Community support for Deaf and Deafblind people in Scotland – what needs to change?

The ALLIANCE supports roundtable with the Minister for Public Health.

On 10 March, we were delighted to be invited to organise a roundtable hosted by Jenni Minto, Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health. We were asked: “what does community support look like for Deaf and Deafblind people in Scotland?”

Laura Turton (NHS Tayside Head of Audiology and British Academy of Audiology Board Director) reflected on the current landscape of NHS audiology services, and discussed how to provide effective and sustainable access to community audiology services for Deaf and Deafblind people. We also had input from audiologists with lived experience of childhood Deafness and of accessing paediatric audiology services, Scottish Cochlear Implant services, and British Sign Language (BSL).

The roundtable then moved to focus on the implementation of Scotland’s recently-accepted definition of Deafblindness. Isabella Goldie, Chief Executive Officer of Deafblind Scotland, shared why national guidance is needed on effective pathways for care and support following the agreed definition of Deafblindness as a distinct condition, separate from Deafness and Visual Impairment. She called for a Scotland where every Deafblind person in Scotland is identified at the earliest point, and receives consistent, specialist, prompt and equitable support – to enable them to enjoy and assert their rights as Scottish citizens. As part of a lived experience panel, Issy McGrath, Stephen Joyce, and Julie Ferguson all shared key evidence on their experiences accessing health and social care services, and the need for change.

Chaired by Colin Beattie MSP, Convenor of the Cross-party Group on Deafness, the overarching theme of the roundtable was two-fold. Firstly, a recognition that Deaf and Deafblind people’s current access to community support is not equitable – with people facing repeated barriers to equal access to health and social care. Secondly, that there is real potential in the steps taken towards good practice, both within the public and third sector – and that people with lived experience must be a key part of driving change, as we look to the next Parliamentary term.

A flash report on the roundtable will be published later this spring. For more information about the roundtable, email the ALLIANCE Scottish Sensory Hub team at sensory@alliance-scotland.org.uk.

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