Motion passed overdeaf diagnosis
Scottish Labour have passed a motion proposed by Cllr Ben Smith at their national conference that looks at improving diagnosis of deaf children.
The proposal is aimed to help address the issues surrounding the diagnosis of deaf people after it was revealed that NHS Lothian had diagnosed children much later than those in England.
Children in Lothian were diagnosed to be deaf on average at the age of four anda-half-years old, compared to England which was 109 days.
The motion also commits the party to providing funding for British Sign Language (BSL) lessons for deaf children and their families free of charge to ensure that every deaf child has the opportunity to learn BSL.
It was a joint effort from the Paisley Constituency Labour Party as the motion was developed by both councillors Janis McDonald and Ben Smith.
The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) hosted a panel event at the conference, hosted by Neil Bibby MSP.
The panel discussed what politicians of all parties and at all levels can do to address the additional barriers deaf children have faced in Scotland.
The panel heard the moving testimony of a young person who was diagnosed as deaf far later than she should’ve been as well as the perspective of a parent whose child was let down by the failings at NHS Lothian.
Members of the NDCS were able to give advice to the panel on how they go about to ensure the challenges being faced by deaf children are on the political agenda in council areas not only in Paisley but across the rest of Scotland, as well as in Holyrood.
Neil Bibby MSP and Cllr Ben Smith encouraged the NDCS members to continue to make their voices heard to their elected members, especially those in administration in councils and in the Scottish Government.
In his proposal to the party Cllr Smith said: “I am proud of what Scottish Labour has done to remove some of the barriers that deaf children and children with hearing loss
“But in Scotland, 4,000 deaf children still face too many obstacles to achieving their full potential.
“I was very pleased to be able to develop this motion, working alongside my ward colleague Cllr Janis McDonald.”