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Manchester Deaf Centre is re-opening!
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Our Manchester Deaf Centre main hub building on Booth Street East will re-open on Monday 12 April. This is in line with the Government’s current road map for the easing of Covid-related restrictions. Face-to-face service provision and group activity will start up again from this date.
Please note that our plans for re-opening may change if the current Covid guidance from Government alters. Please keep an eye on our website and social media channels by clicking link number 1.
In the meantime, staff will be making sure that the building is Covid-safe for employee and volunteer colleagues, service users and visitors when we re-open; fully compliant with Government and Public Health England guidelines.
We look forward to welcoming you in person!
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Important message about the Census. Make sure that Manchester’s Deaf community is counted!
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Did you complete the Census on 21 March? If not, it’s still possible to complete it. The Census is like a survey; it only happens once every 10 years, and it is used to assess the size of communities around the UK. The government uses this data when making funding decisions for important services like health care, education, transport, and other services for specific communities.
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In the video above our colleague Jonathan explains that in the past, the Deaf Community hasn’t been accurately represented in the survey, with Census data suggesting far fewer BSL users than other community research shows to be true. This has meant that it is harder to argue for funding for services for Deaf people. If you are a BSL user, it’s really important that when asked about your first language, you state under ‘Other’: British Sign Language.
You can fill in the Census at www.census.gov.uk using a smartphone, tablet or computer. For BSL information videos to help you answer the questions, click link number 2. If you need help with completing the Census our advocacy workers can help you:
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Crafting Up Change at the D.A.V.E. project
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The Tuesday evening D.A.V.E. young people’s group at Manchester Deaf Centre has been working hard on their current project ‘Crafting Up Change.’ They have made self-celebration sashes using positive words about themselves. They have created beautifully decorated wall hangings with messages to the world. They have also learnt how to make miniature books and filled them with drawings and positive quotes to give to people who need them.
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Next, we are making bird puppets and will make the birds move in workshops. Staff at The Sensory Support Service have joined us to help get children and young people involved, and we thank them for their continued support.
After this project with the Royal Exchange Theatre has finished we have a workshop booked with Clay Studio Manchester, on Tuesday 30 March. A tutor will be teaching the group via Zoom how to make textured dishes. Clay and tools will be sent to young people’s homes, and once created the dishes will be collected to be fired and glazed at the studio. They will then be posted back to the young people to keep.
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The D.A.V.E. group is for young people aged 14 to 25 who are D/deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind. We also welcome children of D/deaf adults (C.O.D.A.) and the siblings of D/deaf young people. To join contact Zoe by email via link number 4 or via her mobile: 07557 121667.
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One of the young people from the Tuesday night D.A.V.E. group has entered 2 of her pictures in a competition at the Harris Art Gallery in Preston.
Ava, who is 14 years old and is Deaf and certified blind, uses an iPad Pro to create her art work. It has very high resolution so that Ava can see the images she is creating.
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Please vote for her artwork by clicking on link number 5. Enter the catalogue number 176 and Ava Joliffe for her lively picture ‘3 girls’; or number 177 and her name for her striking picture ‘Gossip Girls’. You can take a great 3D tour of the whole exhibition and hunt for Ava’s pictures on the wall by clicking on link number 6:
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Easter holidays: Zoom activities for teens and under 12s
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For Deaf/Hard of Hearing children and Children of Deaf Adults
Activities for teens
• Tuesday 6th April 2-3pm Dance Workshop Part 1
• Monday 12th April 2-3:30pm Cookery Class/Bake-a-thon
• Tuesday 13th April 2-3pm Dance Workshop Part 2
Activities for under 12s
• Thursday 8th April 2-3pm Dance Workshop Part 1
• Wednesday 14th April 2- 3:30pm Cookery Class/Bake-a-thon
• Thursday 15th April 2-3pm Dance Workshop Part 2
Ingredients for the cookery session will be provided and posted to young people's homes before the session.
Manchester Deaf Centre's Young People Keeping Connected
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Welcome to our new staff member Natasha Julien who will be working alongside Rachel Officer on the Youth Group (6–13 years) and Deaf Meets (11–16 years) programmes. Natasha has a background in acting and dancing, and meeting people in different cultures and religions. She is looking forward to using her skills within our youth group settings.
Natasha introduces herself and the Wednesday Youth Group in the video, saying “Anyone can join ages 6-13 years, Deaf, CODA or hard of hearing: you are all welcome! This is a good opportunity for you to meet new people, make new friends, as well we have loads of different activities for you to get involved in: arts, crafts, visual art, and of course dancing, and drama, or even cooking; you can learn how to make food for yourself. At the moment this is online over Zoom BUT good news: Manchester Deaf Centre will re-open on the 12 of April, yeah! Are you interested yet? We look forward to meeting you soon!”
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The Get On Project switches on
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We are pleased to announce the launch of Phase 1 of the Get On project starting in April, for hard of hearing, D/deaf and deafblind young people aged 16-25 who are not currently in education, training or employment and who live within Greater Manchester.
The Get On project is free. It offers young people a great programme of personal development, employment and enterprise readiness activities. It aims to motivate, inspire and improve young people's life experiences and future prospects.
Phase 1 is the "Get Moving & Motivated” phase. The team have put together a calendar of activities that starts with a “get to know each other” session including ice breaker activities and finding out what young people hope to get out of the project. Every young person will also receive a free Get On resource box full of goodies and inspirational ideas to use at home as Part of Phase 1.
For more information, a project leaflet, or to join in, please email Catherine from our Get On project team by clicking on link 9:
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The Get On project is funded through the Future Workforce Fund that is administered through The Prince’s Trust.
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Signed songs with Manchester Camerata Orchestra
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Exciting musical news! MDC will be working with the Manchester Camerata orchestra in March and April. The Camerata in the Community project manager has organised 12 virtual workshops with local primary schools. Children will be working with the Camerata conductor to create their own school songs to celebrate the return from home learning.
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The Camerata wanted to incorporate sign language into these sessions and so MDC will be providing a specialist performance interpreter who will translate the songs once they have been created and then teach the children how to sign them.
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Awareness in the Muslim Community
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Our tutors have been busy delivering Deaf Awareness training and teaching BSL, with all classes taking place via Zoom due to Covid restrictions.
We were delighted to partner with the Muslim Association of Britain Youth (MABY) Manchester branch as part of the international annual Believe And Do Good (BADG) campaign. The campaign was launched in 2015 and it takes place every year in February. It aims to create sustainable positive change within our local communities by encouraging, empowering and educating people.
BADG organisers had become aware of the communication difficulties experienced by Deaf and hard of hearing people with the wearing of masks preventing lipreading. As a result of this they decided to use the campaign to raise awareness within their community about communication barriers experienced by people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, and to introduce people to communication using BSL.
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Our tutor Anita delivered 2 BSL taster sessions on Zoom covering fingerspelling and basic signs. The sessions were really popular with approximately 40 people attending in total. Sara from the organising team said "The session was so good!! Anita and the interpreter were so nice and the attendees really enjoyed it".
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Health care and interpreting awareness
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From April we will be offering a new awareness raising session called ‘Interpreter Awareness for Healthcare Staff’, which we hope will contribute to improving the experience of Deaf and hard of hearing communities when accessing medical appointments.
The session is 1 hour long and will be delivered by a Registered Sign Language Interpreter. It will cover topics such as understanding the role of a Sign Language Interpreter and different levels of qualification, how to work with interpreters in a healthcare setting including examples of good and bad practice, and practical issues such as who pays for interpreting services.
Special thanks to Registered Sign Language Interpreter Debbie Robins who has worked with Manchester Deaf Centre to prepare this session.
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Our Employment, Training and Enterprise Advisers Dipti and Anna have been busy supporting clients by video appointment with all things employment and training related. Huge congratulations go to one of our clients called Gavin, who has recently received news of successfully applying for a job supporting the armed forces with customer services. Gavin writes:
“During my interview on Zoom I was very worried because as a hard of hearing person I would struggle to understand what each person was saying. During the Zoom I was 50% understanding and 50% struggling, but thank you to Anna from MDC who supported me all the way. Anna was very helpful, encouraged me and built my confidence for the interview.
I hate interviews myself but with support I feel 110% better and stronger. Thank you to all MDC staff for letting me use facilities such as a laptop for Zoom, making phone calls for me and so much more.
So, with that in mind, I’m pleased to finally announce (after 5 long months!), that I’ll be leaving for Germany in March, to start a new career!".
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Pathways to work, maths and IT skills
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Our latest Pathways to Work course has been running since January and will be reaching completion this month. The course is provided through our WAITE team’s partnership with Breakthrough UK. This course had two parts to it. In the first part, the attendees each received five sessions of individual tailored support to identify and work towards removing any barriers that are affecting their progress in seeking employment. The second part has seen the individuals come together as a group, to share their experiences and form a supportive peer network going forward. Our Maths classes are also continuing to be provided through the Workers Education Authority (WEA).
Due to lockdown we had to switch all of our courses to online delivery using Zoom. Some of our clients were not used to using technology in this way, therefore we have also been working with these clients to build their IT skills so that they could continue to access the sessions during the pandemic.
Here is a testimony from one of our clients, Imran, who found the digital switch very challenging, but he has made huge progress in overcoming this barrier in recent weeks (BSL only):
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Walk with the Wellbeing Group
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Now that restrictions are easing, we are hoping to start walking fortnightly on Thursday afternoons starting after the Easter holidays. Email if you would like to join in by clicking link number 15.
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Wellbeing Group Activities
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In the meantime, the Wellbeing Group continues to meet via Zoom on Mondays and Thursdays. We organise a range of fun activities. A recent example is the Food Memories Story project. Leshy told us about his love for sweet and sour chicken and his grandfather’s farm in India. Karen told us about the tradition of eating boiled eggs with toast fingers, which goes back four generations in her family.
For more information about our wellbeing group, including contact details, click link number 16. For more about WAITE services in general click link number 17.
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Salford Deaf Advocacy Service
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Deaf Girls Can climb! Family opportunity
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Coming soon…new project Deaf Girls Can.
We are looking for five adventurous families living in Salford to take part. One member of each family must be a female under the age of 25 who is D/deaf or hard of hearing.
The families will have the opportunity to learn to rock climbing skills through weekly sessions at a climbing wall on a Saturday for four weeks. Equipment is provided and it is a safe way of trying a really good form of exercise that builds confidence and trust. There is a first time for everything!
This project is possible thanks to a grant from the Boost Activity Fund, which is funded by Sport England with support from Salford CVS. It aims to give girls and young women the opportunity to try new physical activities.
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Wellbeing Walk in Peel Park
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Come and join us on a friendly and relaxing Wellbeing Walk on Wednesday 7 April at 1-2pm, at Peel Park, Salford. Only 15 people are allowed to attend, so please book in advance through link number 19, either in the post comments or by messaging or emailing the Salford Deaf Advocacy Service Facebook group.
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Coming soon…GMCVO online events go D/deaf accessible
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GMCVO (Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation) is working in partnership with MDC to help make its online events more accessible to attendees who are D/deaf or hard of hearing.
This includes developing new systems and resources to help remove barriers in the event advertising, registration and booking process, and to make sure that an individual’s communication requirements are fully understood and provided for given the format and design of the online event.
The current plan is to roll the new system out in April. Watch out for further announcements on our social media channels and our May edition of The Manchester Sign Post.
For more info about GMCVO click link number 20.
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