Consulting with families in Kolkata
The seminar in Kolkata was the first consultation in a series across West Bengal. We were truly inspired by the efforts that parents and young people made to ensure that the seminar was a success.
The theme was decided by a group of parents and young deaf people and was: Towards a new horizon: the social and emotional needs of deaf children and their families.
We invited participants from Kolkata and the adjacent suburb of North 24 Parganas, the participants included deaf children from mainstream and special schools, young deaf people and both mothers and fathers of deaf children.
Mothers discuss their action plan
The outcomes of the workshop were planned that the stakeholders would:
- identify needs which have so far been ignored
- prioritise them according to their urgency in the lives of the participants
- identify practical and feasible actions that would help to address the prioritized needs.
A series of presentations provoked an active discussion amongst the different groups and a huge range of actions were suggested. The seminar was unusual because it was interpreted by two separate sign language interpreters and full participation and communication for all was made a top priority.
Young deaf people agree on priorities
Isolation, lack of information, public awareness and opportunities to meet together were identified as key issues. Actions were agreed as:
- Continue to bring parents together to identify needs and actiosn across the state of West Bengal
- Support parents who wish to join or initiate a parents' group and give existing parents' groups support in organising awareness raising and peer support activities.
- Support families and educators to improve their communication skills
- Create new and distribute existing information materials
![[pdf]](http://www.ndcs.org.uk/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif){kind=icon}
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