Factsheet – 7 LIST OF USEFUL ORGANISATIONS - 7 Listed below are other organisations who may be able to help: DEAF-PLUS (BREAKTHROUGH DEAF- HEARING INTEGRATION) First Floor Trinity Centre Key Close Whitechapel London, E1 4HG Telephone: 020 7790 6147 Textphone: 020 7790 6147 Fax: 020 7790 6147 Email: info@deafplus.org Deafplus support those with all levels of hearing loss from people who are born profoundly deaf, those deafened through trauma, to people who lose their hearing in later life. CARERS UK 20/25 Glasshouse Yard, London, EC1A 4JT Telephone: 020 7490 8818 Fax: 020 7490 8824 Email: info@ukcarers.org Website: www.carersonline.org.uk Carers UK provides support to carers. The charity undertakes a variety of work supporting the needs of carers - providing information, advice, campaigning for a better deal, supporting, commissioning research and providing training and advice to professionals who work with carers. Carers UK welcomes and supports all people who having caring responsibilities, including those whose relatives and friends are no longer cared for at home - who are perhaps in a residential or nursing home. Carers UK offers membership, which gives you a strong voice, as well as receiving their magazine, Caring. The magazine keeps you up to date with the latest issues affecting carers, new legislation and Carers UK campaigns. There are also magazines specifically for carers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. CONTACT A FAMILY 209 - 211 City Road London EC1V 1JN Telephone: 020 7608 8700 Fax: 020 7608 8701 Helpline: 0808 808 3555 or Textphone: 0808 808 3556 Freephone for parents and families (10am-4pm, Mon-Fri) Email: info@cafamily.org.uk Website: www.cafamily.org.uk Contact a Family works across the UK to support families caring for children with any disability or special need – a learning difficulty, physical disability, medical condition, rare syndrome, life threatening condition or behavioural difficulty. How can Contact a Family help? •Local parent support groups •National support network •One-to-one links (if no national support network exists, they try to link families on a one-to-one basis with another family in similar circumstances) •Telephone helpline •Publications •Liaison Contact a Family can help parents and professional workers across the UK in the ways explained above and in some areas have a local CAF office offering these services. Contact a Family cannot provide financial assistance to individual families. DEAFBLIND UK National Centre for Deafblindness John and Lucille van Geest Place Cygnet Road Hampton Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE7 8FD Telephone: 01733 358 100 Textphone: 01733 358 100 Fax: 01733 358 356 Website: www.deafblind.org.uk 24 Hour helpline: 0800 132 320 Services provided: Assessment/visiting deafblind individuals, contribution to individual community care plans and rehabilitation services, advising local authorities on planning and provision of services for deafblind people, training in all areas of deafblind communication and guiding, provision of touch-based telecommunications equipment, information and advice on dual sensory loss, particularly lobbying, social activities for deafblind people, independent living accommodation, holiday flat, international representation, weekly and quarterly magazines, regional staff, 24 hour helpline accessible to text and voice calls. THE FAMILY FUND TRUST PO Box 50 York, YO1 2ZX Telephone: 0845 130 45 42 Email: info@familyfund.org.uk Website: www.familyfundtrust.org.uk The Family Fund is an independent organisation registered as a charity. Their purpose is to ease stress on families who care for very severely disabled children under 16 by providing grants and information. Grants vary in size and can for example help towards holidays, buying household equipment or special clothes. For more information and how to apply please send for the Family Fund Trust booklet which is free of charge. KIDSACTIVE (FORMERLY HANDICAPPED PLAYGROUP ASSOCIATION (HAPA) Pryors Bank Bishop’s Park London, SW6 3LA Telephone 020 7736 4443 Kidsactive is a registered charity whose purpose is to develop play opportunities for children with disabilities and special needs. It runs 5 adventure playgrounds in London and is in contact with play projects throughout the UK. On 1st August 2003, Kidsactive became part of the KIDS organisation. For more information on KIDS, visit www.kids-online.org.uk. MENCAP 123 Golden Lane London, EC1Y 0RT Telephone: 020 7454 0454 Fax: 020 7696 5540 Email: information@mencap.org.uk Website: www.mencap.org.uk Mencap was founded in 1946 and has grown from a small nucleus of enthusiastic parents into the largest national organisation in UK for people with a learning disability and their families and carers. They campaign for equal rights and greater opportunities and challenge attitudes and prejudice. They also provide advice and support to meet people's needs throughout their lives. Mencap is an individual membership organisation, with a local network of more than 1,000 affiliated groups. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TOY AND LEISURE LIBRARIES 68 Churchway London, NW1 1LT Telephone: 020 7255 4600 Fax: 020 7255 4602 National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries/Play Matters is the national body for toy and leisure libraries throughout the UK. NATLL exists to support existing toy and leisure libraries, to promote the development of new toy and leisure libraries, and to raise awareness of the importance of play. NATLL believes that: •Every child has the right to play •Play is crucially important because it is the first step in children's education and development •Toy libraries provide vital opportunities for play to every child •Toy libraries play an active role in pre-school education and child development •Toy libraries support families and develop parenting skills They also believe that: •Every adult with special needs has the right to select their own leisure activities and equipment •Leisure libraries are fundamental to the effective provision of these activities and opportunities NATLL offers advice, information and support for people setting up and running toy and leisure libraries, sells a range of publications on the topic of toys and play, organise training courses for the voluntary, statutory and commercial sectors, publishes the annual "Good Toy Guide", the only independent consumer guide to toys and play. NATIONAL DEAF CHILDREN'S SOCIETY 15 Dufferin Street London, EC1Y 8UR Telephone: 020 7490 8656 Textphone: 020 7490 8656 Fax: 020 7251 5020 Email: ndcs@ndcs.org.uk Website: www.ndcs.org.uk Freephone Helpline: 0808 800 8880 (voice or text) NDCS is an organisation of families, parents and carers, providing emotional and practical support through a unique Freephone helpline and a network of trained Regional Officers, Family Support Workers, Family Officers and Local Representatives. As a leading provider of impartial information and individual advocacy on every aspect of childhood deafness, NDCS can help with welfare rights and benefit claims, making education choices, advising on health and audiology and technology, or simply as someone to talk to. NDCS campaigns for improvements in services aimed at families with deaf children, working with central and local government, health authorities, education professionals, social services, manufacturers and other voluntary organisations. ACTION FOR LEISURE (FORMERLY PLANET) c/o Warwickshire College Moreton Morrell Centre , Moreton Morrell Warwickshire, CV35 9BL Telephone: 01926 650195 Fax: 01926 650104 Email: john@actionforleisure.org.uk Website: www.actionforleisure.org.uk Action for Leisure is a small national charity working to promote play, leisure and recreation with and for disabled adults and children. Established in 1988 by Save the Children Fund and now based in Warwickshire they offer services to people from all over the country. Action for Leisure works to increase access to appropriate play, leisure and recreation opportunities by disabled children, young people and adults. They also raise awareness of the issues around play, leisure and recreation for disabled children, young people and adults. ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF THE BLIND 105 Judd Street London, WC1H 9NE Telephone: 020 7388 1266 Fax: 020 7388 2034 Helpline: 0845 766 9999 Email: helpline@rnib.org.uk Website: www.rnib.org.uk The Royal National Institute of the Blind helps blind and partially sighted people in the UK. They provide over 60 different services to help people at all stages of their lives, including some services for people who are deafblind. RNIB help visually impaired children and young people get a good start in life by running a range of support services for them and their families. RNIB schools cater mainly for multiply disabled youngsters including those with impaired hearing and their colleges can also help students with other disabilities. For people of working age, they provide training, rehabilitation and help to find and keep jobs. They offer advice on state benefits and devise and sell products to help with daily living. RNIB give information about housing options and provide some accommodation. For older people who need extra care, they run four residential care homes, some catering for deafblind residents and a day service for multiply disabled adults in Scotland. For blind or partially sighted people of all ages RNIB run the popular Talking Book Service, tape and Braille services, holidays and information on everything from hobbies to health. They provide services to many professionals who work in the field of visual impairment and to the sighted public, information and publications and training and consultancy on a range of services from education to multiple disability to housing. ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR DEAF PEOPLE 19 - 23 Featherstone Street London EC1Y 8SL Telephone: 020 7296 8000 Textphone: 020 7296 8001 Fax: 020 7296 8199 RNID Helpline: 0870 6050123 (Monday to Friday 9.30am-5pm) Email: informationline@rnid.org.uk Website: www.rnid.org.uk RNID is the largest charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. They aim to achieve a radically better quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people. They offer the following services: •Campaigning and lobbying vigorously to change laws and government policies •Providing information and raising awareness of deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus •Training courses and consultancy on deafness and disability •Communication Services including sign language interpreters •Training of interpreters, lipspeakers and speech-to-text operators •Seeking lasting change in education for deaf children and young people •Employment programmes to help deaf people into work •Care services for deaf people with special needs •Text Relay, (formerly as RNID Typetalk and BT TextDirect), the national telephone relay service for deaf and hard of hearing people •Equipment and products for deaf and hard of hearing people •Social, medical and technical research •RNID membership, for anyone with an interest in deafness and hearing loss. SCOPE PO Box 833 Milton Keynes, MK12 5NY Telephone: 020 7619 7100 Fax: 020 7619 7399 Helpline: 0808 800 3333 Scope is the disability organisation in England and Wales whose focus is people with cerebral palsy. It has extensive facilities for the early years, education, work and daily living. With over 280 affiliated local groups, it provides a variety of services throughout England and Wales for children and adults with cerebral palsy and associated disabilities including seven schools and a further education college, skills development centre, residential and independent living schemes, supported employment, microtechnology support and specialist field workers. Scope also has a caravan and camping park and outdoor activities centre. The Cerebral Palsy Helpline on 0808 800 3333 is available seven days a week (Monday - Friday 9am - 9pm, Saturday - Sunday 2pm - 6pm) for initial advice and counselling. The Monthly newspaper Disability Now provides information relevant to all aspects of disability. A network of local teams provide contact with Scope, social workers and local affiliated groups. USHER UK Secretary, 47 Bennetts Way, Shirley, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 8AE Usher UK is a national voluntary group affiliated to Sense and run by Usher people. It was formed in June 1995 and is for Usher people of all ages. Aims and Objectives: •to give Usher people the chance to show that, with support, they can continue to have full and active lives •encouraging Usher people to be confident about themselves and their needs •telling as many people as possible about Usher •getting Usher people involved in projects and courses that discover their hidden talents. Communication is one of Usher UK's most important objectives. No matter what communication methods are required, Usher UK will seek to provide all channels of communication enabling all of Usher people to be kept as fully informed as possible. Usher UK isn't only for Usher people, partners, family and friends - deaf or hearing - are all welcome to join and participate. There is a quarterly Usher UK newsletter to keep members informed of what's happening and up-coming events such as fundraising and social events. All members receive information and correspondence regularly. Where can I go for help? If you: •would like to find out more about deafblindness or the services for deafblind people in your area •require information in alternative formats including braille, large print, audio or disk - or would like this factsheet to be translated into your first language - please contact Sense’s Information Team. Telephone: 0845 127 0060 Textphone: 0845 127 0062 Fax: 0845 127 0061 Email: info@sense.org.uk Website: www.sense.org.uk This factsheet was produced by: Sense 101, Pentonville Road London N1 9LG. Copyright Sense 2008