Current Projects — Heritage Project — Heritage Project start
Heritage Project
bid services has been awarded funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to research what it was like for Deaf people working in the 1920’s to the 1940’s in Birmingham. The project is focused upon gaining as much information as possible relating to Deaf people living and working in the 1920’s to 1940’s and to explore what it was like to be a deaf person working in those times. The project will also cover some aspects of education and children involved in the project will be interviewing a number of elder members of the Deaf community using video recording equipment. This information will be collated on to a DVD and will also become part of an exhibition that will be held at the DCC later in the year. The project work started in September 2008 and will be ending in September 2009.
What we’re looking for!
This means that we are now looking for a number of volunteers to help the project in a variety of ways, there are lots of opportunities to become involved. We are going to need people who can help out when we will be interviewing elderly members of the community, to support those who may be nervous in front of the camera and to generally help and guide when they are needed. When the exhibition takes place we will need people who can act as guides to people who visit the centre, passing on information and letting people know what’s going on and where they need to go. On the launch day of the exhibition we will also need people who will be willing to hand out teas, coffees etc to our guests. We also need people who would be able to come and help us send out a number mail shots prior to the event taking place. There are many other volunteering opportunities.
We are looking for volunteers who are patient, friendly, committed, able to put people at ease, clear communicators and able to ask for guidance when you are unsure of anything no matter how small!
We will be needing help from March to September, we won’t expect you to come everyday of course but there will be a number of days spread throughout the months that we will need assistance with. We expect that most of the work will be taking place in the week during normal office hours.
We will cover your travel expenses and free tea, coffee.
If you are interested in working on such an exciting and innovative project please contact me as soon as possible. We will be arranging interviews and would love you to come in and talk to us some more about your skills, qualifications (if you have any – it’s not essential!) and your experience. We’d also discuss your availability, maybe you’d like to be involved in all aspects of the project or only want to focus on one task, either is fine with us as long as you are able to show commitment.
Volunteers Needed
As the project is working with elderly clients there are a number of skills that volunteers will need to have to be involved. Theses are as follows:
• Adult Protection Training / Safeguarding
• A sign language skill level at least level 2 and preferably above for those working with clients, this is as the people whom we are working with may use ‘old fashioned’ signs and it is imperative that the volunteers are able to modulate (change their signing level to match the person) easily
• An understanding of deaf issues
• An understanding/knowledge of deaf history would be desirable especially in relation to employment.
• A full and current (still in date) CRB check
• A basic understanding of administration tasks would be desirable
• A knowledge of using video recording equipment would be desirable but not essential as we can show you how to use equipment in the correct way.
Contact details
As this is such a big project we would like to hear from you as soon as possible. If you’ve had any difficulty in understanding this then please click on the attached sign translation. If there is still anything you are unsure of and would like to discuss it further please do not hesitate to contact me:
phone number 0121 450 7760
Email: james.mclean@bid.org.uk
Braidwood School Quotes
A year 9 girl said: I thought the idea of the project was great. I liked it because I never knew about what deaf people did in the past and also I never thought how they’d talk with hearing, because lots people hearing and not aware how the deaf communicated, like fingerspelling. I think the deaf in the past had really hard life. Most only got jobs because help from their family. I enjoyed meeting the older people. When they talked about their working life, it opened my mind to how their life must have been like. I think making the DVD is really valuable and will help deaf young people now know what it was like in the past and appreciate just how much technology and awareness has improved the opportunities we deaf now have in getting jobs and being able to use our own language without discrimination.
Another year 9 girl said: I was happy to learn how to use the cameras and to video people. I enjoyed thinking about questions to ask the elders about their lives in the past. I had a fantastic time and especially enjoyed the Black Country Museum. We all had a good chat and laugh while we were filming. It was good to meet some elderly deaf people.
A year 9 boy said: I was happy to be involved with the project. I enjoyed learning how to use the video camera and how to video people in different ways to make the DVD. I learned lots of things about deaf people in the past. From the different things they told me about the difficulties they experienced in their lives, I think I am really lucky now because there is more deaf awareness and more people sign now.
Sue Smart (teacher) said: I felt this project was a fantastic opportunity for this group of young deaf people to have the privilege to meet a group of elderly profoundly deaf people and to hear about their life experiences during the 1920-40’s. Very few of these young people attend a deaf club, or have the chance to meet and talk to elderly deaf people about what life was like in the past for deaf people. They were horrified by the many recounts of discrimination these elderly people experienced during their formative years. They found their recounts about their experiences at school, their working opportunities (and lack of them) and their relationships with hearing and deaf people as they grew up fascinating – sad at times and humorous at others. Myself and the pupils involved in this project, agreed that making this DVD, will preserve these memories and enable other young deaf people in the country to glean an insight into a past world and an important part of their social history, which has not been recorded before.