MSP nominates Ian as a local hero for championing the deaf
Despite the tumultuous events of the last few days and the uncertainty facing our country as the impact of the Brexit vote starts to bite, life goes on even for the Scottish Parliament.
July 2 marks the opening of the fifth session of the Parliament with the traditional ‘Riding’, this year involving more than 2000 participants including community groups, musicians and entertainers and of course the ‘Local Heroes’ nominated by the MSPs for the important work that they do to help their community.
I am very proud to have nominated as my local hero Ian Galloway who was born profoundly deaf in 1958.
Ian has been involved in various clubs for deaf people around the UK and developed his skills as a footballer where he represented Team GB in many football tournaments.
Ian represented Team GB in the Olympics for deaf people in Germany where they came third and again in New Zealand where they won gold. In New Zealand Ian was voted as the best player in the world.
He founded Lanarkshire Deaf Club and became chairman in 2003 with initially 44 members and now 230 today.
Ian continues to champion British Sign Language and the importance of its use in the wider community.
Lanarkshire Deaf Club has a strong focus on children and families. Ian has taught deaf children in sports for more than 20 years. Lanarkshire Deaf Club arranges several children’s events throughout the year.
Up until May 2016 Ian was doing this on a voluntary basis with the support of North Lanarkshire Disability Forum as well as working full time as a support worker for disabled people.
In April 2016 Ian stepped down as chairman when he was granted a Big Lottery Grant that has enabled him to work full time as a Project Manager for Lanarkshire Deaf Club.
I hope many residents from Motherwell and Wishaw will be able to attend the Holyrood’s ‘Big Day Out ‘ on Saturday, details on the Scottish Parliament website http://www.parliament. scot/visitandlearn/99683.aspx.
I want to express my thanks to the emergency services and the NHS staff who have helped in the aftermath of the dreadful accident at M&Ds theme park, and to send my best wishes to the families affected by this terrible event. I am sure our whole community are behind them at this worrying time.
On Tuesday June 28, I will be hosting an event for Crohn’s and Colitis UK outlining the National Blueprint for Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Scotland. The blueprint aims to improve services for the 26,000 people in Scotland – many of them young people - living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
The National Blueprint has taken over two years to develop, involving leading Scottish clinical and patient representatives, input from the Director General for Health and Social Care and Health Quality and Strategy Directorate in NHS Scotland, who also provided part of the funding for the project.