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)

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)

黎子鹏教授分享表示︰“知悉获研资局颁发2023/24年度‘人文学及社会科学杰出学者计划’ 的资助，我感到非常兴奋和荣幸。这是对我不断追求卓越研究的认可和动力。作为中华文明的根源，《易经》的文化影响力延展到东亚其他地区，并远远超出了欧洲和北美。我的项目将研究《易经》的不同翻译本，以及对西方宗教和文学的多方面影响，这将有助加深我们对这部中国经典的全球流通和接受程度的理解。”

文学院将继续支持学院不同领域的学者进行多元化的研究工作，以卓越的研究成果回馈社会。

有关“人文学及社会科学杰出学者计划”
研究资助局（RGC）人文学及社会科学杰出学者计划（HSSPFS）于2012/13年度成立，旨在为拥有优良研究成果纪录的人文学和社会科学学科的资深研究员，提供延长补假及资助，让他们能专心从事研究和写作。

GRF旨在为表现卓越或潜质优厚的学者提供额外资助，而ECS则旨在培育新进学者，以助他们为日后的教学及研究事业作好准备。

在2023-24年度，中大文学院获批资助总金额达1000多万港元， 当中，GRF 项目的申请成功率增加至44%。我们相信是次增长能促进研究的传播及质量，并为学术界及其他领域带来正面的影响。文学院副院长（研究）邓慧兰教授祝贺所有获得资助的申请者，并祝愿他们在推动艺术和人文研究的同时，亦为造福社会取得圆满成功。

在本年度文学院众多的获批资助项目中，由语言学及现代语言系莫碧琪教授领导的研究项目(Human vs AI: Speech register and speech accommodation in human-machine interaction)获得一百四十万港元拨款。莫教授分享表示：“这是一个涉及人文学科（语言学）和工程学的跨学科研究项目。我将与中大电子工程学系的李丹教授紧密合作，共同完成这个有趣的研究项目。”这项研究将比较粤语使用者在人与人之间互动（HHI）及人与人工智能互动（HMI）中的语言模式。莫教授指出希望透过这项研究，能够从语言学角度在理解人类、社会和技术相互交织的复杂性中开辟新天地。

文学院将继续支持学者进行多元化的研究工作，进一步促进个人和协作研究的发展，将不同的研究成果回馈社会，扩大研究效益至非学术领域。

由香港中文大学文学院历史系梁元生教授和卜永坚教授策划的“口述历史计划”，走访了六十位在不同年代与中大结缘的人士，包括校友、教员、校工、校巴司机、行政人员及大学管理层成员等，口述笔录中大六十年来的发展。

欢迎各中大成员及公众人士于中大图书馆数码馆藏观看。

网站连结︰https://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/tc/collection/oralhist

是次比赛分为律诗组及对联组，各设学界及公开组别，欢迎踊跃投稿，截止日期延至2023年9月30日。

讲者
李若晖教授 
中国人民大学国学院杰出学者特聘教授

Zoom meeting ID: 993 1478 0191
Passcode: 806354

讲者
王仁湘教授（中国社会科学院研究生院教授）
Prof. Wang Renxiang (Professor, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

王仁湘，考古学者、文化学者、中国社会科学院考古研究所研究员、中国社会科学院研究生院教授。主编主撰各类著作一百多种，主要学术著作有《史前中国的艺术浪潮》、《中国史前考古论集》《半窗意象》、《凡世与神界》、《藏王陵》、《混沌初开》、《饮食与中国文化》、《往古的滋味》、《饮食与中国文化》、《束带矜庄—古代带钩与带扣》、《大仰韶》、《南藩海昏侯》《三星堆考古》《金沙考古》《束带矜庄——古代带钩与带扣》。

1993年，邢教授在一所神学院教授中国基督教等科目，自2004年起在大学文化及宗教研究系（崇基学院神学院）任教，迄今刚好十九年。邢教授分享说︰「当年曾认真问自己一个问题：毕业后是否要当一名中学老师？那时，无法想像自己会投身神学教育，更不会预计会走上学术研究之路。」时光荏苒，邢教授不再是四十年前那位疑惑自己是否适合当老师的大学新鲜人，而是全心全意投身神学教育三十年，并怀著兴奋的心情，迎接退休的新生活。

获悉再度获颁「校长模范教学奖」的消息，邢教授内心满怀感恩︰

「感谢中文大学提供优秀的学术研究环境，如何将学术研究结合教学，是大学教师的不可或忘的基本志业。感谢每一位课堂上的同学，因为没有『学生』，『教师』的责任也无从实现。能够参与神学教育，培育历史意识，忠于历史尊严，并令更多人重视本土基督教历史，是多年从事教学工作最大的满足。」

邢教授时刻怀著谦卑的心，他说︰「『止于至善』是崇基学院的校训，也时刻在提醒我，如何在剧变世代面对各种挑战，追求至善。」