Working Without Hearing: Organisations for help with employment

Organisations for help with employment

Employment Overview

Disability Employment Advisers

Access to Work(AtW) Business Centres

RNID's Employment, Learning and Skills Service

Employment Opportunities

Rehab UK

Employment Overview

Whether you want to keep your present job or find a new one there are several ways in which you can get help.

The government runs a Disability Employment Service provided by Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs) and Disability Employment Teams(DSTs) that operate in all parts of England, Wales and Scotland. You can get help by contacting your local Jobcentre to make an appointment to see a DEA. The Disability Employment Service also runs Access to Work(AtW) Business Centres which deal with applications for financial support through the Access to Work scheme for aids to communication at work.

The RNID's Employment, Learning and Skills Service (ELSS), provides a service specifically for people with hearing impairments in several areas of England, Wales and Scotland. Employment Opportunities (EO) is a charity that aims to provide advice and support for people with all types of disability, operating through a network of local offices in many of the same areas as the RNID's ELSS, but with wider geographical coverage in England.

All these services are free; but if you have lost your hearing as a result of accident or illness at work your employer may be willing to use his insurance to pay for your assessment and rehabilitation by a private company specialising in vocational rehabilitation such as Rehab UK.

Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs)

For an appointment to see your local DEA contact your nearest Jobcentre, by looking in "Yellow Pages" Employment Agencies section under the heading Employment Service – Jobcentres,

or go to www.employmentservice.gov.uk

DEAs can help in several ways:

if you are not sure if you can continue in your present job, they can help you and your employer assess alternatives and arrange for you to receive an occupational assessment supervised by an occupational psychologist;

if you have been out of employment for a long period, they can help you regain your self-confidence on a work preparation course as the DEA did for Gloria;

they can advise on training for a new career as the DEA did for Tony, and may be able to arrange government funded training;

they can give you access to the job vacancies notified to the Employment Service and in some cases get in touch with the employer to recommend you for interview;

they can advise you on whether you qualify for special help through the New Deal. For example, if you are receiving Incapacity Benefit(IB) or Severe Disablement Allowance(SDA) but want to get back to work, you should qualify for the New Deal for Disabled People (NDDP) and may be able to register with a local Job Broker. Job Brokers usually consist of a local partnership of voluntary organisations that have specialised in helping people with different types of disability get jobs, and the purpose of the new service is to find new ways of overcoming the barriers that often prevent people dependent on IB or SDA from returning to full-time employment.
Under another New Deal scheme your DEA may be able to arrange a trial period of subsidised employment to persuade an employer to give you a permanent job if you do well; and

they can help you apply for communication support or technical aids through the Access to Work scheme.

Access to Work(AtW) Business Centres

You can get financial support to help pay for people specially trained to help with your communication at work, such as notetakers, lipspeakers and speech-to-text operators, and for technical aids, such as textphones and loop systems, by applying directly to an AtW Adviser at your nearest AtW Business Centre. There are AtW Business Centres in each of the Employment Service's 7 English Regions and in Wales and Scotland:

in England

London and South East Region

London

Tel: 020 7301 3941(Voice) Fax: 020 7301 3951

0779 357054(Mobile)

Alperton, Middlesex

Tel: 020 8218 2710(Voice) 020 8218 2716(Text)

Fax: 020 8218 2715

Colchester, Essex

Tel: 01206 288788(Voice) 01206 288789(Text)

Fax: 01206 288787

Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex

Tel: 01273 364750(Voice) 01273 364753(Text)

Fax: 01273 364751

South West

Bristol

Tel: 01454 848500(Voice) Fax: 01454 848540

West Midlands

Birmingham

Tel: 0121 255 3434(Voice) 0121 255 3428(Text)

Fax: 0121 255 3444

East Midlands

Nottingham

Tel: 0115 989 5852(Voice) Fax: 0115 989 5706

North West

Bolton

Tel: 01204 516445(Voice) Fax: 01204 516493

Yorks and Humberside

Leeds

Tel: 0113 271 0333(Voice) Fax: 0113 270 2455

Northern

Newcastle

Tel: 0191 220 8822(Voice) Fax: 0191 220 8830

in Wales

Cardiff

Tel: 02920 423066(Voice) 02920 423078(Text)

Fax: 02920 423067

in Scotland

Glasgow

Tel: 0141 800 2211(Voice) 0141 800 2223(Text)

Fax: 0141 800 2222

RNID's Employment, Learning and Skills Service (ELSS) is a developing service and currently has Employment Advisers based in each of the following areas:

England	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
London	Cardiff	Glasgow	Belfast
Bristol	Colwyn Bay	Edinburgh
Plymouth		Aberdeen
Derby
Sheffield
Manchester

To see an RNID Employment Adviser you usually need to book an appointment in advance. Most Employment Advisers can be contacted by voice or text phone, by fax or by email.

For the contact details of your nearest ELSS team ring

0808 808 0123 (Voice) 0808 808 9000 (Text)

or go to

www.rnid.org.uk/html/services_employment_advisor_map.htm

If there is no ELSS Team within travelling distance of your home you can email louise.palmer@rnid.org.uk for help. For more information about the services that ELSS can provide click the sign for Services and then "employment " on the RNID's website at www.rnid.org.uk

Employment Opportunities(EO)

123 Minories
London EC3N 1NT

Tel: 020 7481 2727 (Voice/Text) Fax: 020 7481 9797

Email: eopps.ho@care4free.co.uk
Website: www.opportunities.org.uk

The charity has advisers in 14 centres in England, Wales and Scotland, and the advisers aim to cover an area of about 30 miles from their base. The centres are in:

England
London
Birmingham for West Midlands
Leicester for East Midlands
Bromborough for Merseyside and Deeside
Newcastle for the North East
Colchester for Essex
Brentwood for Essex
Reading for Thames Valley
Horsham for Sussex and East Surrey
Southampton
Bristol

Wales
Cardiff

Scotland
Glasgow

To get help you first need to register with a local centre. All advisers can be contacted by voice or text phone, by fax or by email.

For the contact details of your nearest centre ring or fax EO Head Office at the numbers given above or go to

www.opportunities.org.uk/contactdetails/regionaloffices.asp

Rehab UK

Disability Assessment Unit
Kendal Avenue
Windermere House
London W3 OXA

Tel: 020 8896 2333 (Voice) Fax: 020 8896 2444

Email: rehab@grelier.demon.co.uk
Website: www.rehabuk.org

A privately run company that provides facilities in its Disability Assessment Unit to help employers evaluate scientifically what their disabled employees can do when they can no longer continue in their previous type of work. It charges fees for its services so that it is often involved in cases where the employer is covered by insurance (e.g. for industrial accidents) or would face heavy costs if he had to impose compulsory medical retirement.

Your employer might find this type of assessment helpful if you have lost your hearing as a result of a serious infection such as meningitis, like Martin and Gloria, or a fractured skull involving brain injury.