Alison’s Update
September is often one of the most beautiful months in nature. Take the time to appreciate the colours and the abundance of the harvest before the winter sets in. As the poet W H Davies said, “What is life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.” It’s a time to reflect and to look forward.
We love lists!
You might have seen these before, but it’s useful to keep everything together in one document.
Volunteer Alison has shared this and if you have anything to add to it, please let us know.
| ENTERTAINMENT | |
| Your local cinema | yourlocalcinema.com |
| Club membership | Contact each club/society and ask what provision they have (my son did this with a football league club) |
| Theatre access (Local) | Contact your theatre and ask. |
| Theatre access (London) | officiallondontheatre.co.uk/access |
| CEA cinema card | ceacard.co.uk |
| Nimbus Scheme | Delfont Mackintosh Theatres – Free or Full access card cost £15 for three years for DMT venues across the UK & Beyond |
| Bloomberg Philanthropies | bloomberg.org guides for exhibitions and art galleries – brilliant if you have bluetooth enabled h/a’s |
| Soundprint | soundprint.co – an app to find quiet places and to measure sound levels. |
| TRAVEL | |
| Disabled railcard | disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk |
| Disabled person’s bus bass | Contact your local council |
| Airport Assistance | caa.co.uk |
| Rail assistance (passenger assist) | nationalrail.co.uk |
| Breakdown services like RAC Text Relay | Check any help available from your insurance company |
| SPORT | |
| Gym membership | Contact your local gym |
| UK Deaf sport | ukdeafsport.org.uk |
| MONEY | |
| VAT | Any item used to help with your disability is VAT exempt. |
| Attendance allowance | gov.uk – search for Attendance Allowance. |
| Personal Independence Payments | Under 65 years – gov.uk – search for PIP |
| GENERAL HELP | |
| Sensory Support | Your local council can provide flashing doorbells, room loops for tv, alarms etc. |
| Fire Brigade | Contact your local station – they will fit flashing alarms. |
| Sunflower lanyard | hdsunflower.com |
| NHS batteries | Free from the supplier of your NHS aids |
| CHARITIES | |
| Hearing Link Services | hearinglink.org |
| Hearing Dogs for Deaf People | hearingdogs.org.uk |
| Royal National Institute for the Deaf | rnid.org.uk |
| National Association for Deafened People | nadp.org.uk |
| Tinnitus UK | tinnitus.org.uk |
| Action for Deafness | actionfordeafness.org.uk -delivering adult audiology services on behalf of NHS in Sussex |
| Jewish Deaf Association | jdeaf.org.uk – independent national charity offering professional support services to the d/Deaf community. |
| BANA – British Acoustic Neuroma Assoc | Support & information for people affected by acoustic neuroma |
| British Deaf Association | Stands for Deaf equality and freedom of choice. |
| Central England Lipreading Support Trust | Provides lipreading courses in central England – also very good Facebook group |
| Deafplus | deafplus.org – Improving the lives of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in the UK |
| ATLA – Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults | atlalipreading.co.uk – Umbrella organisation for fully trained teachers of lipreading to adults – advertises lipreading classes nationwide. |
| INTERESTING WEBSITES | |
| Limping Chicken | limpingchicken.com |
| Deaf not stupid | |
| Deaf Umbrella Ltd | Facebook & deafumbrella.com (sign language) |
| Living with hearing loss | Facebook & livingwithhearingloss.com (American but gives useful insights) |
| UK hearing loss community | |
| 121 captions | 121captions.com |
| Samantha Baines | samanthabaines.com (author & advocate) |
| Connevans | connevans.co.uk – company specialising in products for deaf and hard of hearing people – very helpful people. |
| SE LOCAL | |
| HI Kent | hikent.org.uk |
| SE London lipreading group |
It’s not Goodbye
This is my last Volunteer Update as I’ll be retired before the next one. I’m so touched by the lovely messages you’ve sent me. Thank you. This extract from the song by Carrie Jacobs-Bond goes some way to describing my thoughts right now.
When you come to the end of a perfect day,
And you sit alone with your thought,
We find at the end of a perfect day
The soul of a friend we’ve made.
And to all the friends I’ve made “It’s “Hasta luego!”
Until the next time we meet…
