Dyslexia Pathways and Unique Dyslexic project news

Firstly here is a little update on the Unique Dyslexic Project. The Unique Dyslexic website is being built as I type. I am not sure if this will work but here is a link to the new site as it is now. Please remember it is a work in progress:

 http://www.wpweb06.co.uk/?doing_wp_cron=1372312159.3384029865264892578125

Any feedback and suggestions are welcome. The website is very graphically driven and so I hope easy to navigate and accessible. I think it has a very positive look and feel about it so far. We only had a small budget for the website. £650 in fact but I think With People, the site designers, have given us a good deal here. I am very happy with the way they work.We will be adding to the site once we win more funding for the project.

I am in the process of seeking Fife based volunteers to run the Unique Dyslexic website. As well as the Facebook, twitter and blogging social media for the Unique Dyslexic Project.

I completed a funding bid for Foundation Scotland and sent that away a few days ago. Its an application for funding to buy equipment for the project. As I stated in a previous blog I want to make a film document of the whole project. The idea is a written report might not be accessible to some dyslexics but I film would be. It might also act as a paradigm for others wanting to do something similar and save me from having to write an end of project report lol.

Soon we will be going out to meet with organisations here in Fife to promote the project and encourage dyslexics to start thinking about getting involved with any creative project for the Unique Dyslexic Project. I will also be making an announcement through our social media sites to anyone else outside Fife who might like to participate and share their creative work.

I am writing a funding bit for the Creative Learning Network. I am hoping to get a small amount of money, £1000 in fact, to run a pilot master class for the Unique Dyslexic project.

On the Dyslexia Pathways new front. We received a lot of positive feedback from students supported this year. Here is a little taster of that feedback:

Ally wrote:

"Stephen is extremely helpful, supporting and friendly. Over the past few months he has helped me to overcome which I have encountered whilst at University. I now feel able to approach my final year with confidence."

Snippets of other feedback:

"Stephen, the dyslexia specialist, may seem to you to be an average person at first. But after five minutes of talking with him I realised he was not. His ability to talk with me about my particular dyslexia issues and enable me to overcome them was phenomenal."

"Dyslexia Support has helped me to progress. I feel more confident going into my exams using plans and mind map study skills. It has made me realise the importance of the little things I needed to do to be able to do my best."

"Confidence in my own abilities has increased and I have a clearer view on how to structure essays. Self esteem has greatly improved as has my  confidence."

"For the first time I have completed a piece of work with time to spare to review it. Felt this was because I was taught how to structure time and to complete small tasks each week."

" I know where I am going and feel much more confident in my studies."

I have to say all these students put in a lot of work with me and its they who deserve the plaudits not myself.

I am in the process of seeking a new business mentor. I am in the process of writing an application to Just Enterprise for this. I am hoping to get a little support in writing a new 3 year business plan that will enable me to push forward with my new ideas.

Whilst on the developing the business front. I am also writing a funding bid for the Santander Social Enterprise Award.

I have completed a project proposal for  new dyslexia focussed mentoring scheme. I am hoping to get some support for this through the Scottish Mentoring Network.

Every funder has a different form, every funder wants different information and to be honest the writing takes me an age to do. Its not that I cannot write them and write them well it takes me a long time to write. I particularly struggle with proof reading my own work sigh. Have to thank my wife for her support with that and well as our new director.

I have very nearly completed my new dyslexia awareness training package which I hope to start delivering in a couple of months. It very much focusses of the dyslexia positive, social model of dyslexia and how to enable dyslexics to succeed rather than on we are disabled medical model of dyslexia.

Of course the other issue is I cant pay myself for any of the many hours it takes to do these tasks lol. But that's, as they say, life.

On a personal note I have had a few problems with my eyesight recently which was of real concern to me. I  have always been a little light sensitive but I was now getting very light sensitive and my eyesight was getting very blurry and I was feeling very sick in my stomach. I thought it might have been something to do with my type two diabetes. So I went off for a retinal eye scan and eye test. It turns out there is no damage to my sight at all. I just need a prescription for new glasses. I think I have been sitting at the keyboard for so long I had strained my eyes. Now all I have to do is find the £200 or so for new glasses. Until I have done that I have to limit the amount of time I spend on the computer. I also for out that I have larger than normal irises...........so that might explain my light sensitivity.......

Suffer with dyslexia? Not me

I will never support any dyslexia focussed organisation or charity which tells me, and other dyslexics, that we suffer with dyslexia.........I do not suffer with dyslexia at all. I am very happy, and proud, to be dyslexic. What I do suffer with is a society that puts us into schools that are dyslexia unfriendly. Schools that do not teach us in ways we can access the learning that takes place in th...e class room. What I do suffer with is an education system that still fails far to many dyslexic kids. What I do suffer with is the medicalization of dyslexia which tells me my brain is broken, that it is not normal and that I am disabled because of my dyslexia. What I do suffer with are so called dyslexia experts and dyslexia focussed organisation that continually tell me I suffer with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a difference not a disability. Yes being dyslexic does mean we struggle with some tasks but we also excel at others. Isn't that the same for every non dyslexic?

The UN Covention on Human Rights states maybe the condems need to read this?

 

The United Nations Convention on the Right of Disabled People to which the UK is a signatory to states:

Article 1 - Purpose

The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

Article 2 - Definitions

For the purposes of the present Convention:

·        "Communication" includes languages, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, large print, accessible multimedia as well as written, audio, plain-language, human-reader and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, including accessible information and communication technology;

·        "Language" includes spoken and signed languages and other forms of non spoken languages;

·        "Discrimination on the basis of disability" means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation;

·        "Reasonable accommodation" means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;

·        "Universal design" means the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. “Universal design” shall not exclude assistive devices for particular groups of persons with disabilities where this is needed.

Article 3 - General principles

The principles of the present Convention shall be:

1. Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons;
2. Non-discrimination;
3. Full and effective participation and inclusion in society;
4. Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity;
5. Equality of opportunity;
6. Accessibility;
7. Equality between men and women;
8. Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.

Article 4 - General obligations

1. States Parties undertake to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability. To this end, States Parties undertake:

1. To adopt all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention;
2. To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities;
3. To take into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes;
4. To refrain from engaging in any act or practice that is inconsistent with the present Convention and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with the present Convention;
5. To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability by any person, organization or private enterprise;
6. To undertake or promote research and development of universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities, as defined in article 2 of the present Convention, which should require the minimum possible adaptation and the least cost to meet the specific needs of a person with disabilities, to promote their availability and use, and to promote universal design in the development of standards and guidelines;
7. To undertake or promote research and development of, and to promote the availability and use of new technologies, including information and communications technologies, mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, suitable for persons with disabilities, giving priority to technologies at an affordable cost;
8. To provide accessible information to persons with disabilities about mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, including new technologies, as well as other forms of assistance, support services and facilities;
9. To promote the training of professionals and staff working with persons with disabilities in the rights recognized in this Convention so as to better provide the assistance and services guaranteed by those rights.

2. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, each State Party undertakes to take measures to the maximum of its available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of these rights, without prejudice to those obligations contained in the present Convention that are immediately applicable according to international law.

3. In the development and implementation of legislation and policies to implement the present Convention, and in other decision-making processes concerning issues relating to persons with disabilities, States Parties shall closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations.

4. Nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities and which may be contained in the law of a State Party or international law in force for that State. There shall be no restriction upon or derogation from any of the human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized or existing in any State Party to the present Convention pursuant to law, conventions, regulation or custom on the pretext that the present Convention does not recognize such rights or freedoms or that it recognizes them to a lesser extent.

5. The provisions of the present Convention shall extend to all parts of federal states without any limitations or exceptions.

Article 5 - Equality and non-discrimination

1. States Parties recognize that all persons are equal before and under the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law.

2. States Parties shall prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds.

3. In order to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, States Parties shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided.

4. Specific measures which are necessary to accelerate or achieve de facto equality of persons with disabilities shall not be considered discrimination under the terms of the present Convention.

Article 8 - Awareness-raising

1. States Parties undertake to adopt immediate, effective and appropriate measures:

1. To raise awareness throughout society, including at the family level, regarding persons with disabilities, and to foster respect for the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities;
2. To combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life;
3. To promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of persons with disabilities.

Measures to this end include:

1. Initiating and maintaining effective public awareness campaigns designed:
1. To nurture receptiveness to the rights of persons with disabilities;
2. To promote positive perceptions and greater social awareness towards persons with disabilities;
3. To promote recognition of the skills, merits and abilities of persons with disabilities, and of their contributions to the workplace and the labour market;
2. Fostering at all levels of the education system, including in all children from an early age, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities;
3. Encouraging all organs of the media to portray persons with disabilities in a manner consistent with the purpose of the present Convention;
4. Promoting awareness-training programmes regarding persons with disabilities and the rights of persons with disabilities.

Article 9 - Accessibility

1. To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia:

1. Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces;
2. Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services.

2. States Parties shall also take appropriate measures to:

1. Develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public;
2. Ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;
3. Provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities;
4. Provide in buildings and other facilities open to the public signage in Braille and in easy to read and understand forms;
5. Provide forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters, to facilitate accessibility to buildings and other facilities open to the public;
6. Promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information;
7. Promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet;
8. Promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost.

 

 Article 10 - Right to life

States Parties reaffirm that every human being has the inherent right to life and shall take all necessary measures to ensure its effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.

 

Article 16 - Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social, educational and other measures to protect persons with disabilities, both within and outside the home, from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, including their gender-based aspects.

2. States Parties shall also take all appropriate measures to prevent all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse by ensuring, inter alia, appropriate forms of gender- and age-sensitive assistance and support for persons with disabilities and their families and caregivers, including through the provision of information and education on how to avoid, recognize and report instances of exploitation, violence and abuse. States Parties shall ensure that protection services are age-, gender- and disability-sensitive.

3. In order to prevent the occurrence of all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, States Parties shall ensure that all facilities and programmes designed to serve persons with disabilities are effectively monitored by independent authorities.

4. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote the physical, cognitive and psychological recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration of persons with disabilities who become victims of any form of exploitation, violence or abuse, including through the provision of protection services. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment that fosters the health, welfare, self-respect, dignity and autonomy of the person and takes into account gender- and age-specific needs.

5. States Parties shall put in place effective legislation and policies, including women- and child-focused legislation and policies, to ensure that instances of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities are identified, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted.

 

Article 17 - Protecting the integrity of the person

Every person with disabilities has a right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity on an equal basis with others.

Article 19 - Living independently and being included in the community

States Parties to this Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community, including by ensuring that:

1. Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement;
2. Persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community;
3. Community services and facilities for the general population are available on an equal basis to persons with disabilities and are responsive to their needs.

Article 20 - Personal mobility

States Parties shall take effective measures to ensure personal mobility with the greatest possible independence for persons with disabilities, including by:

1. Facilitating the personal mobility of persons with disabilities in the manner and at the time of their choice, and at affordable cost;
2. Facilitating access by persons with disabilities to quality mobility aids, devices, assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including by making them available at affordable cost;
3. Providing training in mobility skills to persons with disabilities and to specialist staff working with persons with disabilities;
4. Encouraging entities that produce mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies to take into account all aspects of mobility for persons with disabilities

Article 21 - Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities can exercise the right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas on an equal basis with others and through all forms of communication of their choice, as defined in article 2 of the present Convention, including by:

1. Providing information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in a timely manner and without additional cost;
2. Accepting and facilitating the use of sign languages, Braille, augmentative and alternative communication, and all other accessible means, modes and formats of communication of their choice by persons with disabilities in official interactions;
3. Urging private entities that provide services to the general public, including through the Internet, to provide information and services in accessible and usable formats for persons with disabilities;
4. Encouraging the mass media, including providers of information through the Internet, to make their services accessible to persons with disabilities;
5. Recognizing and promoting the use of sign languages.

Article 25 - Health

States Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with disabilities to health services that are gender-sensitive, including health-related rehabilitation. In particular, States Parties shall:

1. Provide persons with disabilities with the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programmes as provided to other persons, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health and population-based public health programmes;
2. Provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons;
3. Provide these health services as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas;
4. Require health professionals to provide care of the same quality to persons with disabilities as to others, including on the basis of free and informed consent by, inter alia, raising awareness of the human rights, dignity, autonomy and needs of persons with disabilities through training and the promulgation of ethical standards for public and private health care;
5. Prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in the provision of health insurance, and life insurance where such insurance is permitted by national law, which shall be provided in a fair and reasonable manner;
6. Prevent discriminatory denial of health care or health services or food and fluids on the basis of disability.

Article 27 - Work and employment

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. States Parties shall safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, by taking appropriate steps, including through legislation, to, inter alia:

1. Prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, including conditions of recruitment, hiring and employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions;
2. Protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, including protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances;
3. Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others;
4. Enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training;
5. Promote employment opportunities and career advancement for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment;
6. Promote opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperatives and starting one’s own business;
7. Employ persons with disabilities in the public sector;
8. Promote the employment of persons with disabilities in the private sector through appropriate policies and measures, which may include affirmative action programmes, incentives and other measures;
9. Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace;
10. Promote the acquisition by persons with disabilities of work experience in the open labour market;
11. Promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for persons with disabilities.

2. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not held in slavery or in servitude, and are protected, on an equal basis with others, from forced or compulsory labour.

Article 28 - Adequate standard of living and social protection

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right without discrimination on the basis of disability.

2. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right, including measures:

1. To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability-related needs;
2. To ensure access by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities and older persons with disabilities, to social protection programmes and poverty reduction programmes;
3. To ensure access by persons with disabilities and their families living in situations of poverty to assistance from the State with disability-related expenses, including adequate training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care;
4. To ensure access by persons with disabilities to public housing programmes;
5. To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to retirement benefits and programmes.

Article 29 - Participation in political and public life

States Parties shall guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis with others, and shall undertake to:

1. Ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, directly or through freely chosen representatives, including the right and opportunity for persons with disabilities to vote and be elected, inter alia, by:
1. Ensuring that voting procedures, facilities and materials are appropriate, accessible and easy to understand and use;
2. Protecting the right of persons with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums without intimidation, and to stand for elections, to effectively hold office and perform all public functions at all levels of government, facilitating the use of assistive and new technologies where appropriate;
3. Guaranteeing the free expression of the will of persons with disabilities as electors and to this end, where necessary, at their request, allowing assistance in voting by a person of their own choice;
2. Promote actively an environment in which persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in the conduct of public affairs, without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and encourage their participation in public affairs, including:
1. Participation in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country, and in the activities and administration of political parties;
2. Forming and joining organizations of persons with disabilities to represent persons with disabilities at international, national, regional and local levels.