24 September 2013
Craig Crowley MBE, member of NRCPD Board, will give an address, entitled, "Registration in 2013" to a conference marking the 10th anniversary of sign language recognition in the British Isles.
It is being hosted by Queen's University Belfast, in conjunction with Action on Hearing Loss and the British Deaf Association. The event is being held on 26 and 27 September. Craig will focus on these four key themes;
NRCPD is the voluntary regulator for the communication profession. At the heart of everything we do is consumer protection. NRCPD must continue to provide a value for money public service for both registrants, and those who use communication professionals.
We have come a long way from our initial establishment of standards for sign language interpreting. In 1982, we had just 9 registrants. At the last count, we had 1,129 communication professionals, available to search at www.nrcpd.org.uk, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Each one of these highly-trained professionals is safe to practise and will provide the essential link needed by deaf people, across the UK. When someone uses the register, they can be sure that whomever they book, that this person will provide them with the communication support they require, whenever and wherever they need it. Craig will also talk about the options appraisal being carried out on our behalf. In doing so, he is working with our key partners and stakeholders to establish a strong basis of evidence for our future direction. Whatever path we follow, consumer protection will always be at the heart of all that we do as a voluntary regulator.
There are many examples of situations where the failure to provide qualified, safe to practise, communication support. One profoundly Deaf NHS patient, Phillip Dixon, was forced to rely upon his hearing son to provide ad-hoc interpreting for him during his cancer treatment. Read more about this story.
This is clearly unacceptable. Everyone has the right to access communication support in their own language. The Equality Act 2010 guarantees this. However, many deaf people are treated unequally when they use public services.
Equality for all deaf people is our goal.
