Training for children's services staff aims to boost young deaf people's rights

The Royal Association for Deaf People’s Deaf Law Centre concluded that there is a distinct lack of information for deaf young people which has “fundamentally led to young deaf people being unable to benefit from legal advice services”.

Making the Law Work for Young Deaf People recommended that in addition to improving young people’s access to communication support, other people in their lives must also be educated to help them to secure their rights and services.

The law centre is now proposing to recruit a team of “problem noticers” from the ranks of professionals who support young deaf people, including social workers, teachers and youth workers. They will be offered legal training and help in understanding young deaf people’s rights.

Jeff Brattan-Wilson, the law centre’s manager, said: “Young deaf people are used to relying on hearing people, be they parents, teachers, social workers or other specialist hearing professionals. They may assume that the hearing person knows the answers to their problems. But these people are not legally trained and may not be best placed to advise young people about their rights.

“We’ll be providing training to these people so they will be better able to spot a legal issue and to refer young deaf people to the right agencies if they need legal advice.”

The most cited legal issues by young deaf people were around benefits and tackling discrimination.

Rob Wilks, head of legal services at the centre, added: “One of the most common issues is a failure to provide an interpreter or in some cases a refusal to provide one.”

The law centre has also pledged to step up promotion of its legal support services to young deaf people and make sure its publications are more targeted to young people.