Is anyone or does anyone knows anyone who is deaf and take minutes at meeting?

[biglips]

how do they do it?.... do they have it recorded on tape adn you type it out later? or any other alternatives? as there is a job that ive applied but im deaf and ive tried minutes years ago on a work experience and it was mental as i lipread!!!

[nikkie]

Would it actuallybe your job to take the minutes?

[gingernut]

It might be possible if you could type it straight in on a laptop. Otherwise, I would have thought it would be v. difficult to do without some sort of recording that you could access later. One of my friends at uni was deaf and she ended up copying all my notes because the lecturers would move around all the time, and then she would also have to look down to write.

[gingernut]

(That assumes you can touch type and so be able to type whilst looking at the speaker of course)

[nikkie]

Voice to text programme? don't know how good they are. Would you not get funding for your disabilty? A former colleague of mine used to have have a BSL interpreter for meetings so you could get a notetaker or similar.

[stripeybumpsmum]

Your employer should make an effort to ensure you are communicated with in a way that suits your needs. Could be as simple as ensuring written briefing notes are available, or ensuring you can have a one-to-one meeting face to face to facilitate lip reading, right up to providing a BSL interpreter for important meetings. Disability Discrimination Act has changed a lot of things so things are improving (long way to go....)

I work in HR and am BSL Level 1 (and a half! Did Year 1 level 2). I would ask our employees with hearing loss what they needed and try to work around it. For most cases, as long as their immediate colleagues and manager knew to face them and talk at normal pace to lip read, they were ok. For serious matters though - training, discipline etc, personally I think interpreter needed.

If it is part of your job to take minutes, they have got to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to do it. There is funding available - talk to local Job Centre Disability Officer. A TextTalk machine maybe? Or even voice activated software for a laptop that would literally record everything said in the meeting that you would then edit into sensible minutes.

[mummyofeb]

Biglips, you could employ me as your support worker!! Seriously, I agree with nikkie and sbm about the facilities they should provide for you.

Just spotted this thread. I've just taken an exam in BSL level 1 and would like to go on to level 2 as I really enjoyed the course.

Any ideas what kind of work is available with this skill at level 2? I've got QTS but am reluctant to return to teaching.

[nikkie]

I have level 2 and work interpreting for a child in a sn school.I need to do NVQ3 now but none locally and can't travel far .

[mummyofeb]

Is there a distant learning course for it? I suppose it would be difficult anyway as it won't allow you to practice.

[biglips]

yes it is part of the job to take the minutes

stripeybumpsmum - sounds advice - thanks. ive never heard of texttalk before

mummyfeb - ive just passed my level 2 this month and im applying for admin jobs (as ive been got experience in office work) that involved BSL - here take a look here \link{http://www.rnid.org.uk/\RNID - just type in their search engine - JOBS}

also look on bbc2 - ceefax 640 - Read Hear jobs

good luck

[biglips]

oh and thanks guys - ill let you know about this one if i get the job

[nikkie]

Good Luck Biglips