This presentation will address the existing evidence of the inequalities faced by Deaf populations, including the current knowledge of health and mental wellbeing outcomes in deaf populations will be reported. Examples of the findings from the previous studies will be included, such as the longitudinal study with deaf young people in Great Britain with particular focus the mental wellbeing and health status outcomes, and the health and wellbeing outcomes of Deaf adults who use sign language. The challenges in locating, assessing, and reporting evidence on health inequalities in Deaf signing populations from the systematic reviews will be discussed.
 

Speaker 
Dr. Katherine Rogers
The University of Manchester

Dr Katherine Rogers is a Senior Lecturer and a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Post-Doctoral Fellow and has been involved in the Social Research with Deaf people (SORD) group at the University of Manchester since 2006. Her research interests primarily involve issues pertaining to Deaf communities and their families, especially those which promote more positive outcomes. Examples of research projects that she has been involved with include Deaf role models, the mental well-being of d/Deaf people, evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of BSL IAPT, and the validation of standardised psychometric instruments with d/Deaf populations. Click here for her research page: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/katherine.rogers.html

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 28 August 2023 (Monday)

Language development in typically developing children is the culmination of 18 months of learning how to share ideas with others. In this introduction I describe how congenital deafness disrupts early communicative development. I focus on the growth of inter-subjectivity (sharing of ideas) between the neonate and the hearing parent. This happens first through reciprocation, joint attention and then shared representations (words). I show how hearing parents alter the way they communicate with deaf infants: reducing complexity and connectedness and increasing labelling and directiveness (e.g. Hardman, Kyle, Herman & Morgan, 2022; Kelly, Morgan, Bannard & Matthews, 2020). The impacts of these changes coupled with the child's deafness are one important factor explaining variability in outcome for language development.

Speaker 
Prof. Gary Morgan
City, University of London
Gary Morgan is a developmental Psychologist interested in how early deafness impacts on language and cognitive development. He started his academic career focusing on sign language development in native signers. Then he moved into the area of language and social cognition where he developed an interest in early communication. More recently he started looking at Executive Functions and the role of early communication and language. Currently he is studying the variability in language development following a cochlear implant. In his research and teaching he asks questions about how children develop language, social and cognitive abilities, how these abilities are related and why in some cases this natural development can be disrupted or impaired.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 21 August 2023 (Monday)

This webinar explores why equality law is not working for deaf people, and what can be done to ensure that it does. After a consideration of how deaf people continue to experience inequalities, an attempt is made to ascertain why the framing of deaf people as disabled is problematic, giving rise to what is termed the ‘Deaf Legal Dilemma,’ whereby deaf people are faced with a stark choice: accept the disability label, or have no access to any rights at all. These rights can be divided into Deaf-disabled and language-minority rights. 

The concepts of equality relevant to deaf people are ascertained, utilising a specific methodology that allows a categorisation of these concepts into either formal, substantive or transformative equality. A doctrinal analysis of equality law as they relate to deaf people in the UK is subsequently undertaken, incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights, the Equality Act 2010 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The findings of this analysis are that the Deaf-disabled rights are not effective, and language-minority rights are proposed as a solution.

Speaker 
Dr. Rob Wilks
Cardiff University

Dr Rob Wilks is a non-practising solicitor of England and Wales (UK) who has advised over 2,000 members of the Deaf community on a range of legal issues, mostly relating to employment and discrimination.

He’s currently a lecturer in Professional Law at Cardiff University teaching Business Law and Practice and Employment Law on their Legal Practice Course and was awarded his doctorate in 2020 by the University of Leicester examining the title: ‘Making equality law work for Deaf people..’

He’s recently turned his attention to Deaf education and has published a report with Rachel O’Neill at the University of Edinburgh comparing Welsh- and Gaelic-medium education with that of BSL, putting forward recommendations on how to ensure BSL is taught as part of the new Curriculum for Wales. He has an interest in sign language recognition and is developing Deaf Legal Theory as a new perspective in legal jurisprudence.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 17 August 2023 (Thursday)

In the second part I describe the model of cognitive development I use to explain how early social-interaction builds the building blocks for later cognitive skills (Morgan, Curtin & Botting, 2021). First, I describe what Executive Functions are and why they are important. I outline different theories for how they develop in conjunction with language before describing two studies (Botting et al, 2016, Jones et al, 2019) of EF development in deaf children. In the final section I outline the role of language and communication in deaf children's development of Theory of Mind.

Speaker 
Prof. Gary Morgan
City, University of London
Gary Morgan is a developmental Psychologist interested in how early deafness impacts on language and cognitive development. He started his academic career focusing on sign language development in native signers. Then he moved into the area of language and social cognition where he developed an interest in early communication. More recently he started looking at Executive Functions and the role of early communication and language. Currently he is studying the variability in language development following a cochlear implant. In his research and teaching he asks questions about how children develop language, social and cognitive abilities, how these abilities are related and why in some cases this natural development can be disrupted or impaired.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 24 August 2023 (Thursday)

Mental health and health related services often do not have the tools they need to accurately assess a culturally Deaf person’s mental state. Adaption of standardised assessments for use with sign language populations require several stages of verification. Stage one is the translation and reliability testing to establish first level validity. Stage two is the performance of the instruments to the target population including verification of the clinical cut-offs. Stage three is evaluation of the effectiveness of their use in practice depending on clinical conditions of delivery. This presentation presents evidence from research addressing each stage, including lessons learned in the adaption, validation and effectiveness testing of the standardised assessments with Deaf signers. Additionally, a research project on the evaluation of effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a mental health intervention delivered to Deaf people will also be discussed.

Speaker 
Dr. Katherine Rogers
The University of Manchester

Dr Katherine Rogers is a Senior Lecturer and a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Post-Doctoral Fellow and has been involved in the Social Research with Deaf people (SORD) group at the University of Manchester since 2006. Her research interests primarily involve issues pertaining to Deaf communities and their families, especially those which promote more positive outcomes. Examples of research projects that she has been involved with include Deaf role models, the mental well-being of d/Deaf people, evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of BSL IAPT, and the validation of standardised psychometric instruments with d/Deaf populations. Click here for her research page: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/katherine.rogers.html

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 31 August 2023 (Thursday) 

Deaf Legal Theory (DLT) is a term that was coined by Bryan and Emery (2014), and they define it as ‘how the law seeks to frame Deaf people’. DLT is a new concept in the field of study known as ‘jurisprudence,’ that is, various critical approaches to law through which a critical examination of legal systems can be made. 

Bryan and Emery argue that for ‘Deaf jurisprudence’ to develop, the current underpinnings of law that are based on incomplete assumptions need to be exposed, and in order to do so, DLT needs to be applied to particular aspects of the law. In the process, the law’s incomplete assumptions of Deaf people will be exposed.

Wilks argues that his doctoral thesis and his post-doctoral research all fit under the DLT umbrella, and he has so far exposed incomplete assumptions in the areas of equality law (Wilks, 2020), sign language interpreters and translation (Wilks, 2022), deaf education (Wilks & O’Neill, 2022; O’Neill & Wilks, 2021), and is now turning his attention to sign language recognition, employment, charitable organisations and the criminal justice system.
 

Speaker 
Dr. Rob Wilks
Cardiff University

Dr Rob Wilks is a non-practising solicitor of England and Wales (UK) who has advised over 2,000 members of the Deaf community on a range of legal issues, mostly relating to employment and discrimination.

He’s currently a lecturer in Professional Law at Cardiff University teaching Business Law and Practice and Employment Law on their Legal Practice Course and was awarded his doctorate in 2020 by the University of Leicester examining the title: ‘Making equality law work for Deaf people..’

He’s recently turned his attention to Deaf education and has published a report with Rachel O’Neill at the University of Edinburgh comparing Welsh- and Gaelic-medium education with that of BSL, putting forward recommendations on how to ensure BSL is taught as part of the new Curriculum for Wales. He has an interest in sign language recognition and is developing Deaf Legal Theory as a new perspective in legal jurisprudence.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 10 August 2023 (Thursday)

 “I am thrilled and humbly honoured to be awarded the HSSPFS for 2023/24. This is both a recognition and motivation for my constant striving for research excellence. At the root of Chinese civilization, the Yijing (I Ching / Book of Changes) has its cultural influence extended to other regions of East Asia, and well beyond to Europe and North America. My project investigates Yijing’s different translations and multifarious impacts on Western religion and literature, which will deepen our understanding of the global circulation and reception of this seminal Chinese classic”, shared Professor Lai.

Congratulations to Professor Lai for achieving outstanding results in the HSSPFS. The Faculty will continue to support scholars in their diversified research endeavors and contribute valuable research to society.

About Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS)
Introduced in 2012-2013, the Research Grants Council (RGC) Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (HSSPFS) aims at granting extended time-off and supporting funds to outstanding investigators under the disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences Panel to enable them to focus on research work and writing.

The GRF aims to supplement the eight UGC-funded universities’ own research support to researchers who have achieved or have the potential to achieve research excellence, while the ECS is intended to nurture junior academics and to prepare them for a career in education and research.

This year, more than HK$10 million funding is awarded to 23 projects under the Faculty. Compared to last year, the Faculty is delighted to note that the application success rate of GRF projects increased to 44%. It is believed such an increase fosters dissemination and quality of research and brings impact to academia and beyond. Professor Gladys Tang, Associate Dean of Arts (Research), congratulates the grant recipients of GRF & ECS of 2023-2024 and wishes them every success in their endeavours to push the frontiers of arts and humanities research for the benefit of society.

Among the awarded projects in the Faculty this year, Professor Peggy Pik Ki Mok’s project “Human vs AI: Speech register and speech accommodation in human-machine interaction”, from the Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, is granted HK$1.4 million. “This is an interdisciplinary project involving Arts (Linguistics) and Engineering. I will work closely with Professor Tan Lee from the Department of Electronic Engineering at CUHK on this interesting project”, shared by Professor Mok. This study compares the speech patterns of Cantonese speakers in human-human interaction (HHI) with those in human-machine interaction (HMI). It is hoped that this project can break new ground in the understanding of the intertwining complexity of human, society and technology from the speech perspective. 

The Faculty will continue to support the development of individual and collaborative research projects as well as programmes in order to extend their broad impact beyond academia.

The Oral History Project was executed by Professor Leung Yuen Sang and Professor Puk Wing Kin, Department of History, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. 60 CUHKers were interviewed, including alumni, faculty, workmen, bus drivers, administrators and senior management staff, sharing of their stories about the development of CUHK.

Please watch online at the Library Digital Repository of CUHK. https://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/oralhist

This presentation offers an updated description of the sign language interpretation training, testing and accreditation in twenty cities/countries in Asia on the basis of published studies, online information, interviews and questionnaire findings. It was found that most cities/countries in Asia only have short, informal training workshops for potential and serving interpreters, and the duration and coverage of training are far from sufficient for training up individuals to become competent interpreters. Only a handful of cities/countries have relatively more well-established accredited training programs at the tertiary level and a nationally recognized certification system. In our interviews, the most frequently cited difficulty confronting sign language interpreters in Asia was a lack of training, which led to frustration on the part of the interpreters, and substandard service quality.

Speaker

Ms. Wong Yuet On, Fion and Ms. Lo Chun Yi Connie
Former researchers of the Centre for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

Yuet On Wong is an educator and researcher with a passion for sign language interpretation. She holds a Master of Philosophy in Linguistics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Wong has also earned several diplomas, including one in Deaf Education and another in Sign Language Interpretation. Her work experience includes interpreting in different contexts and teaching primary and secondary schools using Hong Kong Sign Language. Wong is pursuing a diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education while continuing to explore her interests in sign language interpretation.

Connie is a highly qualified professional with a strong educational background and experience in sign linguistics and Deaf education. Her education includes the completion of a Higher Diploma in the Asia-Pacific Sign Linguistics Research and Training Program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as a Professional Diploma Programme in Sign Language Interpretation. With extensive interpretation experience in various sectors, including Government, Media, Education, and Academics, she has developed a diverse professional background. Prior to her current role at the Center for Sign Linguistics and Deaf Studies, she taught HKSL levels 1 to 6, engaging multiple undergraduate classes annually. Her accomplishments, experience, and published work demonstrate her specialized expertise in sign linguistics research, Deaf education, and active participation within the Deaf community.

Zoom Meeting details will be emailed to those who registered;
Registration Deadline: 01:00p.m. of 7 August 2023 (Monday)