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BUDDING ARTIST JOSEPH WOODS WINS NATIONAL COMPETITION
YOUNG
artist Joseph Woods from St Helens, has brushed up on his painting skills and won a national calendar design competition. The competition was organised to celebrate the art of hearing impaired children by Phonak UK, hearing systems specialists. Joseph's picture was chosen from more than 599 entries to represent October in the 2005 Phonak UK calendar.
The competition was looking for entries from 5 to 16-year-olds with hearing difficulties on the theme 'These are a few of our favourite things…' The calendar has been sent to the company's key customers.
Victoria Adshead, marketing manager for Phonak, said:- "We are committed to celebrating the achievements and talents of hearing impaired children. The response to the competition has been fantastic, we received hundreds of entries and the standard was extremely high. Joseph should feel very proud to be one of the lucky winners to have their art published in the calendar.
We had some very interesting entries; it's fantastic to see just how creative the children have been. Popular themes include family and animals and my favourites are from the very young children."
Joseph, aged 4, not only has his picture published in the calendar but is also rewarded with a £50 voucher of his choice. Joseph's school, St Helens Sensory Support Service, Parish CE Primary School, in St Helens will also receive a £50 Forrest Book shop vouchers.
FREE SOUND ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESS
IN recent research, it was revealing that over 75% of small to medium sized businesses are at risk of court action under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)*, because of failure to comply, so free on-site assessments and guidance is on offer.
RNID, representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, is offering the Louder than Words benchmark assessments to the first 30 small businesses from across the UK to contact them.
With around 230,000 deaf and hard of hearing people in Merseyside, the 13 criteria will test for accessibility for these customers and staff. The assessments benchmark organisations against what 'reasonable adjustments' may be required by the DDA for those with a degree of hearing loss. The Louder than Words assessments usually cost around £500 and takes a day to complete.
Jacqui Haskell has just been appointed Access Co-ordinator at RNID with the remit to deliver the free assessments funded by the Big Lottery. Jacqui says:-
"Nine million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing. This means that up to one in seven of businesses' potential clients and staff could have a hearing loss. With this
number of people having the right to make a legal case should they feel discriminated against through lack of
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" accessibility, the risk and potential damage to an organisation is tremendous. This risk is needless given that very often the adjustments to be DDA compliant are easy and cost effective to implement. By being more accessible, organisations also open their doors to more business."
To get more information on whether your organisation is eligible for the Louder than Words benchmarks, please e-mail
jacqueline.haskell@rnid.org.uk or phone David Bourne on 020 7296 8060.
NWDA connects Kensington with broadband
THE Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) is pleased to announce funding of £750,000 for a pilot project to introduce broadband into the Kensington area of Liverpool.
The innovative project, which will be led by Liverpool John Moores University's International Centre for Digital Content (ICDC) and MerseyBroadband, in partnership with Kensington New Deal for Communities, will provide a team of people to work with the local community to help them to access a wide range of services through a new interactive digital television channel. In addition it will train and encourage members of the local community to play a major role in developing their own content for the television channel, as well as providing local community and business information, and entertainment services.
Kevin Morley, NWDA Head of ICT Policy, said:- "This pilot project will provide a very useful service for this part of Merseyside, enabling those who would not normally be able to take advantage of broadband to access information and learn new skills. Run locally, the project will be designed to encourage the local community to contribute to how the network evolves and the range of services it offers."
Simon Robertshaw, Director of ICDC, said:- "This project will allow the local community in Kensington to access broadband in an innovative way. They won't just be viewers of iTV, but active creators of content. This is an exciting opportunity for a new technology to positively affect the Kensington community, particularly as it is targeted at people who may not usually be exposed to it."
Bob Jonas, Broadband Implementation Project Manager at MerseyBroadband, said:-
"By working directly with the Kensington community, MerseyBroadband is keen to discover and promote the most successful approaches to involving communities in producing their own rich media content and improving their awareness of the potential of broadband.
This project will provide a model template of how broadband knowledge and use can be rolled out to under-served areas across Merseyside, improving the skill base and demonstrating the economic and social benefits of a
broadband enabled community."
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