Deaf Futures - Employment & Placements for Deaf Students - Seminar/Network

Subject: Deaf Futures - Employment & Placements for deaf students (Apologies for cross-posting)

Dear NATED members. Places are filling up for this seminar. If you are planning on attending, please can you return the form below. Also - please pass on to others in your institution who you think may be interested ie disability co-ordinators, careers service, placement tutors, employment advisers etc..
Thanks.
Lynne

Dear Colleagues,
As you may be aware, Deaf and hard of hearing students can experience great difficulty in obtaining part-time employment to support their studies, course-related work placements and work experience, and study abroad placement which are reliably effective in improving their language skills and experience. Placement co-ordinators and placement providers have sometimes struggled with providing the same level of choice and opportunity as their non-deaf peers. All these affect their later employability. CHESS - the Consortium of Higher Education Support Services with Deaf Students and the University of Central Lancashire have made a successful bid through Action on Access' Sustaining Disability Networks funding stream. This will provide funding to set up initial meetings of a 'Deaf Futures' network, to look into these issues. I attach a flyer (below) about this, with notification of the first meeting on 14 May 2010 at UCLan, in Preston. As most HEIs have only a few deaf students, and often only one or no specialist staff, it can be hard to tackle this issue. We hope this widening participation initiative can help us to share information and expertise, and address this issue more effectively. If you know of other colleagues/networks that this may interest, please do forward this e-mail to them. Thank you, Bryan CHESS Sustaining Disability Networks Deaf Futures What barriers are there for Deaf students when they try to find work placements and voluntary work experiences? What impact does this have on their employability? How can we support Deaf students in gaining work experience; an essential component for all undergraduates within their curriculum and/or in order to secure future employment? UCLan/CHESS have been successful in obtaining funding from Action on Access for Sustaining Disability Networks. We have entitled our series of 4 seminar/workshops Deaf Futures. Deaf Futures aims to share good practice ensuring that Deaf students have access to the same employability opportunities as their peers from their arrival at University and onward to future graduate careers. Do you have a role in finding employment opportunities for Deaf students? Deaf Futures invites University Careers Staff, Employment Advisers, University Employment Agency Staff, Transitional Staff (FE and HE), Mentor Trainers, Disability Advisers, Support Staff, CHESS members and Employers to join this network, to unpack the issues which create barriers for Deaf students trying to secure work placements and voluntary work experiences, and to create a good practice template aimed at improving Deaf students' employability skills and access to employment opportunities. The first of these meetings will be held at UCLan, Preston. The remaining 3 will be held across the country. Want to be involved? Please complete this booking form and return it to Deaf Futures at futures@uclan.ac.uk by Friday 30th April to book your place.
Buffet lunch is included.

Booking Form
By filling in this form I confirm that I will be attending Deaf Futures seminar on Friday 14th May 2010 at UCLan, Preston, Lancashire.

Name

Position

Address

E-mail

Mobile

Special dietary requirements (please highlight): . gluten free . lactose free . vegetarian .other, what? ?

Please note there is restricted car parking at UCLan. Places can be reserved on a first come, first served basis.
I do/do not require car parking.

I do/do not require BSL/English interpreting.

Do you have any other requirements for the day? _________________________________

Please return this form by e-mail to Deaf Futures: futures@uclan.ac.uk by Friday 30th April.
Thank you for your booking!