Education and Skills Secretary Estelle Morris and TV presenter Philippa Forrester today learned some British Sign Language from a deaf student, as part of a drive to use IT to revolutionise employment and training for deaf and hard of hearing people.
Deaf student Anthea Donkor met Estelle Morris and Philippa Forrester to mark the launch of a new website www.togetheritworks.org.uk - the first site ever to be presented in British Sign Language.
Estelle Morris and Philippa Forrester learned the signs for e-mail, World Wide Web, together IT works and how to fingerspell their names.
The website supports together IT works, a partnership between RNID and Barclays designed to provide deaf and hard of hearing people with targeted IT training and employment. According to RNID research, 19 per cent of deaf and hard of hearing people are unemployed, compared with five per cent of people of the general population. Many deaf and hard of hearing people are not developing IT skills as mainstream training courses do not meet their needs.
James Strachan, Chief Executive, RNID said:
The shockingly high unemployment rate amongst deaf and hard of hearing people represents a waste of talent which the UK simply can''t afford. Deaf people want the opportunity to gain IT skills and for their skills to be recognised. They want the opportunity to work, and together IT works supports these goals.
IT skills are now key to the job market. New text-based
technologies such as the Internet, e-mail and WAP have created enormous potential, enabling deaf and hard of hearing people to communicate more easily with hearing people. It is time to realise this potential.
By presenting the website in BSL together IT works uses technology to breakdown communication barriers for deaf and hard of hearing people - making the internet more accessible.
Morag Pavich, Barclays Community Affairs Manager, said:
Barclays supports true innovation and we want to make a lasting positive impact on people''s lives through our community projects. The partnership with RNID on together IT works reflects this. We are anticipating excellent results for deaf and hard of hearing people nation-wide.
* The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is the largest charity representing the needs of 8.7 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. As a membership charity, we aim to achieve a radically better quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people. We do this by campaigning and lobbying vigorously, by raising awareness of deafness and hearing loss, by providing services and through social, medical and technical research.
* RNID''s Employment, Learning and Skills Service (ELSS) helps deaf and hard of hearing people gain, sustain and progress in work and provides employers with advice and information to ensure they get the best skilled person for the job. To date the ELSS has helped nearly 800 deaf and hard of hearing people find work, work experience or training - that''s 67 per cent of registered clients.
* together IT works offers a variety of communication supports, for example sign language interpreters, speech-to-text operators and lipspeakers. This enables deaf and hard of hearing people to overcome communication barriers often found in conventional teaching methods.
* The website also now offers an instant-messaging advice service manned by its network of over 40 RNID Employment Advisers nation-wide. The service will instantly answer any questions that a deaf and hard of hearing person has on an IT related topic and provide on-line careers advice.
* In 2001 Barclays global commitment to the community amounted to #31.1 million, which includes 1% of UK pre-tax profits. As one of the UK''s largest corporate community contributors, the bank aims to achieve real and lasting benefit both for the community and Barclays, by supporting education, social inclusion, people with disabilities, the arts and the environment.
Estelle Morris and Philippa Forrester ''sign-up'' to sign language at the Department of Education an
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