[Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.

  • Cumberland County Council
Date:
1969
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    179/252 (page 173)
    The Bishop of Carlisle attended the Carlisle Chapel and gave the sermon at Evensong. Deaf people from all over the area attended. In August, 1969, a Communal Service was held at Pat- terdale on Ephphatha Sunday; about 100 deaf from all over the Diocese attended the service was followed by tea, and then a trip on one of the steamers on Ullswater. It becomes increasingly difficult to obtain decent jobs for deaf people, whether school leavers, or adults. There is very good liaison between the Association and the Disable- ment Resettlement Officer and the Youth Employment Officer, but in many cases it is easier for the Welfare Officer to obtain work for a deaf person, as he has a more intimate knowledge of his caoabilities, and in many, or rather, most cases, the first person to know if a person is out of work is the Welfare Officer of the deaf. The social recreation centres for the deaf are very well attended by the young and old alike and at the same time. These centres for the deaf still prove to be the hub of the Community and is still a clearing house for a host of problems, whether large or small, serious or laughable, spiritual or social. Someone once said ‘If the need is there, let it be met.’. The need is there and it is being met.” My own social work staff naturally look to their colleagues in the Diocesan Association as being the expert case-workers amongst the deaf in the community. In cases of multiple handicap, including deafness, it is gratifying to note the co-operation and mutual support which exists between the county social welfare officers and the Association’s welfare officers. I am happy to say a similar degree of liaison and co-operation exists with the Education Departments peripatetic teachers of the deaf. The number of persons registered as being hard of hearing has climbed but slowly during recent years, the total at the end of 1969 being 144. Despite efforts by my officers to organise social and other club activities for this group of disabled persons, the conclusions reached are that because of the acceptance of this disability by the community at large, and the fact that those who are hard of hearing tend to be well integrated in the community with a normal range of interests and activities, special facilities are not in demand. Probably the most fruitful assistance which