What is Co.deaf?

Co.deaf (County Durham Equal Access Forum) is an organisation, which operates throughout County Durham, working towards equality of access for all people in the county with different types of hearing loss to meet their needs.
   

Co.deaf meeting


Please note:  Deaf = D/deaf, Deafened, Deaf-blind and Hard of Hearing (HOH).

How did it start ?

Durham deaf forum was founded in December 1999 by Fiona Greensit and Andrea Walker, both Social Workers for Durham County Social Services.  The idea came about because of the isolation of HoH/Deafened people and the number of Deaf clubs being disbanded.  Support for Deaf, Deafened, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind was also limited because of the rural setting of County Durham.

Two deaf people from each of the 7 districts in County Durham were invited, by each area's Social Worker, to attend an initial consultative meeting.  There they discussed their needs and ideas for how the proposed forum could help the Deaf citizens of County Durham.  Two visits were made to other Deaf resource centres to see how they operated.

The proposed Durham deaf forum was intended for all deaf people in County Durham.  Its aim was integration and social interaction with local communities to minimise isolation and provide greater communication.  In the long term we hoped to have a resource centre.

As a result a fledgling committee was formed on the 12 June 2000 and the name changed to Co.deaf

(County Durham Equal Access Forum).

Since delegating her responsibilities, Fiona has been actively supporting Co.deaf as a non-voting member of the committee.

To date, every monthly meeting had been successful and productive in compiling a constitution, fundraising, organising events and inviting speakers from as far as Liverpool and Gateshead to talk about how other deaf organisations operated.

By Fiona Greensit (co-founder)

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