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The Editor |
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Managing Director,
Mrs Susan Pattrick |
| My Featured Charity |
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Help for Heroes (H4H) was founded by Bryn and Emma Parry after a profoundly moving visit to Selly Oak Hospital in the summer of 2007. Bryn and Emma met some extraordinarily brave young people who had been badly wounded and they just wanted to do something to help.
The charity was launched in October 2007 and, with the backing and support of Celebrities, including Jeremy and Francie Clarkson, The Royal Family, The Media and countless ordinary decent people, it has raised over £1m a month since then.
The message is simple: H4H does not seek to criticise or be political, we simply want to help and to do so by asking everyone to do their bit to raise money. Once that money is raised, we go to the experts in the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for guidance as to how best to spend it. It is our intention to spend all we raise on the practical, direct support of those wounded in the service of our country since 9/11.
We give capped grants to those charities and groups best able to provide the facilities and services we want our men and women to have. We do not deliver individual benevolence, as that is the work of existing Service Charities which we work very closely with.
When we began, we wanted to ensure that we would be as efficient as possible so our policy is money in and money out. We are not trying to build large reserves, we want your money to be used and quickly. We have either spent or allocated £24m to date on facilities and services. We can spend all we get, so don't stop!
For more information visit the H4H website. |
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Greetings!
Happy New Year! I do trust that you are keeping safe and well despite the recent heavy snows.
To kick off the new year my chosen charity for the month is Help for Heroes, for whom you may recall I co-sponsored the International Day for Persons with Disabilities in November last year... |
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Discrimination by association ... |
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The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that claims by people who are not themselves disabled but who suffer discrimination or harassment by reason of the disability of another person are covered under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 ("the DDA"). Read more |
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Disabled staff recruitment policy ... |
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Research shows that more than three-quarters of British small and medium-sized businesses do not have a policy related to employing people with disabilities. A survey carried out by Remploy, which is a service that helps people with disabilities into work, reveals that only 8% of firms that do not employ disabled people are interested in finding out more about employing them. The survey also suggests that business owners are concerned that disabled employees need more support and are less loyal than non-disabled employees. Read more |
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Blind & Partially Sighted web learning... |
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 I have recently come across a charity who supply web learning days for Blind and Partially Sighted Computer Users.
If you'd like to know more then please contact the organisers of these days direct on
01733 234441 or email ask@screenreader.net
I was so impressed by their offering that I am also giving them extra exposure by featuring them in the Inspirational People section too.... |
| Inspirational People - Behind Screenreader.net |
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Margaret and Roger Wilson-Hinds don't see to read what is on a computer screen but for years, the computer has been a central part of their personal and business lives. "The modern talking computer is like 21st Century Braille to a blind person" says Roger. "We get to hear more than enough information on all topics that interest us from the web and we run our business and keep in touch with friends via email, like you".
 Software that makes a computer talk for blind people is not new but it has always been very costly and this excludes the majority of the 180 million blind people in
the world who are very poor.
Margaret and Roger saw a simple solution - make such software free and this empowers millions with money and a need for mainstream products & services.
The software is called Thunder and there are well over 200,000 users throughout the world in five languages.
To take a step towards including customers with little or no sight, visit www.screenreader.net |
| Foot and Mouth Painting ... |
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By Barry Gilheany
The year just past saw a couple of high profile events organised by the UK arm of the internationally renowned artists' co-operative, the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (AMFPA).
The first was the Painting in the Park event, now in its second year, in Hyde Park, London. The second was a three week exhibition of MFPA's work at City Hall; the official seat of the Mayor of London. Both events gave Londoners and tourists the opportunity to meet MFPA artists; witness demonstrations of their work and to acquire insights into the creative process. They facilitated awareness of the work of artists like Keith Janz, a former sportsman and financial adviser from Buckinghamshire, who was paralysed from the neck down after breaking his neck in a road accident in 1995, but who now enjoys landscape, still life and figure painting (Disabled & Supportive Carer November 2009). Read more... |
| Coming soon... you can follow me on Twitter ... |
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 Yes, in the not too distant future I'll be posting tweets. I'll let you know when and how to follow me...
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| And Finally - Go Grab a Coffee ... |
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I was recently contacted by one of my readers with this salutary thought which he and I would like to share with you.
The gentleman concerned wears hearing aids in both ears, but nothing more dramatic than the effect of advancing years. Interestingly he finds that when people notice them they speak at him loudly and slowly!
However when recently looking for a hearing aid compatible telephone he found that most manufacturers also equipped them with large (sometimes huge) buttons.
The assumption being therefore that if you are hard of hearing you must also be going blind!!!! | |
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