‘The only thing we can't do is hear': the deaf pupil who beat Fife council in court
'We're in a world that's built for hearing people,' says the 16-year-old from Glenrothes in Fife, 'and we have to navigate through it to find what works best for us.'
Earlier this year, the teenager won a legal battle with her local council to have a British Sign Language interpreter in lessons, after she realised how much of what was said in class she was missing out on.
Niamdh, who has been deaf since birth, wears hearing aids, but can struggle to follow in noisy environments and her preferred language is BSL.
As a younger child, she didn't have any deaf people she could look up to on TV or on the news. Now she hopes that through her advocacy 'younger deaf kids can look up to me and see that they can achieve anything'.
'A lot of people think that because we can't hear we can't achieve high-earning jobs and go into good professions,' says Niamdh, whose favourite subject is modern studies and who hopes to get into teaching then politics when she grows older. 'But the only thing we can't do is hear – there's nothing actually wrong with us. We can do anything that we put our mind to.'
Yet deaf children are eight times more likely to leave school with no qualifications, according to the National Deaf Children's Society, which financially supported Niamdh's legal action.
Niamdh was talking in advance of a report by MSPs that will reveal a significant fall in the number of specialist teachers of deaf people in Scotland. It is prompting the NDCS to warn of a 'growing crisis in deaf education' and lack of guidance from local authorities about what kind of support they should be providing deaf children in schools.
At high school, she explains, there was an assumption that she did not need support because she was still achieving decent grades.
But at Niamdh's tribunal, an independent assessment by a deaf education specialist found she was only accessing 70% of what was being said in class, even when her teacher wore a microphone transmitting to her hearing aids.
Her dad, Steve, chips in: 'If she was accessing 100% at the teaching, imagine what she could be achieving. Why should she settle for average just because she's deaf?'
Constantly struggling to hear came at a heavy price, and Niamdh was increasingly exhausted. 'I was always tired, asking to go to my bed at four o'clock before I'd had anything to eat.' At weekend she was too tired to go out with her friends.
After her request for a BSL interpreter was turned down, first by her school and then by Fife council, Niamdh felt she had no choice: 'At this point it was getting close to my exams and I'd missed so much class already. I wanted to launch the action under my own name because it was for me, and I can voice my needs without the help of my parents.'
Giving evidence, she explained that 'it's always a hearing person that makes decisions for the deaf person, and it shouldn't be the case. Because hearing people don't know what it's like to go through life in a world that's not built for them.'
Early last year the tribunal ruled that Niamdh was being placed at 'substantial disadvantage', but the appeals process was only concluded this spring.
'When the last appeal got thrown out, it was the biggest relief I've ever felt,' says Niamdh. She went out for a Chinese buffet meal with her parents and younger brother to celebrate.
The teenager, who takes part in taekwondo competitions and is a devoted fan of the hospital drama series Grey's Anatomy, says she's very lucky to have a close group of friends she's known since nursery school. 'It's all they've known with their friendship with me: if we're talking they need to face me, make sure there's not too much noise in the background.'
She feels strongly that young deaf people should be allowed to make their own choices about what support they access, and that they are not a homogenous group: 'Everyone has their own way of communicating. It's not up to anyone else to decide that.
'It's the kid's choice of what they want to be as a deaf person. If they want to go without aids, if they want to have the hearing technology, if they want to be involved in the deaf community, let them decide.'
Fife council's head of education and children's services, Angela Logue, said: 'We are continuing to work very closely with Niamdh and her family to meet her needs as identified by the outcomes of the tribunal.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- The Guardian
Brazil issues last-ditch plea for countries to submit climate plans ahead of Cop30
Brazil has issued an urgent call for all countries to come forward with strengthened national plans on the climate, in a last-ditch attempt to meet a key September deadline. Only 28 countries have so far submitted carbon-cutting proposals to the UN, with some of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases – including China and the EU – still to produce their plans. On Tuesday Brazil, which will host the crunch Cop30 UN climate summit this November, issued a summons to all governments to a key meeting on 25 September, on the sidelines of the UN annual general assembly in New York. The UN needs all national plans – known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – by that date to compile a 'synthesis report', which will show how far off track the world is on the crucial goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. André Corrêa do Lago, the veteran Brazilian diplomat who will preside over Cop30, wrote to governments on Tuesday to urge them to submit ambitious NDCs, and warned that if they were not strong enough then further action would be needed at Cop30. He wrote: 'Far from representing mere climate targets for 2035, our NDCs represent the vision of our shared future. They are vehicles of cooperation, enabling us to realise this vision together. If the image shown by NDCs turns out disappointing, it is our collective responsibility to convert it into a picture that will ensure a livable planet, protect all economies, and improve living standards and life opportunities for all peoples, for all generations.' Brazil has markedly stepped up its diplomatic efforts in the past week, as the prospects for Cop30 look increasingly difficult. Brazil's president, Lula da Silva, held a one hour call with China's Xi Jinping last week in which the climate was a key priority. Do Lago said: 'We are quite convinced that China will publish an ambitious NDC in time for the synthesis report. We are very confident that China is taking this exercise very seriously.' The 'presidency consultation' meeting called for 25 September is a new departure, as such meetings normally only take place during the final stages of Cops. It will be followed by another on 15 October, both aimed at preventing the gridlock that has afflicted recent UN climate meetings, at which negotiations have been unable to start on time because of disagreements over what should be on the agenda. But the Cop30 presidency has been beset by problems amid a worsening geopolitical situation, reinforced by Donald Trump's red-carpet treatment of Vladimir Putin last week in Alaska. Trump has withdrawn the US from the Paris climate agreement, and Putin's war in Ukraine has proved a bonanza for fossil fuel interests. Brazil has also suffered obstacles of its own making, including the siting of the summit in Belém, a small city at the mouth of the Amazon river. Developing countries and civil society groups have grown increasingly anxious at the lack of hotels and other accommodation, and the high prices charged, and there are questions over whether Belém's airport has the capacity and security needed for the scores of world leaders who have been invited. Belém only has about 18,000 hotel rooms in normal times, while about 50,000 people are expected to attend Cop30. While Brazil's government has commissioned two large cruise ships to moor at Belém for about 6,000 attendees, and set up a platform for Belém residents to rent out rooms and apartments, the cheapest rooms are about $400 a night for the fortnight of talks, with many hotel rooms priced at well over $1,000 a night. These are daunting sums for many of the most vulnerable countries, who can only afford to send a handful of delegates in contrast to the scores of officials sent by some of the biggest emitters. Civil society groups and media organisations have also warned they are being shut out of the event. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Ana Toni, chief executive of Cop30, said: 'Prices have started to come down and we expect that to continue.' Brazil has also made key concessions to other countries over what will be on the agenda for Cop30. While NDCs are crucial to global climate action, they were not originally set to be the focus of the Cop30 agenda, as Brazil maintained they would be settled before the summit and therefore not subject to negotiation. However, many countries made it clear that discussing the NDCs and their impacts would be central to fulfilling the Paris agreement. Do Lago said there would be opportunities for parties to discuss all key issues: 'Some of the issues that the public in general expect more discussion on at Cop were not included in the agenda. So what we want to do is make sure we are dealing with these issues, that are considered important by stakeholders. There is a huge debate about trust in these negotiations, and I firmly believe that transparency is essential.'
Scotsman
11 hours ago
- Scotsman
Edinburgh festivals diary: Booker Prize author's Gaelic AI fail showed investment needed for deaf audiences
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When we all began working from home over lockdown, I started using an AI tool for the first time to transcribe recorded interviews. Covering politics over Covid, the transcription software was great for noting down the basics of then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon's daily pandemic press conference. Working from my kitchen table, I could let the interview play out of the speakers and record it to transcribe - letting me skip easily to the bits I wanted to quote - and listening back to them again for accuracy. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Of course, I couldn't rely on it. Five years ago, the tech was in its infancy and Sturgeon's accent did not translate well. I found if I was transcribing an interview with an east coast American, or someone who spoke in received pronunciation, all was fairly good: otherwise, forget it. Since then, it has improved and the tool can pick up all, but the strongest of regional accents fairly accurately. Of course, I would still never rely on it for direct quotes. The book festival says it has increased captioning this year. | Scotsman But in an Edinburgh International Book Festival event with author James Kelman this week, I was reminded of the dark Covid days of AI transcription when live captions popped up on the big screen, alongside the use of a British Sign Language interpreter. In the text beamed onto the big screen, Kelman's phrase 'imperious bastards' was captioned as 'peel his bastards', as the AI tool struggled with his Glasgow accent, while he word 'Gaelic' came up repeatedly as 'garlic'. 'I listened agog' was translated into the curious name - which will hopefully pop up in one of Kelman's next novels - of 'Alison Dugog' and 'made your toes curl' was captioned as 'Major Toes Curl'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad James Kelman was speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Another Fringe show I attended at the weekend also had captions. These, I believed not to be live as the show was scripted - and deviated slightly from the live speech as the performers changed word order slightly as they spoke. Instead, someone on the tech team was hitting the button on each pre-loaded line as they spoke. However, the problem was not the deviation from exact words the performers were saying, but the fact the captions had not been proofread and were littered with (albeit small) grammatical and spelling errors - two weeks into the show. While the use of captions has to be welcomed - Deaf Action says they are 'essential' for deaf people to access arts events such as the Edinburgh festivals - the standard desperately needs to be improved. The book festival says it has increased captioning provision this year, using AI to complement the in-person captioning it has previously carried out, in a bid to ensure it has coverage across all of its events. I may well have hit a bad night, but that would not have helped any deaf people in the audience. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Inaccurate, lagging or poorly proofread captions can exclude people just as surely as having none,' the charity's chief executive, Philip Gerrard tells me, adding that skilled live captioners are scarce and need to be booked well in advance. 'What's needed now is systemic investment and planning: grow the workforce through training; involve specialist organisations like Deaf Action early to choose the right access for each event; improve technical set-ups, rehearsal and oversight; and clearly label what audiences can expect, (live human, scripted or AI) with basic quality assurance in place,' says Mr Gerrard.
The Independent
28-07-2025
- The Independent
Precedent from SNP's 2011 win would break ‘logjam' to indyref2
The precedent set by the SNP's 2011 election victory would break the 'logjam' towards a second independence referendum, John Swinney has said. The First Minister said there should be a 'legal referendum recognised by all' on Scottish independence if the SNP secures a majority at the Holyrood elections. Previously, he has said a 'democratic majority' of pro-independence MSPs after next year's Scottish Parliament elections should pave the way to a new vote on the constitutional question. In a newspaper column published on Monday, the SNP leader called for the May 2026 Holyrood elections to be 'a springboard for Scotland taking charge of our own destiny'. He spoke to journalists further at the Kelpies statues near Falkirk, saying: 'The necessity of independence is absolutely paramount and we've got to make that case in the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections. 'But there's a logjam and we've got to break that logjam. 'We demonstrated how we break the logjam in the past, by electing a majority of SNP MSPs in 2011, and that led to an independence referendum in 2014.' He invited supporters of independence to back his party in the constituency vote and to 'demand independence' in the regional vote. Asked whether an SNP majority was a high bar to clear, he said: 'The way we break the logjam is to rely on the precedent that happened in 2011.' Mr Swinney also said recent opinion polls had shown rising support for independence. Since the Brexit vote in 2016, repeated prime ministers have rebuffed the SNP's calls for another Scottish independence referendum. Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: 'John Swinney is like a broken record. In a bid to silence internal critics of his weak leadership, he has thrown diehard nationalists some more red meat on the one issue they all agree on: independence. 'Ordinary Scots are sick and tired of the SNP's obsession with breaking up the UK. 'The public want John Swinney to focus on fixing the damage his Government has done in decimating essential services such as schools and the NHS at the same time as making Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK.' Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: 'This SNP Government has lost its way and ran out of ideas – while one in six Scots suffer on an NHS waiting list. 'Despite that, John Swinney can't end his own obsession with division and today has confirmed he'll put Scots second to appease his own party. 'From the crisis in our NHS to the violence in our schools, the SNP has left every institution in Scotland weaker. 'This is not as good as it gets and in 2026 Scotland will have a chance to put a stop to SNP decline and vote for a fresh start.' Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said: 'At last year's election the SNP took an almighty beating because people were tired of them obsessing over one issue. It seems like John Swinney is a glutton for punishment. 'Perhaps rather than focusing on what the SNP membership cares about, he should focus on what the country needs. 'The health service and the state of our schools has been neglected for too long because all the SNP care about is breaking up the UK.'
