I've been collecting my sponsor money in for a week or two. I've got most of the money off my colleagues and family and I've had a couple of big donations. Ex-vbCity Leader Edward donated £20 and vbCity owner/administrator/all round nice guy has donated a fantastic $100! Thank you both for your generosity.
A quick reminder of what it's all about. I did a sponsored diet (no small thing for me, I like my food) in aid of the RNID - Royal National Institue for the Deaf. Deafness is a disability but it's not one that is catered for. Deafness is more common than you think - you can't usually tell that someone is deaf just by looking at them. School children are usually taught French or German as a second language at school yet there is more chance of meeting a deaf person in this country than a French or German speaker.
British Sign Language (BSL) is recognised in the UK as an official language and has a similar legal status to other indiginous languages such as Welsh or Gaelic. However, a deaf person is unlikely to find an interpretation service anywhere. My father-in-law is profoundly deaf (he can't hear at all) yet his consultant at the hospital can't sign. His GP can't sign and his social workers can't sign. If he goes shopping or to a restaurant, chances are nobody can sign. If you go to the council office or some other public building, you can find interpreters or at least posters and leaflets written in all the main minority languages - Gujurati, Punjabi, etc. You will struggle to find a sign language interpreter.
The RNID do good work on behalf of deaf people of all ages and campaign for changes in the law and policies to accomodate the tens of thousands of deaf people in this country. The RNID was responsible for setting up the TypeTalk textphone service in conjunction with BT which allows deaf people to use the phone.
Anyway, I've gone on enough about it. If you want to donate, there's still time. I've got to send the boys round with baseball bats to collect the rest of the sponsor money off my work colleagues. Paypal me - wonkotsane@vbcity.com - GBP(£), USD($) or EUR(€).