Royal National Institute for Deaf People

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The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people. The head office of RNID is in Islington, Central London (19-23 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8SL). Its President is Lord Ashley of Stoke. The Chief Executive is Jackie Ballard. Its Patron is the Duke of Edinburgh.

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[edit] Activities

RNID's activities include:

  • campaigning and lobbying, with the help of members, to change laws and government policies
  • providing information and raising awareness of deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus
  • giving training courses and consultancy on deafness and disability
  • offering communication services including sign language interpreters
  • training BSL/English interpreters, lipspeakers, speech-to-text reporters and electronic notetakers
  • making lasting change in education for deaf children and young people
  • supporting deaf people into work with the organisations employment programmes
  • providing care services for deaf and hard of hearing people with additional needs
  • running Text Relay, a national telephone relay service for deaf and hard of hearing people
  • developing equipment and products for deaf and hard of hearing people
  • social, medical and technical research.

[edit] History

RNID was founded as the National Bureau for Promoting the General Welfare of the deaf in 1911 by Leo Bonn, a deaf merchant banker. It was reorganised as the National Institute for the deaf in 1924. Alongside its role in influencing public policy in favour of people who are hard of hearing in the UK, it also developed a role as a provider of care to deaf and hard of hearing people with additional needs during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

During the 1940s, with the introduction of the National Health Service (NHS) to the UK, it successfully campaigned for the provision of free hearing aids through the new welfare state system. The 1950s and 1960s saw its increasing influence marked by Royal recognition: in 1958 the Duke of Edinburgh became the Patron of the Institute; and in 1961 H.M. the Queen approved the addition of the "Royal" prefix, creating the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID).

The Institute expanded into medical and technological research during the 1960s and 1970s, being a key player in the development of NHS provided behind-the-ear hearing aids. During the 1980s it developed the Telephone Exchange for the Deaf, a pioneering relay service allowing telephone users and deaf "textphone" users to communicate with each other using a third-party operator to relay voice and text communication. This became the service known as Typetalk in 1991, funded by BT but operated on their behalf by RNID to this day. In March 2009 the name of the Typetalk service was changed to Text Relay [1].

In 1992 the Institute changed its name to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People but kept the initials RNID.

[edit] Controversy

The RNID attracts a lot of criticism within the deaf community through the lack of involvement in its governance by deaf and hard of hearing people. The organisation currently has a 100% hearing senior management team, and the appointed Chair, Gerald Corbett, is also hearing. In 1997 the employment of Doug Alker, the charity's first deaf CEO, was terminated and in 2000 he published a book on his experience, Really Not Interested in the Deaf. 2002 saw a "Deaf Chair Now" demonstration by the "Secret Seven".

[edit] Recent developments

In more recent years, RNID has achieved a very high profile for its work together with the UK government on modernisation of the UK's audiology services available via the NHS, which has seen the introduction of superior digital hearing aids free of charge to the end users.

RNID has also emerged as a major player in technology research and development, in particular through its work in the area of product development. The RNID Product Development team won an Innovation Award for their work on a new genre of telephone - the ScreenPhone.

In 2006, RNID won two prestigious awards at the Third Sector Excellence Awards ceremony - in the categories of 'Best Integrated Campaign' and 'Overall Excellence'. Both of these were for its 'Breaking the Sound Barrier' campaign, which aims to reduce the stigma associated with hearing aids and hearing loss, in order to assist the 4 million people in the UK who would benefit from a hearing aid but currently do not.

It also has a dedicated Casework service, that represents deaf and hard of hearing people across all aspects of Social Security and Welfare Rights issues. The service was started with the aid of Lottery Funding, but has recently become core funded. It has a fantastic success rate at representing deaf and hard of hearing people through the welfare maze.

RNID have recently developed a RNID free, confidential online hearing check which is also available over the telephone*, and can identify potential hearing problems.

The five-minute check assesses your ability to hear someone speaking when there is background noise. It can indicate whether your hearing is within the normal range or if it is perhaps below normal.

The hearing check does not give a medical diagnosis, but RNID hopes it will prompt people to take action and visit their GP or an audiologist for a fuller assessment. On average, it can take people living in the UK up to 15 years to deal with a hearing loss. RNID wants 1 million people to take the hearing check.

  • Calls from a BT landline cost up to 5p per minute. Other providers' charges may vary. Call set up charge may apply.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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