Friday 10 October 2008

Hard times: cash-strapped charities as government for help

So just how bad are things going to get for the charity sector? Today, a 30-strong delegation of charity chief executives organised by the Association of Charity Chief Executives (Acevo) met the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, to demand a £500m government emergency fund to shore up charity finances.

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Good vibrations, scents and sign help clubbers feel the music

Deaf club nights are nothing new. The London-based organisation Deaf Rave has been running music nights for more than five years, and other clubs around the world have followed suit. Deaf clubbers respond to the music's beat and vibrations, which is why DJs tend to use heavy bass. But vibrations do not relay tunes or lyrics, the aspects of music that trigger memories and emotions. A song played in a club might cast someone's mind back to a holiday or a first kiss, but it wouldn't have that impact on me, or on many other deaf people. Which is where SenCity comes in.

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Lessons in the art of vlogging

Driven by the younger generation, a new mood is taking hold of Britain's deaf culture: it was encapsulated at its most joyful at a recent gig by deaf comedian John Smith, when he bounded across the stage in a superhero's cape shouting, "Deaf power!" More than 8 million Britons are deaf: ranging from the 6 million older people who are mildly or moderately deaf, to the 700,000 whose deafness is more profound.

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The difficult decision that would change our son's life

'Daddy, where are you?" came the small voice from downstairs. Not unusual, except that it was our third child, Lachlan, who is deaf. Yet here he was, calling for me – which meant that he knew I could hear him, and that he would hear my reply.

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I wouldn't have minded if my baby had been born deaf, but the embryology bill suggests I should

Earlier this year my first-born arrived. Like all new parents, I spent hours gazing in wonderment at this tiny creature who had fallen from the moon to be the centre of my world. The way his fingers danced in the air as if he was pulling the strings of an invisible harp in his sleep. How his little body flinched in response to the smallest of sounds: the rustle of paper or the ping of a sofa spring.

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Welcome to silence

I should have been prepared for it, I suppose - the silence. But it strikes me immediately. And, to begin with, I find it difficult. Here is a family behaving exactly as every other family in the country behaves every morning - having breakfast, getting ready for school, putting the wrong shoes on the wrong feet, not wanting to put coats on. But someone has hit the mute button, and it is all happening in silence.

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Mixed messages

British Sign Language is the preferred means of communication for 50,000 deaf Britons, and, like any language, it has its regional variations and idiosyncracies. Those can lead to mix-ups or embarrassment, signer Marcel Hirshman tells Stuart Jeffries.

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Tips from the top

According to a recent survey, fewer than two-thirds of deaf people are in work - and many of those have had to overcome prejudice and preconceptions. Cathy Heffernan talks to four men and women who are flying high in their careers.

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Heard the one about the deaf comedian?

What defines a deaf stand-up comic - and what makes their audience laugh? Slapstick always works. But Brian Logan discovers that there's more to deaf humour than first meets the eye.

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