Action Deafness – comments

11 Comments on "Action Deafness – comments"

MAL on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 4:22 pm 



With respect John it is not a period of calm that is required – it is a period of open and honest communication.

You, like many others, should ask yourself why the community no longer trust the trustees or the CEO? What has gone wrong, why and how cannot it be resolved? A period of calm with no change will achieve nothing.

When trust breaks down what is needed is strong open leadership – not more secrecy. When members of staff have been asked to sign an agreement effectively gagging them and stopping them from talking about any AD issues to the community there can be no trust and this is not showing leadership. This is a bullying tactic and we are bound to suspect something is being hidden. What is required from the CEO and the trustees is some humility – to ask the community why things have got where they are and what needs to be done – especially what they themselves need to do to repair the damage. The hubris and arrogance of office that has been the norm at AD so far cannot continue.

There is no doubt that the trustees and the CEO face one of their biggest challenges ever if they are to win over the community. However, this winning over needs to be genuine and it will require a real change in methods and tactics. Hoodwinking and secrecy will not provide the calm you talk about nor will it provide a means of winning people over.

ts on Tue, 15th Dec 2009 7:41 pm 



deaf told last night Action Deafness close in 6months. Why they lie before?

Deafinsider on Thu, 17th Dec 2009 6:13 pm 



AD are still playing with the numbers and making them suit their purposes. Apparently it costs £40 per hour to run the centre on Welford Rd. How many staff does this include? Based on how many hours per day? 8? 24? If you add the CEO’s salary and associated hangers-on it sure does bump up the costs.

If they are on the verge of bankruptcy as they state then why have they not taken the CEO to task over this? Apparently the bankruptcy is all the fault of the previous trustees, not this new lot. So ask yourself a question; if these new trustees are any better why is there still a huge deficit? And what is the common feature linking all the old trustees with the new trustees? Yup, same CEO.

When the CEO has got an agreement to sign off on any spending by getting an agreement from the Chair and Treasurer rather than the full board you have to question if the financial controls are tight enough. And then you’d have to ask why the treasurer and finance officer have both resigned ahead of the announced January AGM.

Previously AD have rather smugly told us of their huge successes recently;

‘So, to recap, Action Deafness has received 600K of investment from a variety of agencies and donors over the past year, and this work will continue as we look to make a number of exciting and significant announcements in the New Year.’

Yes being on the verge of bankrutpcy (AD’s words not mine) is a hugely exciting and significant announcement.

One final question, how can AD release that statement on the 23rd November and quote imminent bankruptcy on 14th December? Or is no-one keeping a close eye on the accounts lest it reveal the truth? It could be argued that a charity that is so blase about losing an £1800 deposit on a trek is being less than careful with the remaining approx £600k it has.

Contributor on Fri, 18th Dec 2009 9:55 am 



I contacted Action Deafness directly the morning after the meeting to ask for comment. I shall post it when received.
JC

Contributor on Fri, 8th Jan 2010 11:22 am 



I shall be attending the Action Deafness AGM next Tuesday 6pm. I will be doing interviews. JC

Karen Sly LDCS on Wed, 13th Jan 2010 2:56 pm 



Hi John,

We didnt see you at the AGM last night?

You missed what was an important opportunity to have a birds eye view of what is going on and with both the Action deaness charities and the deaf community, the benificiaries of the two charities.

I must my observations were that the meeting didn’t go well and that we had the formal announcement that ‘Welford Road is closing’ quoted from the glossy brochure style booklet handed out at the close of the meeting last night, which was held at Leicester Tigers Rugby club.

We have six months in which to find a ‘new home’.

I am truly saddened and extremely dissapointed that these discussions did not take place during the initial consultations which the community had with the board back in the summer of last year. At that time rumours of closure were flying around.

Had discussions taken place at that time then we wouldn’t be in this uncomfortable time that we are in now. We could have also possibly have identified an appropriate new home for the many community groups of the centre.

I did make a comment last night and I wish to add to it, I want to know what will happen to each of the community groups resourses and what we will be expected to do with it all? Will the resourses have a home or will they have to be gotten rid of?

If rooms are to be rented whilst new home is sought what happens to all of the resources? let me list some of them for you to give you an idea:

Full size snooker table plus accessories
pool table x 2 plus accessories
table tennis table plus accessories
Computer desks and accesories
A number of large double storage cupboards full to capacity
storage cupboards with games toys full to capcity
bingo equipment
bar fridges and equipment
church artifacts etc
Archives of our old photographs and historical documents.

The list I believe is greater than this.

These items/resources have been bought by the deaf community groups by themselves throughout the years, by saving up money, alot are items of value and would be expensive to replace . I want to know what they are we expected to do with it all when we lose our home?

I pose the question does it not make sense to find a new home, before we move?????????????????????????

If not then will AD pay for the safe storage of all these resources? ready to replenish our new home? or will we be having new???????????????, purchased at who’s expense as we groups have little or no money to do s?

John, wish you were there last night – you would have had endless opportunities to talk to ‘the people’. The vast majority of whom know nothing at all about citizens eye, people who do not access the internet.

On a positive note we do hope to be meeting with the board as we were told that they WILL work with us to find a new home! This promise was made to us last night. I do hope that its fulfilled and that now we can see if communication improves in regards to identifying each groups requiements and needs in relation to the rehoming issue.

We all have different needs and that MUST be taken into consideration

Regards

Karen

deafinsider on Thu, 14th Jan 2010 4:09 am 



Hi John

Do we have any interview material from the AGM? Did you ever get a response from AD to your question of the 15th Dec?

And of course for £64,000, did they mention that on 15th December, after the meeting, they all voted for and agreed a new constitution that took away any power the deaf community might have had. In all likelihood they also agreed to closing and selling the centre. You can ask the audience…

Despite a new tagline ’stronger together’ and statements regarding listening to the views of the deaf community there is still no will to truly engage with the deaf community. As can be seen from the CEO’s actions, he thinks that consultation is giving a presentation for 15 mins and disregarding everyone else. True engagement with the community has to start by asking the community what they want.

This will never happen. This is just spin. Its all done and dusted and now its about making AD look good to the funders and not look like the charlatans they really are. We have been lied to. Repeatedly. Why would they change now? Especially as the CEO thinks that ‘we’ll just have to agree to disagree.’ Bet nobody vetted that little speech.

Contributor on Thu, 14th Jan 2010 2:00 pm 



Karen. I was at the AGM from 6.15pm until 7.15pm. I posted 2 comments from there on Twitter about the Chair & Trustees losing control of the meeting & a photo of people voting on flickr who were clearly NOT happy. I liased with the reporter from the Mercury who (now that I have a free desk at the Mercury newsroom) sits close to me. I’ve shown her ALL the comments on the Citizens Eye website and ALL background information I have. Hope it helps you in the search for a new venue and getting both parties to work together. John

Contributor on Thu, 14th Jan 2010 2:49 pm 



I never received a response to my question on the 15th December. The first I knew was the booklet detailing the closure. I will refer you to my response to Karen Sly above for coverage. JC

Aaron on Sat, 16th Jan 2010 8:40 pm 



“But David Sly, a spokesman for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Leicester, urged people to rally behind the chief executive and have their say on what facilities they wanted.
“Our groups will carry on, we don’t know where, but it will be better than nothing,” he said. “I’m sure we can get some fantastic facilities and we need to help the trustees do this.”

at last – sanity and reason win out.

Karen Sly LDCS on Fri, 22nd Jan 2010 10:30 pm 



I would like to comment that the statement as quoted from the Leicester Mercury by Mr Sly was, ‘A lets not cut off our noses to spite our face attitude’. This was in response to the closure announcement made at the AGM, a most sensible and practical response indeed.

Which just goes to prove that the Leicester Deaf Action Group are reasonable sensible people. We are by no means vowing to stop the closure! simply vowing for openess and honesty as was also made clear during many of the communities comments and the very same AGM.

We will wait to see how valid our input is in regard to each groups needs and hope that they will be seriously taken into consideration prior to decisions being made, implemented etc. We would in fact be stupid to not have these important discussions / consultations with the board of trustees.

After all we do HAVE TO WORK together it is OUR future.

My aim is to always think postive and give people a chance. So lets all hope that in 6 months time on big closure day that the deaf people have been listened too and that their input is as valued as it should be! And that the FULL FACTS AIMS AND INTENTIONS are discussed in an open honest and transparant way.

We are all simply asking for no more than that.

And once again peace, love and harmony will fill the air once more.

Watch this space………………..