Sign this petition and finally make LOVEFiLM take notice about subtitles

A new petition has been launched and its creating a fair bit of interest!

The petition is asking LOVEFiLM to provide information about which of the films for rental have subtitles. At the moment, there is no way of knowing when you order a film if its going to have subtitles. Duff! 

And lots of on demand films or content by them isn't subtitled either which is pretty poor, especially when compared to Netflix which have almost 100% subtitled access, thanks to a court action in the US earlier in the year.

This petition, called LOVEFiLM: All I want for Christmas is Subtitles already has over 500 supporters and its only been around for 24 hours. Problems with  LOVEFiLM aren't new though. See this article from Ni Gallant on PDDCS News news about what she thinks about LOVEFiLM. Not much.

Stephanie McDermid is the organiser of the petition. She says this on the petition page about why you should support the campaign:

Like you I enjoy watching the latest film or must-see TV show. Whether it’s Breaking Bad or the Hunger Games I want to be part of the conversation’s that all of my friends are having. However, as a LoveFilm customer I’m always missing out.

Like most of the people with hearing loss I rely on subtitles. There are over 10million of us in the UK yet as one of the biggest on demand and DVD rental companies, LoveFilm just isn’t accessible to us.

People with Hearing Loss want to be able to watch what they want, when they want, how they want - just like everyone else. However we can’t do that with LoveFilm Instant’s on-demand service as they don’t offer subtitles on any of their titles.

And it’s not just when we’re watching films on our IPad’s, Phones or over the internet. When choosing from LoveFilm’s rental service we can’t even see if the film we are picking has subtitles before it arrives in the post. We’re getting a second class service and this isn’t fair.This Christmas I just want to be able to sit down with my family and enjoy watching a DVD like everyone else. Please help me to get LoveFILM to improve their service for people with hearing loss.

Sign it for yourself here! Then share the petition with your buddies

A call for your signature

The NDCS are putting out a final plea. Many people have helped promote and sign the petition to call for a Parliamentary debate about cuts to deaf children’s services.

 

The petition closes on Wednesday.

 

They are 350 signatures away from reaching 50,000.

Could you help us give the petition a final push? It takes two minutes to sign and could make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of deaf children.

 It would be fantastic if we could hit this target before the petition closes because it will confirm the overwhelming public support we have for the debate.
 National Deaf Children’s Society’s Stolen Futures campaign

 

 You can sign here: www.ndcs.org.uk/petition

 

 

Shake, sign and share

NDCS are asking people who care about deaf children's futures to 'Shake, sign and share'



NDCS need 100,000 signatures on their petition to get deaf children's voices heard in parliament and at the moment only have 21,260.

Deaf children across England are losing their Teachers of the Deaf and other support they need to learn and succeed because of cuts and changes to local authourity budgets.

Sign and share the NDCS Stolen Futures e-petition today.

NDCS Campaign against cuts to education needs you!

NDCS are looking for your help to get 100,000 signatures to force the government to protect specialist services for deaf children. NDCS's recent report shows that services are being cut and threatened all across the country putting deaf children's futures in jeopardy. 

In Peterborough, the latest news is that the budget for deaf children is being increased and no staff cuts are planned in either the education or health service relating to services for deaf children - although NDCS are keeping tabs on the situation with a review due on 2012-13. The news is similar in the Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire areas. Check out your area on the cuts map.

Despite the reasonably positive news in our areas at the moment. The axe could fall at any time and has already in many areas of the UK with consequences for the future of deaf children. It's important that we keep the pressure on.

NDCS have nearly 17,000 signatures already, and to keep the momentum going they'’ve decided to hit the road with the NDCS Listening Bus. 100,000 signatures will force the Government to debate the issue in Parliament and intervene where councils are making harmful cuts. NDCS need PDDCS support to get the signatures - are you in?

The Bus will be in Theatre Plain at The Forum in Norwich city centre, Saturday 15^th December, from 10am to 4pm and they’re looking for people to come along on the day and collect signatures. Everyone is welcome for the whole day, but NDCS say that they appreciate that Saturdays are busy so even if you can only spare an hour, or just want to come and show support, they would really appreciate your help! Children are also very welcome.

Everyone who volunteers to help gather signatures will be given a T-shirt and clear instructions about what to do on the day. There will also be a short session from 10am to 10.30am to provide those who are interested with some more background to the petition and some campaigns hints and tips. Reasonable travel costs will be reimbursed and refreshments provided.

If you can't make it to Norwich, you can also promote the campaign by sharing this story or posting the link to the petition on your Facebook wall or via twitter. 100,000 signatures is possible - but only if you can do something to help too.

Save services for deaf children

Susan Daniels OBE, Chief Executive at the National Deaf Children's Society has created an epetition to Department for Education to intervene to protect specialist services for deaf children

The petition takes a few minutes to complete

Click here

Your support makes a difference

Sign the petition to give deaf people equal access to healthcare

A new petition has been launched to pursuade healthcare commissioners to ensure that deaf people are given access to professional communication support when using healthcare.

The petition claims that deaf people can be left confused about their medical conditions due to a lack of communication support and this situation must change.

It ties in with this year's deaf awareness week, beginning today, focusing on access to healthcare for deaf people.

Andy Palmer, Secretary of the PDDCS said: "For too long, the needs of many people with hearing loss have been ignored by the doctor of NHS. Imagine how it would feel discussing your own health and only being given half the picture? This petition is important and we fully support it because it can show a united front to decision makers in the NHS and get them to put the communication needs of deaf people to the top of the priority list."

"BSL is an officially recognised language in this country and that status means BSL should be supported by the NHS in a full and proactive way. But it's not just BSL that is important. There are also hundreds of thousands of people with hearing loss who do not use BSL but encounter the same problems. Their needs are equally important and should be recognised too."

Sign the petition here..

What do we want? Sign language classes... When do we want them? NOW!

Click here to add your support to the campaign to persuade the department of education to offer family sign language classes to parents of deaf children to get communication in the home kick-started from a very young age.....just like it is for hearing children. 

90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, usually with no idea how to say 'I love you' in sign language.. 

Here is the petition text..

Nine out of ten deaf children are born to hearing families who have little to no experience of deafness. Communicating with your child is a basic right, but many families are not getting the support they need to learn British Sign Language. Sign language courses vary throughout the UK in regards to availability and price. It is unacceptable that parents of deaf children who wish to learn sign language are not getting the help they need to communicate with their child. We, the undersigned, are calling on the Department for Education to roll out family sign language classes for families of deaf children, and to incorporate national standards on sign language support in family services, early years settings, schools and further and higher education in any forthcoming special education needs legislation.

Sign your name .. it only takes a minute