Sinead Cregan, Adult Commissioning Manager within Adult Social Care, Leeds City Council, responded immediately and accepted an invitation to a request from service-users at Shire View to come and speak with them.

In conversation with Michelle Astbury, our Manager responsible for service delivery at Shire View, Sinead was pleased to confirm she will speak at “a service-user led meeting”.

Having just held a meeting of a “Service User Panel”, which is contributing input to the coHearentVision bid for Tender LCC4177 (Leeds Severely Sight Impaired and Sight Impaired – LSSISI), the Panel members felt that it would make the most of the opportunity to have a facilitator for the meeting. Trustee Stephen Goulding M.B.E. has volunteered his services to facilitate the meeting which will be held at Shire View on Wednesday 29 September at 11.00 a.m.  Janet Scarfe will act as note-taker.  Refreshments will be provided.  If you wish to attend but have transport problems, please contact Michelle Astbury or Mick Cooper at Shire View (Telephone: 0113 214 4544).

CoHearentVision has once again supported a local sports star by matching the money already raised to aid her plight to get to the European Deaf Badminton Championships.

Andrea Hardwick from Leeds is trying to raise enough money towards her trip to Bulgaria for the Championships held later this month. If you would like to donate some money to help Andrea reach her goal please contact CoHearentVision  by emailing us at info@cohearentvision.org.uk.

CoHearentVision wish Andrea the best of luck with the competition.

Do you want to learn a new language.

Do you want to experience a new community.

Do you want to learn a whole new skill?

Well here’s your chance!  Come to coHearentVision and learn British Sign Language!

Our next intake for our popular: beginners, level 1 and level 2 courses will be week beginning September 6th and although we’ve had a lot of interest we do still have some places left.

You can either download a poster and an enrolment form from our website click here

e-mail dbaware@cohearentvision.org.uk

or call us on 0113 246999

We look forward to welcoming you on our courses

Having been a Trustee for several years and with ever-increasing family and personal commitments, our much-liked colleague Gary Peck has decided to stand down from the coHearentVision Board of Trustee’s.  Gary’s work with the Mental Health Trust has also placed a much greater work burden on the time that he has available to carry out his Trustee duties.

Gary, himself Hard of Hearing and a qualified Social Worker, had a specific remit in connection with our provision of Social Work intervention for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people although he took a great interest in all areas of our operations.  With the recent closure of our Social Work Team, Gary has been closely involved over the past couple of years with the review of those activities and how coHearentVision should structure its support in the future.

Gary said: “The huge change in my circumstances make it impossible to give as much time as I would want to.  Alas, a Trustee is useless if they are not active and that is the truth. It seems a sad way to end my association with coHearentVision but the Board must be allowed to take it forward as they see fit and with whoever they feel can get them there. I wish coHearentVision all the best for the future and hope that the next few months give it more direction and impetus with the Tender process.  You will always have my support and respect.  I am extremely proud to have served the as a Trustee and thank you for that experience. I hope one day I may find myself again playing some role but now is not that time”.

Sam Green, Chair of coHearentVision, said: “Gary has been a hugely supportive Trustee and given me and fellow Trustee’s the benefit of his experience, particularly in the areas of deafness, hearing loss and work with children.  I am sure that he will contribute to our development in the future and, for the moment, we wish him well in his personal and professional life”.

Mike Gerwat, Vice Chairman, said: “I fully understand why Gary has stood aside and it is typical of the man not to occupy a seat at the table when he knows he is unable to commit his time.  Gary has been a very straight-talking Trustee and brought common sense to proceedings when they have been much-needed.  I will miss his presence and his contributions but respect his decision”.

Rob Young, Chief Executive, said: “I have enjoyed working with Gary since I arrived here in 2008.  He has always been hugely supportive of me and the need to implement change: he was particularly supportive of the re-brand to coHearentVision and challenging the status quo in every area”.

Thanks are due to all the group of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers, service users and staff who volunteered for another extremely successful event for coHearentVision.  Held last month at Sainsbury’s supermarket on the Headrow in Leeds, they gave up some of  their valuable time to raise awareness and funds for coHearentVision raising a fabulous total of £544.70!

The money will all go towards Funding Shire View’s (coHearenetVision’s centre for Blind and DeafBlind People) first ever day trip to The Ponderosa Centre on the 9th September. The Ponderosa Centre is a rural therapeutic centre established to help bridge the gap between disabled and able bodied people.

We will be having another stall at Sainsbury’s Headrow store from Monday 16^th – Saturday 21^st August to try and beat the amount raised – so watch this space!!!!!

Michelle Astbury said “I think it’s wonderful when people come together to help raise our profile; and as for the amount we raised, “Wow” that’s all I can say. We rely on the generosity of the people of Leeds to fund these activities.  It’s a brilliant opportunity to bring everyone together from Shire View.’

If you would like to volunteer some of your time to work with coHearentvision please click here

or if you would like to Donate towards the great work we do with Sensory Impared people please click here

RNID Chief Executive Jackie Ballard announced the news on Twitter, during a live chat with supporters where she said the charity could face financial trouble if it didn’t widen its appeal.  The RNID is considering changing its name as it starts a rebranding process set to cost around £260,000.

“Our research told us the current brand is not well recognized and is a barrier to people who are hard of hearing,” said Ballard, “In a nutshell we think (and our research shows) that finance may get tighter if we don’t broaden our appeal.  We hope our rebrand will make us more relevant to everyone – Deaf, hard of hearing and hearing.  The total cost will be about £260,000 over 2-3 years.”

Ballard said the RNID planned to have a new website and new online presence by June 2011, while a new name was also mooted.

“The current name is a barrier,” said Ballard, “….. and many don’t consider themselves deaf so are put off.”

The RNID has engaged two specialist agencies for help with the rebrand – Spencer du Bois will help with the naming and strategy areas and Hat Trick Design will lead on the creative side.  The RNID has already had five names in its 100-year history including the National Bureau for Promoting the General Welfare of the Deaf in 1911 and the National Institute for the Deaf in 1924.

Rob Young, Chief Executive of coHearentVision said, “the RNID desire to re-brand mirrors the needs that we identified last year and the action we have already taken to help remedy the situation.  The RNID’s reasons, as a National charity, are no different to our research and appealing to hearing people was a significant factor in our Trustee’s decision to re-brand.  Interestingly, we didn’t engage specialist agencies to help re-brand and certainly didn’t have that sort of money to play with.  We wish Jackie Ballard good luck in the long over-due re-brand: especially if there is a big consultation process – she’ll probably need it!”

A team led by biologist Samer Hattar at The John Hopkins University found that mice that didn’t have any rods and cones function could still see; and not just light, but also patterns and images, courtesy of special photosensitive cells in the rodents’ retinas. Until now, it was presumed that those cells, called intrinsically photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells, (or ipRGCs), didn’t play a role in image formation but instead, served other functions, such as dictating when the animals went to sleep or woke up.  All mammals, including humans, have ipRGCs, as well as rods and cones.

“Up until now, it was assumed that rods and cones were the only cells capable of detecting light to allow us to form images,” said Hattar, “But our study shows that even mice which were blind could form low-acuity yet measurable images, using ipRGCs. The exciting thing is that, in theory at least, this means that a blind person could be trained to use his or her ipRGCs to perform simple tasks that require low visual acuity.”

“Visual acuity” refers to the sharpness or clarity of a person’s (or animal’s) vision. Someone with so-called “20/20 vision” can see clearly at a distance of 20 feet what the “average” human being can see at that distance. In contrast, a person with “20/100″ vision would have to stand 20 feet away from, for instance, an image that the average person could read from 100 feet away.

Read the whole article at: Medical News Today item http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/194846.php

When the new coHearentVision website was lauched just after New year 2010 it was deliberately set up with a Forum page to allow users to state their opinions and give (hopefully) constructive comments on services provided by coHearentVision.  Our Forum page allows anyone to start a thread and hopefully get answers to questions or suggest useful tips to other member of the Various Deaf, Blind, Deaf/Blind and hard of Hearing communities in Leeds.

Rob young (Chief Executive coHearentVison) commented that ‘I for one am very disappointed that we have not managed to attract more positive ideas and suggestions for the future and, equally, that so few Deaf/Blind people whom we provide services for seem to be engaged via the digital world. We definitely need to do more to attract people’s comments and will be working hard in this area to make this a reality

So we’re taking this opportunity to encourage all of you out there, be you Deaf, Blind, Deaf/Blind, hard of Hearing, or Hearing and Sighted, in Yorkshire or somewhere in cyberspace.  Join us and give us some good ideas for the future so we can carry on the good work we do with sensory impaired people inYorkshire.’

Click here to link to our Forum page

Jason Smyth the 100 metre runner from Ireland proved his point last night by getting to the semi finals  at the European Athletics Championships.   As a child, growing up in Londonderry, Smyth was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, a genetic disorder that resulted in partial loss of his vision leaving him with only 10% of his sight

Despite his sight loss Jason won two gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Beijing and this year he became the first Paralympian to qualify for the European Championships.

He aims to run in Both the Olympics and the Paralympics in the same year, at London 2012.

An inspiration to all he trains with Tyson Gay the second fastest man in the world.

Jason website is here Click here

Perhaps with the support of coHearentVision we could find a new star from the Blind, partially sighted, Deaf and hard of hearing community in Yorkshire?

School’s out and Deaf youngsters across Yorkshire are set for a tasty, fun-filled summer holiday thanks to coHearentVision’s Summer Play Scheme.

The region’s leading charity for deaf and blind people will be hosting a range of activities throughout the summer to keep deaf children and young people entertained until the start of the new academic year.

coHearentVision will be providing exciting trips to key tourist and educational centres throughout Yorkshire and beyond, including EUREKA, the Royal Armouries, Cadbury’s World and Lightwater Valley.

Workshops with urban art company, Suga Brown, and Huddersfield charity, Music and the Deaf, will also take place to encourage creative youngsters with a passion for performance to hone their skills and feel good about themselves.

Barbara Fraher, Youth Development Officer at coHearentVision, said: “School has finished for another summer and already our activity programme has attracted many deaf children and young people from the area. We’re always looking to welcome more to the scheme to make the most of the fantastic opportunities that have been presented to us by these leading organisations.

“The programme of events is designed to give deaf children and young people the chance to shine and really build their confidence to encourage social involvement.

“We rely heavily on donations from the public and businesses in the region to allow us to provide such exciting activities to our youngsters and in such troubled times, it’s great that we are able to provide such a comprehensive and inclusive programme of entertainment for our very talented children.”

The Summer Play Scheme is open to youngsters aged 5 – 15 years and will run from 3^rd – 26^th August 2010.

Any parents or carers interested in enrolling their child on the Summer Play Scheme, or for more information, contact Barbara Fraher at coHearentVision on 0113 200 5270 / 07775 444010 or email barbara.fraher@cohearentvision.org.uk

To donate please Click here or to find out more about coHearentVision, visit www.cohearentvision.org.uk or call 0113 243 8328.

Pic by Dino De Luca / FreeDigitalPhotos.net