Deaf People: Public Services

Lord Rogan Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rogan (UUP)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, for initiating this important debate. In our modern society we excel when it comes to discussing rights, but my experience is that we are usually better at discussing them than doing anything about them.

In this media-driven era, there is a natural temptation and pressure upon government and its agencies to satisfy the rights of those who are most adept at securing air time, and media interest, rather than the rights of those who are most in need. Deafness is nothing new. It is clearly an issue which affects a significant number of people. In Northern Ireland alone, there are more than 200,000 people who are deaf or hard of hearing. That is 15% of people living in Northern Ireland; a significant proportion of the population—and no doubt a rising proportion, given the increasing numbers of people who are living well into old age. I find it perplexing, therefore, given the scale of the issue and society’s familiarity with it, that we seem to fail so miserably at even the basics of providing adequate access to public services, let alone equality of access.

Access to the health services is a special area of concern. As has been mentioned twice, it is particularly disappointing to note that deaf charities in Northern Ireland have raised instances of deaf people being left in the waiting room of audiology clinics because their name was called out. Their name was called out verbally, even after staff had been notified that they were deaf. It is daft.

In 2009 the British Deaf Association in Northern Ireland and the RNID contacted GP practices throughout the Province to ask them about hearing, blind or partially sighted issues. Some of the results were rather concerning. Half of the GP practices were yet to provide any training to staff about deaf, visual, or general disability awareness. Only 15% of GPs had had disability training. Half of all the responding practices also said that, although they had induction loops in their waiting rooms, only 16% had loops in consulting rooms.

Getting an appointment to get to the surgery, however, also seemed unnecessarily difficult, with a general lack of provision to make contact or arrange appointments by e-mail. Deaf people also complained that GP practices and hospitals often did not respond to calls to their minicom system or to faxes. Out-of-hours and emergency access seemed even more problematic, as did the ability to book interpreters. All these issues create a reliance on friends and family, which in turn undermines independence and leads to feelings of isolation and even despair.

The charities have suggested that this collectively points to a lack of general awareness, understanding and insight concerning the needs, circumstances and experiences of people with disabilities. It would also appear that there is an inadequate grasp of the legal obligations placed on public service providers by the Disability Discrimination Act. While access to health services is of most concern, the complaint applies across the board, from jobcentres, benefits offices and leisure facilities to issues such as interpreters for deaf parents at teacher/parent meetings, school correspondence, emergency telephones on the motorway, arts and cultural events—indeed, the entire spectrum of life in a modern welfare society

As the British Deaf Association in Northern Ireland put it, deaf people are currently not afforded access to public services on, or even near, a par with hearing people. Deaf people simply want to be included in everyday society and given the opportunity to make decisions and choices for themselves. Surely it is incumbent upon our Government to play their part to facilitate that process and to ensure that deaf awareness is given greater focus.