Services centre to present training on Asian Cultures, showing the difference between Indian and Pakistani cultures. 

The Club really enjoyed the session. We would like to thank all who attended and Jean Pentland from the BDA for organising the session.

BSL Zone Glasgow - Well done Tasnim!

BSL Zone Glasgow took place on Friday 21st June at the Scottish Youth Theatre with 120 deaf people from Scotland attending. Deaf Connections Ishara's very own Tasnim Sharif was part of the panel discussing her involvement with Under the Lamp and her support to the Asian Deaf Community. Tasnim has been an ambassador for the rights of deaf minority ethnic people and a role model to many in Scotland - Well done Tasnim!

Framework for Action Inverness

Framework for Action visited Inverness next to ask about support to deaf minority ethnic people and learn more about the practice of agencies in the Highlands. We had a range of agencies including NHS Highlands, Highlands Council, Police Scotland and Highland Multicultural Friends and some great examples of work. We would like to thank you all for attending us and the Hilton Community Centre for hosting us!

 

Training SASLI BSL Interpreters

Training of British Sign Language Interpreters is always important for the Ishara Project. It helps us to ensure deaf minority ethnic people will receive the same standards of support from interpreters and also helps interpreters to deal with culturally sensitive or complex issues. The session was well attended by 12 interpreters in Glasgow and a Deaf Blind Interpreter. We would like to thank all the enthusiasm and learning shared at this session and look forward to followup work with all our interpreters in the future.  Well done to all the interpreters who attended and were awarded with our certificates!

BSL Awareness to ME Communities in Edinburgh

 

Ishara successfully delivered 2 BSL Awareness Sessions in Edinburgh with BEMIS and the Edinburgh and Lothians Sensory Partnership. Around 40 people attended both sessions with interest to follow up and learn more BSL. Thanks to all participants and to Frankie and Tariq for hosting us in RNIB Scotland Head Office.

  

Framework for Action - Glasgow

The Ishara Projects Framework for Action hosted its first event on Tuesday 21st May 2013 with a range of services including Police Scotland, VAF, Victim Support Scotland, Glasgow Community Safety Services and Life Skills. The event was a successful followup to the pilot event in January 2012 with a range of services attending. Ishara and the group explored the current support, gaps and barriers and need to change with supporting the deaf ME community. All feedback was very useful and will be collated for the final report on the consultation. Thank you again for taking the time to attend!

Abuse in Minority Ethnic Communities - Roshni

 

Ishara and the Asian Deaf Club received training about abuse in the minority ethnic communities from our partner Roshni. Roshni supports minority ethnic victims and survivors of abuse within their communities. This covers a range of issues like childhood abuse, forced marriage and general abuse and culture. 

The Roshni training helped us to recognise the signs and how to deal with the cultural stigma as well as explore support for victims and survivors. The session provided a very useful insight on this issue and we look forward to developing our next webpage on this issue in BSL. Thanks to Anela Anwar, Head of Projects who came along to train us all and watch this space for more info!

Deaf Connections Services learn about Asian Cultures

The Ishara Project supported training for our Deaf Connections services Deaf Care and the Hear On Forum.
Key staff and service users enjoyed learning about the cultural diversity in the South Asian communities which helped their understanding about the deaf minority ethnic community they work with. Thanks again to Deaf Care and Hear On for supporting us!

Framework for Action - Regional Events

Framework for Action will be consulting on the needs of Deaf Minority Ethnic People in Scotland with agencies and community groups. All members and staff of public, private, voluntary sector services and community groups are invited to take part online or at a regional events with details below.

 

If you would like to attend, please contact us at Ishara@deafconnections.co.uk.

See Me as Me!

Ishara has been working with Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre and Shakti Women's Aid to provide information about child sexual abuse.The See Me as Me! information session was held in February 2013 on this sensitive topic to create awareness for deaf ME people. Information was given on what children are told and how we can take better measures to protect children. The session was well attended and everyone involved felt more information is needed. Thanks to Pav Sandhu at Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre and Mridul Wadha at Shakti Women's Aid for all their support!

Deaf Connections already has an existing successful partnership with Rape Crisis Scotland who have translated much needed information about sexual violence into BSL for the deaf community. The information is also translated into other community languages. This can be found at Rape Crisis Scotland

Ishara Training Opportunities

Ishara currently provides flexible training opportunities for communities and agencies to learn more about deaf ME people. For agencies we have our training about the deaf ME communities and how your service or community group can better support them in Scotland. We also have a specific Asian Cultures training in partnership with the Asian Deaf Club to help understand more bout the South Asian Cultures. This training is mainly aimed at deaf clubs and community groups around Scotland but can be available on request to other agencies. For more information, see our marketing flyers below.

All our training options will now have flexible opportunities, tailored to you agency or group's needs. We can deliver sessions directly to agencies and groups from a 1 hour slot or a half day session. We can simply fit into a staff meeting or conference workshop. Additionally Ishara will be offering the online training option to access our learning from wherever you are in Scotland.

If your agency or community group is interested in taking this opportunity, please contact as at Ishara@deafconnections.co.uk .