Owner: I look so I can hear URL:http://funnyoldlife.wordpress.com Join Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 18:48:34 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Living with a hearing loss in London's rat race Site statistics:Click here
Beasts and monsters 2007-10-26 15:59:39
The Wallace Collection is a private art gallery in central London, home to one of the finest art collections in Europe. ‘Deaf Visions’ are pioneering activities led by deaf artists and art historians with an interpreter on hand for hearing activities. I attended an event called ‘Beasts and Monsters’, about the use of real-life animals in art.
We met up in a basement meeting room and gathered for a chat with friends over wine and nibbles. We were taken up to the first floor and then the ground floor, to see six paintings, with a signed commentary by Serena Cant, who was an excellent guide.
The Lion in Love (Camille Roqueplan, 1836) was a wonderful painting showing a lion in love with a girl who was cutting his nails. The way the light fell on her face, covering half of it in shadow, showed the deceit with which she performed this task. She was observed by a crowd of villagers who intended to kill the lion once his claws had been cut and he was defenceless. Thi Read more:monsters
Deaf and self employed. Nigel asks - are you Game? 2007-11-01 17:42:26
Nigel has become famous among London’s deaf community and is now branching out into the rest of the world - that includes the hearing world! He is the proud owner of Game Ideas Ltd and has produced a new game called Cuberty.
Cuberty is a three dimensional word game which has been highly recommended by this year’s Good Toy guide. It’s fabulous. He brought one into the pub one night and that was it. Killed the conversation stone dead. (Deaf people can only look at one thing at a time, remember?!)
Be quick, as it’s a runaway success, and the christmas deadline is 10 December - it’s even earlier if you want a Cuberty set posted abroad. Nigel Cuberty is being sold to schools, retail outlets, individuals and on the internet. Nigel says, ‘It’s keeping me busy’ - well that’s the understatement of the year!
In March 2007 Nigel talked about the history of Cuberty and its exhibition at the Toy Fair in the BBC2 programme ‘See Hear&lsqu
FOL award : deaf aware pub - True Lovers Knot 2007-12-04 07:58:07 A pub in the Tarrant Valley, Dorset, get a round of applause from me and a virtual medal for being deaf aware.
True Lovers
Knot offers a bar and food, accommodation and a child-friendly garden. They have a hearing loop system at the bar, so you can easily order food or drinks. If you are deaf and you book a table, they will set the table different to normal, so there is less ‘visual noise’. To cap it all, their staff are trained in deaf awareness.
They are currently working towards
being the first pub in history to be awarded the RNID Louder than Words charter mark. Nationally recognised, the Louder than Words charter mark shows that the awarded organisation offers a fully deaf aware service to employees and customers, and that their needs are taken seriously.
Clap clap clap. More like this please!
Hearing aid service waiting times 2007-12-03 14:58:02 From the latest RNID newsletter
Londoners … Are you a ‘hearing aid angel’?
As part of our campaign against long hearing aid waiting times, we’re holding a candlelit carol protest outside the Houses of Parliament at 6pm on Tuesday 11 December.
Deaf opera singer Janine Roebuck will lead a chorus of carols with lyrics amended to draw attention to our campaign.
If you have experience of long waiting times for hearing aid services, and you live in the London area, we would like to invite you to be part of a choir of ‘hearing aid angels’.
Email donna.tipping@rnid.org.uk if you would like more details. We can help with pre-agreed travel costs.
Read more:Hearing
Visa / Mastercard scam 2007-12-02 14:47:10 This one is pretty slick since they provide YOU with all the information, except the one piece they want.
Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it. This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA & MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you’ll be better prepared to protect yourself.
One of our employees was called on Wednesday from “VISA”, and I was called on Thursday from “MasterCard”.
The scam works like this: Person calling says, “This is (name), and I’m calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I’m calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank) did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for £497.99 from a Marketing company based in London?” When you say “No”, the caller continues with, “Then we will be issuing
Text in the city 2007-12-01 18:11:37 A new date texting service has been launched in London by Matchtek, called Smartdater. This service allows Londoners to meet others in their area via text, you have to register on their website and set up a profile. Matchtek identifies which of the profiles are compatible, and people can start texting each other. This service sidesteps the issue of exchanging numbers as everything goes through their server, and texts can be blocked by users. 30,000 people have already signed up. Welcome to the new age of sms dating.
- I still think this idea is weird!
Captioned telephony bites the dust 2007-11-30 15:45:19
I received this letter today.
November 30, 2007
To: Captioning Services Customers
From: Christopher Jones, Managing Director
Dear Customer,
For over seventeen years, Teletec has brought the cutting edge in text communication technologies to people with hearing loss in the UK. Over the past six years, Teletec has introduced exciting new captioning technologies that have the power to revolutionize the way deaf and hard of hearing people communicate over the telephone and communication support for 0ne-to-one, group meetings, seminars and lectures. These technologies offer the promise of far more functional equivalent access to the telephone, the lecture theatre, GPs, and all of the communications that are so important in today’s world.
However, with the advent of the Internet, SMS, e-mail, and wireless text devices of every sort, the traditional text-telephone is no longer the primary means of communication for the deaf community. The main financial support for Teletec has alw Read more:telephony
, bites
Deaf = can’t donate blood 2007-11-30 06:45:15 The following is a letter from UKCOD.
To all UK Council on Deafness Members
Recently we asked you to send us details of evidence of discrimination against deaf people by the NHS. One of the cases that was sent to us was a refusal by the National Blood Service to allow deaf people to donate blood. The reasons they gave for this included: ‘Concern about understanding’ and ‘truth telling to the interpreter’ .
We have had conversations with the National Blood Service to point out that this is unacceptable. As a result they have agreed to conduct trial donor sessions for deaf people so that they can develop an interview process that meets their regulatory requirements and is accessible to deaf people.
They have asked us to identify deaf organisations that would be interested in participating in a trial donor session. If you are interested and would like further information do please get back to me.
Kind regards
Jonathan Isaac
Director
UK Council on Deafness
Westwood
A trip to the far side 2007-12-10 17:16:15 - This pretty jewellery would make a nice christmas present…
… I thought. I checked out the website. Puzzled. I explored some more. Then paused. And took a deep breath.
Oh.
I can just imagine what my doctor would say if he saw me wearing those.
- *&$#!!!
- Well, you refused me a pair of pink hearing aids!
Apparently these are now all the craze with the emo/hardcore crowd, although they have been around for a long time in the African and Asian tribes. Does stretching hurt? If you do it correctly, it shouldn’t do. If you’re going to do it, do it PROPERLY and do it SLOWLY. If you try to stretch too quickly, you may get a blowout, where the hole deforms itself by twisting inside out, with a section of tissue appearing as a circular flap on the backside of the piercing. These can develop into keloids. (And then you wouldn’t be able to wear your hearing aids. Whatever colour they are.)
If you catch a keloid in time, you may be able to remove them by dow
Coming Out 2007-12-09 07:53:58 How often have you tried to explain …. ?
***WINNER*** Best UK film at Deaffest 2007, Wolverhampton 24/11/07
A son goes to his mother with a compelling secret. Will she understand? A quirky comedy written by Charlie Swinbourne and directed by Louis Neethling.
Thumbs up! Lorenzo Restaurant 2007-12-08 12:35:18
A group of us and two Hearing Dogs (Smudge and Harry) descended upon Lorenzo
in Crystal Palace for a home cooked Italian meal. This restaurant is on the High Street and close to the tube station, so it’s easy to get to.
This restaurant looks really small from the outside but there are three floors. It looked good n busy! I was wondering how noisy this place is going to be … am I going to enjoy this night out as none of my friends in this group can sign. I can’t relax if I am struggling to lip read people against a constant din, it’s really hard work. We were shown to a large table in the corner downstairs and were promptly attended to by a polite and efficient waiter, who brought us wine. The place began to fill up with families and couples, it had a friendly bustle and the waiting staff were attentive.
The starters and main course arrived quickly, we didn’t feel we were left waiting long for each course. For a starter I had Hot Spinach Bake - a huge
New SatLav service 2007-12-08 11:30:25 It’s no fun getting caught short in the centre of London, especially if you’re a young mum with children, an older person, disabled, or on a day out. Where can you find the nearest public conveniences? Trying to elbow your way into a pub or restaurant’s conveniences will often result in being told ‘Toilets are for paying customers only.’
The City Of Westminster has again, as with their police mobile texting service and BSL-trained officers, forged ahead of the pack. A new text service is now available, which tells you the location of the nearest public toilet in the City of Westminster, which encompasses almost every popular shopping and social district of London.
To access SatLav, text 80097 with the word TOILET and you will get a quick response by text with details of the nearest facilities and their opening times. Satlav locates the sender of the message and automatically finds the locations of the nearest public toilets to them, including some departme
Inspiration 2007-12-08 11:28:06 Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that it'd be easy; they just promised it would be worth it.
- this photo is of the beach in Ireland on my doorstep, where I grew up.
A walk along this beach always inspired me, especially when it was windy, stormy and huge waves were breaking.
Read more:Inspiration
What’s in your top ten? 2007-12-08 06:29:22 Doesn’t everyone ask what’s your favourite restaurant, drink, food, book, movie, TV show, singer, music etc etc?
Check out Jamza, a new site where you and your friends can list your top ten of anything you like, post photos, write a blog and more…. If there are things you would like to see on the site, go right ahead and throw your ideas into the ring.
How about your top ten …
quiet pubs
friendly cafes
quality wine bars
restaurants where you get treated well
art galleries
places to meet friends
coffees
wines
I’d like to hear your top ten one liner retorts when people say ‘You can’t bring a dog in here’ or ‘What do you mean, you can’t hear me?’
Comments?
Binned! Piss-terie Valerie 2007-12-05 15:57:02
After spending hours in the Victoria and Albert museum, we desperately needed coffee and cake. Off we went to Piss-terie Patisserie Valerie
nearby at 215 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge.
In this London branch of the fashionable Patisserie Valerie chain, salads, pasta and fresh fish are on the menu, but calorific hits are what Patisserie Valerie's really about. Pretty pastries, intricate chocolate confections, and cakes offer every reason to indulge. It was certainly a busy cafe so it must be fashionable. But at what cost? Must we have fashion at the cost of disability rights, manners and common decency?
My friend and I walked in and waited to be seated. We were told by not one, but FOUR, waiters that we could not bring a dog into the cafe.
PV - Dogs aren’t allowed in here
Me - He’s a Hearing Dog
PV - No dogs are allowed
Me - He’s an assistance dog, a Hearing Dog
PV - You can’t bring a dog in here for hygiene reasons
Me - He is allowed, it’s the law, he&
Thumbs up! Victoria & Albert museum 2007-12-05 12:48:10 I went to see a fashion exhibition at the V&A museum in South Kensington. This glamorous exhibition focuses on Parisian and British couture between 1947-1957, a decade that Christian Dior described as the "Golden Age' of fashion. On display are stunning gowns and exquisite tailoring from designers such as Balenciaga, Norman Hartnell, Balmain and Givenchy, and Dior.
Dior's launch of the "New Look' for his first collection in 1947 shocked and delighted the fashion world, creating a new style that symbolised femininity. The full skirts and hour-glass silhouettes were considered highly decadent, synonymous with luxury, opulence and prosperity, following the austerity of the war years.
The exhibition explores the creation of couture design from the post war era to the global success of the major fashion brands by the late 1950s, at which point fashion began to change, influenced by the "youth-quake' of the early 60s. The skill and craftsmanship of haute couture is show, Read more:Albert
Thumbs up! Busaba Eathai 2007-12-16 08:25:37
I was really looking forward to our christmas party as we had booked a room in a Thai restaurant and Thai is one of my favourite cuisines. Busaba Eathai is a chain created by Alan Yau, they guy behind Wagamama’s, the fantastic Japanese ramen noodle resaurants. There are usually long queues outside and you’re not able to make reservations. So we booked their private room for our christmas party. The ambience is nice, dark and moody with dim lighting and dark woods. They have Wagamama-style communal benches and tables, so it’s not intimate-dinner-for-two style, you can’t lean back in your chair, it’s busy, it’s more like a factory, and you’re sharing your table with strangers. This means it’s hard to have a decent conversation without distraction and people seem to be shouting at each other, so the private room suited me much better as it was quieter, with just one long table which seated up to 25.
I saw the floors were slate, and the wal
Text-a-taxi 2007-12-16 06:37:07
A scheme to help deaf and hard of hearing people live more independent lives has been operating in Teesside for a few months.
The Middlesbrough Deaf Centre has teamed up with taxi operator Blue Line Taxis to help deaf people get out and about without relying on relatives. Deaf people can now send a text message to the operator by dialling 0795 873 0076 and requesting a taxi.
The service will then text back to say when the taxi will arrive. It is available seven days a week.
Why isn’t this service available in London? It’s a simple one to put in place and would benefit so many people.
Thumbs up! ASK 2007-12-15 14:30:37
This restaurant has a varied menu which boasts tasty Italian dishes such as pasta and pizza with toppings of your choice. This branch of ASK also offers a takeaway service.
We had trouble the moment we walked in.
- No dogs!
- He’s an assistance dog.
- No sorry, we can’t allow dogs in here.
- Can I speak to the manager please.
The manager came out and he was perfectly happy to let us come in and eat. Oh, the embarrassment, though! We were shown to a table right at the back, away from all the other customers, which suited me fine as it was a little quieter there. Things got better as the waiter asked if Smudge would like some water and brought over a bowl, and gave him a few pats on the head throughout our meal.
The selection of food wasn’t great - just pizza and pasta, without any main meat or fish dishes and a single choice of beer. We had garlic bread to start which was ok, just like those in Poppadom Express. The mains were OK but just like “best-of” r
Thumbs up! Chutneys 2007-12-23 09:53:24 - No dogs are allowed in here
- He’s a Hearing Dog for Deaf People
- A Hearing Dog! Ooohhh! That’s fine then!
We hit a vegetarian Indian for lunch, but once we got past the access issue, we sat at a table in the small crowded restaurant and tied Smudge’s lead to a chair leg. For the entire meal, he stayed quietly under the table (good boy). Chutneys provides an all-you-can-eat buffet for about £6 and it is great value. A notice on the wall made me laugh - “One plate each please”. The food was good, very filling, and there was lots to choose from. There were about six different curries and chutneys - they even had apple chutney and lemon chutney which was delightful. For pudding I had Gulaab Jamun (very sweet dough balls, like mini doughnuts) with rice pudding and fruit. We had Tikka beer and Kingfisher beer - the Tikka had quite a striking taste to it but the Kingfisher was more mellow. They sell organic red wine at only £8.95 a bottle. The atmosphere is
Lipreading flat faces 2008-03-11 19:32:53 DCAL (Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre) are running a forensic lip reading course for people with top lip reading skills. The pilot course has already started however more should be in the pipeline.
I’ve been lip reading all my life and it’s a great party trick.
(me) - Oi! Say something Ken, without using [...] Read more:faces
New deaf blog 2008-03-10 17:36:50 My friend Lette has set up a blog for the Irish readers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Go check out Say What? Ireland.
Exclusion 2008-03-07 06:17:30 We checked out the Juan Muñoz exhibition at the Tate Modern, spread out over 14 rooms.
In room 10 there was a particularly striking sculpture called Many Times. 100 Chinese people were gathered in small groups, all deep in conversation and grinning at something. The viewer is excluded from the conversations and the groups as [...]
Lipspeaking tour of Windsor Castle 2008-03-05 18:02:08 Information on a lipspeaking tour has come from St James’s Palace.
Royal Collection Education - WindsorCastle
BSL and Lipspeaking Interpreted Guided Tour
Saturday 12 April 2008, 13:30
Explore 1,000 years of history and discover a royal palace through their BSL & Lipspeaking interpreted guided tour of Windsor Castle.
A Windsor Castle tour guide will take you through the Precincts [...]
Anna says deaf awareness makes sense 2008-03-05 14:14:09 Anna Lickley is an inspiration to others as she runs Sense-Ability, a successful business raising deaf awareness and teaching sign language, whilst coping with profound deafness and Neurofibromatosis. She graduated from university with a degree in French. Here I ask her about her business and how she came to be where she is today.
Tell us [...] Read more:makes
OH. MY. GOD. 2008-03-04 17:22:02 I read Li-Li’s blog regularly and her post-CI audiogram has been posted.
I am in shock.
And awe.
Just LOOK at that jump in her hearing!
Way to go Li-Li! Woohoooo!
Interpreters 2008-02-29 18:01:36 Unqualified interpreters are being employed at police stations and at Court, to provide a service that must be accurate and professionally undertaken.
Only interpreters from the ‘National Register of Public Service Interpreters’ should be used for judicial purposes (including the initial stages of an investigation). Members have proved themselves to be proficient, having passed stringent exams, [...]
From human to cyborg 2008-02-29 16:48:51 I’ve been doing some research on cochlear implants and have come across a fascinating article on how a deaf man learns to hear music again after getting an implant. My Bionic Quest for Bolero was written by Michael Chorost, it charts his attempts to hear Bolero’s beauty again, as he had heard it before he [...] Read more:human
Withdrawal of Access to Work funding? 2008-02-28 08:07:27 I have just heard of a Department for Work and Pensions current consultation document that includes a proposal to withdraw Access
to Work Funding from Public sector bodies - see the link below.
Full consultation
The relevant section is Chapter 5 from page 57 onwards and, in particular, paragraphs 23 - 25. The consultation questions are on [...]
Audiograms 2008-02-23 16:00:04 Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you …
… my left ear!
… and my right ear!
These pretty graphs illustrate my hearing (or lack of it). The vertical axis charts loudness (or level of sounds) in decibels. Loud sounds are at the bottom, quiet sounds are at the top. Conversation is 65 db, a jet taking off [...]
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