VI-Friendly Edinburgh Festival Fringe Shows
Extant, the UK's leading professional performing arts company of blind and visually impaired artists, has announced plans to make an Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue fully accessible for visually impaired audiences. This landmark collaboration will take place for the first time with ZOO Venues at the world's largest arts festival this summer, in partnership with Sight Scotland and Visually Impaired Creators Scotland (VICS).
Last year, there were approximately only 40 shows across the whole of Edinburgh Fringe with audio description. Extant's plans for this year's festival marks the first time a venue will be fully accessible for visually impaired audiences and highlights the company's dedication to increasing the number of accessible shows.
Three performances at ZOO will headline the initiative, each featuring Extant Enhance – a bold and innovative programme that reimagines access as a creative and collaborative process. Extant Enhance provides live programme notes and tactile touch tours before performances, led by members of the performing company. These interventions offer visually impaired audiences a rich and immersive experience that goes far beyond traditional access models. The three shows are Holly Gifford's Big Little Sister, Shaper/Caper's Small Town Boys and Full Out Formula/Almanac Projects' I Think It Could Work.
This exciting partnership sets a new benchmark for accessible programming – not only at the Fringe, but UK wide. It represents a shared commitment to creating space for blind and visually impaired artists and audiences to be seen, heard and celebrated.
Find out more about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe eventsBraille 200
In 1825, Louis Braille invented the reading code of 6 tactile dots that we are familiar with today: braille. He was only 16 years old and attending the institute for the blind in Paris when he developed it and started using it as a means to communicate with his schoolmates. Since then, braille has been used by blind people across the globe for communication, education, professional and personal development and social participation.
In 2025 Blind people around the world will celebrate this huge achievement. Find out what is happening at your local society or organisation for people with visual impairment. #Braille200
Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) health survey
Are you interested in taking part in research on the physical and mental health issues experienced by people with CVI?
We are seeking adults (18+) who have CVI and parents/caregivers of children (any age) who have CVI from anywhere in the world to complete a short online survey.
Our research is looking at the physical and mental health issues experienced by people with CVI to help determine what further research needs to be done in this area and what supports/services should be available for people with CVI. We also hope to be able to collate strategies that are used to reduce the impact of these issues to share with the CVI community.
If you would like to take part in this research, please follow the link or use the QR code: https://massey.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6Xzz3EydspKxHv0
Dr Nicola McDowell, Massey University, New Zealand, n.mcdowell@massey.ac.nz
Professor John Ravenscroft, The University of Edinburgh, John.Ravenscroft@ed.ac.uk- SSC eBulletin: August 2024
Disability SMART Inclusive Communication Campaign Award
With the Royal Society, we were awarded Highly Commended in the Disability SMART Inclusive Communication Campaign Award last night for developing new 400 BSL signs for Environmental Science. The BSL Glossary team of 20 was overjoyed to be recognised for their work on this 16-month project. Gary Quinn, Assistant Professor of Sign Linguistics at Heriot-Watt University and a core member of the Glossary team and Jen McDonald, EDI lead at the Royal Society, collected the award in London on behalf of the team.- SSC eBulletin: March 2024
Research Project: Guiding principles and codes of practice
Rachel O'Neill and Rob Wilks are conducting interviews with Teachers of Deaf Children and Young people (TODs) on the Ethical dilemmas they face in their work with deaf children and families.
HE Students with VI Research
Prof John Ravenscroft is involved in a new research project looking for university students with vision impairment (VI), adults with VI who have completed a university degree within the last 5 years, professionals from national organisations and university staff to participate in the first phase. For more details, please email i.manitsa@bham.ac.ukCRIDE
The CRIDE UK committee have released an article to help Heads of Services understand what CRIDE is and how the survey is developed in advance of the 2024 Survey.
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Browse EdSign Lectures list collated by Dr Audrey Cameron.
- SSC Bulletin: November 2023
- SSC Bulletin: August 2023
BATOD National/FEAPDA/NCSE Joint Congress, April 2024
The theme is Diversity in deaf education and the call for contributions is now open.
Joint congress detailsDr Audrey Cameron OBE
We are proud to see our colleague and friend Dr Audrey Cameron recognised for all her hard work as she has been appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to Chemical Sciences and inclusion in Science Communications in King Charles III first Birthday honours list (June 2023).- SSC eBulletin: June 2023
We were delighted to receive this accolade for our recent work on Computing Science, Cybersecurity and Data Science:
"This project has delivered approximately 500 British Sign Language terms relating to data science, cybersecurity, and computing science as part of a drive to ensure the Deaf community have equitable access to qualifications and careers in these fields. Videos have been created for each of the signs, alongside additional videos of definitions describing each of the terms in language suitable for school learners. In less than a year, this content has been viewed by 54,000 users."- SSC eBulletin: April 2023
World Braille Day 2023
"This month marks the 214th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille in Coupvray France in 1809. In recognition of Louis Braille’s life and legacy, the United Nations in 2018 proclaimed January 4th as World Braille Day.
To progress the right to education for all children, we need teachers who ignite curiosity, self-confidence, motivation, and a love of learning in their students. We need knowledgeable and inspiring teachers of braille who provide children and young people with effective literacy skills to succeed in their chosen education and vocational fields, including science, technology, engineering, mathematics, music, and foreign languages."
ICEVI Message for World Braille Day 2023
- SSC eBulletin: December 2022
2nd International Symposium on Physical Activity and Visual Impairments or Deafblindness
A follow-up to the last international conference hosted by SSC is being organised by Lauren Lieberman and will be held in Parma, Italy, 8-11th June 2023. Proposals for research presentations, practical sessions, and research posters are being accepted now! Deadline: 15th December 2022.
Deaf Education in Scotland and Wales
Rachel O'Neill and Rob Wilks have been working together on a review of the impact of the Scottish national BSL plan on deaf education. The study has reached phase 2 looking at the potential for BSL-medium or bi-lingual education. The blog with links to the report and the summaries in BSL, Welsh, Gaelic and English are available:
Deaf Education in Scotland and Wales blogNDCS Publication Update: Meningitis and Deaf Children
The publication "Meningitis and Childhood Deafness" by NDCS (National Deaf Children's Society) has had an update and can be downloaded:
NDCS WebsiteBritish Cochlear Implant Group Updates
Each year BCIG collect data from UK cochlear implant centre coordinators about the number of people using and receiving cochlear implants in the United Kingdom; from 2021-22 they also ask about referrals for CI.
The latest BCIG Annual UK Update has just been published.University Collaboration on BSL
As a culmination of work on BSL in Edinburgh and to mark International Day of Sign Languages on 23 September, the University of Edinburgh and Queen Margaret, Edinburgh Napier and Heriot-Watt universities came together to formally recognise their collaborative links to further strengthen BSL and deaf studies education and research.
Senior staff from each university have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and launched a collaborative identity – EdSign.
The formal agreement between the institutions demonstrates their forefront position to embed British Sign Language into higher education in Scotland and the UK.- SSC eBulletin: September 2022
- SSC eBulletin: June 2022
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British Academy of Audiology (BAA) 18th Annual Conference 2022
This conference will take place in Manchester Central Convention Complex on Thursday 13th and Friday 14th October 2022.
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Accredited Courses in Deafblind Studies at Birmingham City University
Birmingham City University (BCU) have teamed up with practitioners, academics and researchers working in the field of deafblindness to design two courses, which have been developed with and endorsed by Deafblind UK. Colleagues from Sense, Deafblind Scotland, Sense Scotland, Guide Dogs (Scotland) and the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (now Signature) also helped develop the courses. A certificate in professional studies which will be delivered online is now open for applications and a Diploma course is planned to start in March 2023.
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Listen Up Conference - 3rd November 2022
The UK Hearing Conservation Association are proud to introduce their first Conference; Listen Up to be held on the 3rd November 2022 in Manchester; they are compiling an exciting, inspiring and interactive event. Listen Up will focus on the opportunities for Prevention of NOISE induced harm and Prevention of SOUND induced harm; looking beyond the workplace.
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Deaf Awareness Week 2nd - 9th May 2022
The theme of this year's Deaf Awareness Week is Inclusion. Look out for tweets with the hashtags:
#DAW2022 #DeafAwarenessWeek #InclusionDeafness and #MyDeafStory
Sign language Week - 14th-20th March 2022
NDCS - Let's Work it Out: Deaf young people and employment
If you missed this conference, you can now purchase all the recordings and resources from the day. View over 10 hours of on-demand content at a time and place to suit you. Once purchased, you will have access to the conference catch-up until 30 November 2022. Discover inspirational and useful information to help you support deaf young people as they transition from school, college or university into employment. All presentations have BSL interpretation and captions.
British Academy of Audiology Quality Standards
The British Academy of Audiology (BAA) seek your input into the new Redefining the Good: Quality Standards in Paediatric Audiology document. This document provides Quality Standards for the provision of audiology services in the UK for children and young people from birth to 25 years of age, including transition to adult audiology services.
Feedback is requested by Friday, 11th March 2022 to admin@baaudiology.orgChild Audiology in Scotland
Rachel O'Neill has been following the recent reports on paediatric Audiology in Scotland and has translated the findings into an easy-to-read format, there are also BSL translations.
Update how you pay for SSC events
You will now see that any webinar that we charge for is now payable online via the University of Edinburgh's ePay system. Please change to this option if you can as it is the best, quickest way to guarantee your place.
SSC eBulletin: December 2021
CVIArt Conference & Exhibition
Our Conference and Exhibition of arts related to CVI or by artists with CVI held in November 2021 produced a number of recordings that are now available to view. They are being hosted by project partners CVI Scotland.
Research on COVID and children who are deaf or have visual impairment
Dr Eilidh McEwan is a deaf research assistant at the University of Roehampton, working with Dr Wolfgang Mann and Professor Adam Ockelford. They are currently recruiting participants for a British Academy-funded research project on deaf and vision-impaired children in England and Wales and their experiences of schools' measures to reduce the risk of COVID spreading with regard to children’s communication and socialisation needs.
They are specifically looking for deaf and vision impaired children and young people attending mainstream programmes (Key Stages 3, 4, 5), who follow the same curriculum as most other students in their year. Hearing and seeing siblings aged 11-18 are welcome, too! Everybody participating will be entered in a prize draw to win one of several £25 or £50 gift cards!
More information:
Competences Consultation & GTCS Standard for CLPL
Scottish Sensory Centre and colleagues have been working with the Scottish Government and the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS) to agree to the development of a new set of QTVI and QToD Competences that align with the GTCS's new Standard for Career Long Professional Learning.
We have developed a DRAFT set of competences and the Scottish Government has asked us to engage in stakeholder discussions with the profession about these competences. We seek your thoughts and comments on what we have developed. After we have collated your thoughts and comments on these drafts – we will deliver a version to the Scottish Government. We believe at this current time that the Scottish Government will also conduct a wider public consultation on these drafts so this is not your only opportunity to comment.
This is an open professional stakeholder exercise and we welcome comments from all professionals involved in the education of children with sensory impairment.
Including (Q)TVIs, (Q)ToDs educational psychologists, speech & language therapists, other therapists, paediatricians, orthoptists and ophthalmologists, audiologists, as well as other teachers.
Please note that these competences are only in draft form and were developed in small groups – we were only aiming to get at this stage, there may be a lot you agree with, disagree with, all views are welcome, and that we will try and take all points on board to develop a further set of competences that will then go out to public consultation through the Scottish Government.If you would like further information on this, please do not hesitate in contacting me or colleagues at the Scottish Sensory Centre.
Please respond by the end of November if you can.BATOD Language Modification CPD
The online Tier 1 Language Modification CPD resource has now been released.New CVI paper
Ravenscroft, J, St Clair Tracy, H, & Blaikie, A. (2021) Cerebral Visual Impairment on the Web: An exploration of an educational web resource as a bridge to public understanding. Frontiers in Communication, 186. Online notetaking course
There is currently an online notetaking course available from Note-Able Notetakers. If you are interested please contact them:
Phone and Text: 07714 232754
Skype: michael.peart45
Email: michael.peart@note-ablenotetakers.co.uk
Website: http://note-ablenotetakers.co.uk/BATOD webinar series
The BATOD webinar series features a broad range of themes and speakers. The specialist topics, additional professional updates and information from a range of sponsors would be of interest to staff supporting deaf learners in all settings. The series can be accessed as a five session package, at a discounted price, or as standalone sessions. These quality evidence-based CPD sessions, available at the touch of the fingertip, are captioned with BSL interpretation and 21 day post-event on-demand access.
NDCS resources: BSL in Scotland
NDCS have recently produced 2 new resources about BSL communication for deaf children: one aimed at parents; the other aimed at professionals:
Deaf Teachers of Deaf Children Q&A session: Thursday, 19 August, 7pm
Are you thinking of becoming a teacher? DToD is pleased to welcome two deaf teachers,
Simon Herdman and Liam McMulkin, who are recently qualified as primary and secondary
teachers respectively.
They will share their experiences of studying on their PGDE/PGCE courses and teaching
on school placements. They will be joined by Dr Audrey Cameron, a deaf PGDE tutor at
Moray House School of Education and Sport at University of Edinburgh. They will also
give tips and advice on how to apply for a teacher training course and DSA funding.
Malcolm Sinclair, vice chair of DToD, will chair the session.
There will be BSL/English interpretation and captions.
- BATOD are raising awareness of CMV and a CMV Action Petition
- SSC eBulletin: June 2021
CVI and ART, (CVIART) – sensing things differently
Professor John Ravenscroft has been awarded an AHRC EDI engagement fellowship:
This fellowship provides a bridge between academic work concerning CVI and the understanding of CVI needed by parents, carers, and professionals as well as children themselves. This will be achieved through the interweaving of theory and the creative areas of art, music and dance. It aims to provide for the very first time through music, dance and art, ways of explaining and understanding CVI, and more importantly understanding what a child with CVI may perceive.Staying safe online - Deaf Zone
- SSC eBulletin: December 2020
COVID 19
Staff are currently working from home please bear with us. There are translations of COVID 19 announcements and information in BSL available at the BDA Website. Information from us is being put out on our Twitter and Facebook feeds while we are away from the office. Stay safe!- SSC eBulletin: June 2020
Deaf Education Matters Scotland
A new Facebook Group was set up in June 2020 to discuss how to cope with Covid-19 in deaf education. In the group there are parents of deaf children, some D/deaf themselves, some teachers of deaf children and support staff who work in schools, members of voluntary groups such as West of Scotland Deaf children’s society, and other interested professionals, e.g. representatives from education audiology, BSL teachers and the CI team at Kilmarnock.
- SSC eBulletin: April 2020
- SSC eBulletin: February 2020
- SSC eBulletin: October 2019
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Sight and Sound Technology have released a series of videos (and audio only files) of their summer school sessions covering topics such as: Shortcuts, Ruby Magnifiers, Zoomtext, and Focus Braille Displays.
- SSC eBulletin: June 2019
How Good is our Sensory Service?
On 1st May 2019 we launched our new standards document How Good is our Sensory Service? A Framework for Auditing and Evaluating the Quality of our Sensory Services. This document is available from the Scottish Sensory Centre and is also downloadable from our website.Learning to Access: VIEW discussion paper
Looks at why a new UK specialist curriculum to enable equitable participation in education for children and young people with vision impairment is necessary. The aim of is to start a discussion about the need for a national, UK specialist curriculum for vision impairment (VI) education that addresses the development and learning needs associated with blindness and partial sight and reflects the distinctive skills required by learners with VI.
- SSC eBulletin: February 2019
- provides a collection of freely available scientific articles by distinguished scientists that are shaped for younger audiences by the input of their own young peers. Read more ...
Recommended reading by the BSL Glossary Team!
- BSL Glossary
We have now organised BSL Glossary Chemistry and Physics signs into subcategories.
- SSC eBulletin: October 2018
National Eye Health Week
Optometrist warns we are absorbing more than 10 times too much blue light from digital device screens. Read more ...Scottish Course to Train Tutors of Lipreading (SCTTL) - New 2019 Scottish Course Open for Applications!
SCTTL plan to run the course which will be six weekends between January and September. You must be able to attend all six study weekends to complete the course. The weekends are full days Saturday and Sunday and it is hoped that Forth Valley Sensory Centre will be the venue.
Unfortunately at this moment specific dates cannot be set. Response and confirmation from course applicants are needed before the venue can be booked. Confirmation of dates will be possible once applications are received or at the latest around September 2018.
This is an intensive course which involves a lot of study and course work to be completed between study weekends. As well as practical teaching on a weekly basis.
If you have already completed an application for last year's course, please get in touch at the e-mail below but there should be no need to re-do your application unless your details have changed.
Please contact us on scttlipreading@gmail.com for more information.Addiction Resource
Addiction Resource raises awareness of the dangers of addiction and helps K-12 students stay drug and bully-free: https://addictionresource.com/drug-abuse-and-bullying/Access2Books
The dual format book company have reopened their shop owing to public demand following their closure in December 2017. The company will run on a restricted schedule and will only produce and ship books between November and March.
http://www.access2books.org/- SSC eBulletin: May 2018
- Tactile Collider
SSC will be hosting a demonstration of the Tactile Collider which allows children who are visually impaired to experience the amazing science of CERN's Large Hadron Collider on Tuesday 12th June 2018 in Edinburgh. More ...
- SSC eBulletin: February 2018
Doorway Text Type 3
Text Type 2 is the well-used touch typing tutor on the Doorway Online site; www.doorwayonline.org.uk
It was specifically designed for visually impaired learners, with large text, clear screen and auditory prompting and feedback. We have designed a replacement that is an improvement on an already excellent touch typing tutor and will work with almost any device that is found in the school and home environment; PCs, laptops, Macs, tablets and Chrome books.
Text Type 3 will be our second multi-platform Doorway activity, following Doorway Cashing In. It will be released in two phases.
- Phase 1 will be a replacement for TT2 with several new features, including WPM score and keeping track of the accuracy score in the previous sessions. TT3 will suggest whether an exercise should be repeated or whether the learner should move on to the next one.
- Phase 2 is designed to give access to touch typing practice to learners with very low vision. As well as the usual auditory feedback, it will read out screen messages and also the current line to be typed.
Between the two phases, there will be the chance for VI support staff to comment on the design and implementation.
The SSC has generously given us a grant to get us started on TT3. Please make a donation to help us complete the work.
If you wish to learn more or join a small group of evaluators/testers, please email: admin@doorwayonline.org.uk
Or to follow developments, like our Facebook page: Doorway Online.
British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan 2017-2023
The Scottish Government has just published its BSL National Plan. This plan sets out Scotland's ambition to be the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work and visit. The document looks at ten long-term goals covering early years and education; training and work; health; culture and the arts; transport; justice and democracy.
... Read the BSL National Plan
BSL Education App - Access the BSL Glossary on your mobile!
On Tuesday, 5th September at Dynamic Earth our BSL Education app will be launched by the group of deaf young people who helped the SSC with the development and design of the app.
The event will be attended by groups of deaf children from Falkirk, Dingwall and Glasgow. They will watch a science show using the signs, and be introduced to the new app,
which is free to download from Google play and the App store.
Learn More ...
Lilian Lawson: Honorary Doctorate
On 6th July 2017, Lilian Lawson will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. Lilian has spent her life campaigning for deaf people's rights and access to communication. Lilian was the driving force behind the BSL Scotland Act which was passed in 2015.
The SSC/Moray House has had a long association with Lilian, stretching back to her involvement in the Edinburgh BSL project in the 1970s and 80s which began the recognition of BSL as a language. During that time Lilian was involved in writing the seminal book Words in Hand. Until her retirement, Lilian also served on the SSC's Advisory committee where we benefited from her wisdom.
Here is a video of Lilian talking about her life and career for BSL Zone:
http://www.bslzone.co.uk/watch/close-lilian-lawson/
Pictured: Lilian with John Denerley at SCoD launch of Deaf People at Work DVD at Moray House, 2011.
The FIESTA Best Practice Report
by Professor John M Davis and Professor John Ravenscroft is now available from the SSC website licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. VI Awareness Resource:
My Story by Kathryn Robertson
Kathryn and her dad have made a 9 minute video about her visual impairment.SSC Bulletin: March 2017
Scottish Government’s Draft British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan Consultation
Deadline: Wednesday, 31st May 2017.
This draft plan covers the whole of the Scottish Government and over 50 national public bodies that Scottish Ministers have responsibility for. Other public bodies, including local authorities and regional NHS boards, will publish their own BSL plans next year. This first BSL National Plan will cover the next six years to 2023.
Scottish Government Consultation Website:
http://bit.ly/bslnationalplan
Scottish Government Consultation Facebook:
http://fb.me/bslnationalplan
Deaf Sector Partnership Website:
www.deafsectorpartnership.net
Deaf Sector Partnership Facebook:
www.facebook.com/groups/1470165406637765/
Anyone in Scotland can contribute to the consultation. If you have any questions, contact: admin@deafsectorpartnership.net
Ballyland Rotor App
Coming soon! New educational app for children who are blind or have low vision http://ballyland.com/mobile/ballyland-rotor-app.phpDeaf Friendly Games for a Children's Party - Infographic
Gives several tips and ideas for parents who are holding a children's party where deaf children may be in attendance. The games suggested are inclusive, allowing all children to play together. You can find the infographic here:
https://www.woodentoyshop.co.uk/blog/deaf-friendly-games-for-a-childrens-party/4673Bulletin November 2016
- We are very pleased to announce that Dr John Ravenscroft, the Head of the Scottish Sensory Centre, has been made a Professor of Childhood Visual Impairment at the University of Edinburgh. Congratulations to John!
NDCS Supporting Achievement resources
have been updated and republished. (We picked up a spare copy of the Secondary booklet at a recent event.)
These resources are for mainstream education staff on how to support deaf children and young people in various settings. http://www.ndcs.org.uk/supportingachievement- GIRFEC Easy Read Guides People First and Alliance Scotland have produced these helpful easy-read guides to GIRFEC, we have added the links to our website.
Bulletin: April 2016
Canaan Barrie 'on body' Sign System
We often get queries about the Canaan Barrie signs (previously published under 'Movement, Gesture and Sign'
and later 'Learning Together' by RNIB). Recently we have been working with Mary Lee to make the signs available as individual files for you to download and use.
http://www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk/canaanbarrie/Your Eyes Manual
ICEVI-Europe has endorsed this manual, which aims to encourage early diagnosis in blindness prevention and highlight the
issues of vision loss. Available from the ICEVI-Europe website:
http://www.icevi-europe.org/files/your_eyes_booklet_final_2.pdfBulletin: January 2016
MOLLVIS App evaluation
European colleagues from Germany, Italy, Romania, and Edinburgh have been working on a German Language Learning app for Apple, Android and Windows mobile devices. The apps have been designed specifically for users who are blind and visually impaired, but also hopefully attractive to the sighted user - a fully inclusive app.
If you or a pupil/student or someone you know is studying German or would like to evaluate the app then please download “MOLLVIS” from App Store or Google Play (for Android) (The Windows version will be released soon.)
Once downloaded, choose the English speaking version. It will download the language files. (It's suggested you do this on wi-fi as the files are quite large.)
It would help the development of the app if you could evaluate the app. Please use the following links:
For Teachers evaluating the student learning and app:
http://goo.gl/forms/Yd1WrgsKhf
For Learners (pupils/students and users):
http://goo.gl/forms/VbJazrqy09
If you want to send any other comments on the Project, please contact: john.ravenscroft@ed.ac.uk
VINCYP Award
VINCYP has come second in the Bayer Ophthalmology Honours awards in the category of Best Patient Support or Education Initiative. The entry was highly commended and the judges commented:
“This initiative offers an impressive, cohesive plan for children. The objectives and strategy for the network are clear and it is already impacting positively on care delivery. This is a worthwhile initiative and broad implementation will benefit patients significantly.”
Full info available at ophthalmologyhonours.bayer.co.uk/2015-results/
Carnegie Mellon Students Release Ed Software for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Sign language dictionary builder for local signs and an app that encourages sound productionEuan's Guide
is a disabled access review site where disabled people and friends, family members and carers share their experiences of accessibility across the country. So far there are over 2300 places on the site across 700 UK towns, ranging from sports grounds and concert venues to more everyday places such as coffee shops and post offices. The site aims to be a positive resource, focusing more on good practice and getting feedback back to venues on things to improve. Euan's Guide aims to become a go-to knowledge bank on accessibility that will empower disabled people by providing greater choice of places to go, and act as a mechanism for getting their views on accessibility heard. They are particularly keen to hear from more visually impaired or deaf people. It is a new charity, based in Edinburgh.
For more background and to write a review please visit www.euansguide.comPeek Vision
The app produced from the SightSim project is now available for free to use on Android.
Go to: Google play store and type in Peek Vision to find the App.
Or enter: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.peekvision.lite.android
It is part of the visual acuity testing set up available for free from Peek, the organisation setting up eye care services in Africa centred upon the set of devices and software that can be used with mobile phones.
Once the vision has been determined and entered, the image that is seen using the camera is a split screen real time presentation of how you are seeing on one side and how the person with low vision is seeing on the other.
Gordon Dutton says "Do try it out!
I've found that it works on phones with fast processors but not slow ones."
- RNIB has produced a list of Key information and statistics on sight loss http://www.rnib.org.uk/knowledge-and-research-hub/key-information-and-statistics
SSC response to Education & Culture Committee's Inquiry into attainment of school pupils with a sensory impairment
(PDF)SSC Bulletin: March 2015
MoLLVIS project
plans to create German language learning apps for Windows, Apple and Android devices.NDCS Acoustics Toolkit Update
NDCS recently published a series of resources "Creating good listening conditions for learning in education". This replaces the old NDCS Acoustics Toolkit. These resources include: A briefing with practical suggestions for mainstream teachers; A PowerPoint training presentation for ToDs to deliver to mainstream teachers; Surveys for assessing pupil views and preliminary checks on listening environments; A parent factsheet; A guide for commissioners; Quality marks that schools may want to consider using to demonstrate that they have good listening conditions.
The resources are available online at: www.ndcs.org.uk/acoustics. To ensure it can be kept up to date quickly and easily, there will be no hard copies.
Tina Wakefield and Stuart Whyte will be giving a presentation on these new resources at the BATOD Conference in Edinburgh in March.
SSC Bulletin: January 2015
- The first EdSign of 2015 will be a special event at the Royal Observatory! Reaching for the Stars by Audrey Cameron, Gary Quinn and Tania Johnston Tuesday, 13th January 2015 6.30pm - 8.00pm.
How can we improve communication of astronomy to the Deaf community? By creating nearly 100 BSL signs for astronomy, that's how! A ground-breaking project has done just that: from signs for each of the planets, to signs for concepts such as black holes and red giants. A tour of the observatory will also be included. BSL/English interpretation available. See also SSC BSL Astronomy Glossary
Cerebral Visual Impairment in Children: A Practical Approach
A reminder about this very useful online course created by Professor Gordon Dutton. Purchase required.Achievement and Opportunities for Deaf Students in the United Kingdom
: The final report is now available from this project which followed up some of the children identified by the SSC's ADPS project.
Funded by the Nuffield Foundation and undertaken by
Rachel O’Neill, Julie Arendt and Marc Marschark at the University of Edinburgh. https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/achievement-and-opportunities-deaf-students-0FIESTA Newsletter: October 2014
Includes information about the outcomes of the project and a request for inclusion stories from your pupils. To receive your own updates and access to resources, register for free here: http://www.fiesta-project.eu/user/registerSSC Bulletin: October 2014
- Check out this new project on Habilitation or Orientation, Mobility and Independence skills for children who are visually impaired STEP UP: Safe Travel and movement through the Environment for young learners with visual impairment. Promoted by all! Understanding and Participation
- Getting IT right for pupils with visual impairments (Eye Right): produced by the ICT Policy and Practice Group:
Eye Right
Word Document
Eye Right PDF
- Ototoxicity & Hearing Loss Webinar: The British Society of Audiology are pleased to introduce the next Lunch & Learn eSeminar. They are available free of charge and are provided in collaboration with Phonak iLearn. Please request connection through Firewalls with your local IT department if this is your first eLearning experience.
To watch the recording: https://connect.sonova.com/p80w5y1k9v6/
SSC Bulletin: May 2014
SSC Bulletin: March 2014
Update on VI Scotland project
- We are getting a lot of bounced emails at the moment, please contact us if your email address has changed and/or if you are not receiving mailings as expected. sscmail@ed.ac.uk
SSC December Bulletin
SSC November Bulletin
SSC September Bulletin
Support for the New National Literacy Units
(pdf)
SQA has produced a quick and easy guide to supportive practices for National Literacy Units. This guide may be helpful to centres, learners, parents, carers and others interested in support for the National Literacy Units. A braille copy of the leaflet is also available from SQA.
Please email PNPadmin@sqa.org.uk if you wish a copy.SSC August Bulletin
Graduate Diploma: Specialist Qualification in Habilitation and Disabilities of Sight (Children and Young People)
validated by the Institute of Education, University of London and run in London, Wakefield or Edinburgh
Do you want to become an Habilitation Assistant or an Habilitation Specialist (or know someone who does), directing and implementing mobility and independence work with children and young people from birth to age 25 who are blind or visually impaired and may have other needs? If you work with visually impaired children and young people and want to gain a recognised qualification and develop your career.
Graduate Diploma: Specialist Qualification in Habilitation and Disabilities of Sight (Children and Young People)
For further information refer to http://www.ioe.ac.uk/study/PDI9_CYP9IM.html or
Email Kim Reynolds, Programme Administrator: k.reynolds@ioe.ac.uk Really Useful Guide to Living with Sight Loss
New VI Awareness series on YouTube
Introduction to the Perkins Brailler now on You Tube
Sensory Stories for young VI children now on You Tube
Lorna's practical guides to how to make up a sensory experience for sensory storytelling. This resource will build up over time.
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