FAITH AND REFLECTION ROOM AT RNIB COLLEGE LOUGHBOROUGH

 

I've  accepted an invitation by the RNIB College Loughborough to take part in the official opening of their new Faith and Reflection Room today, during the College's Winter Festival.

The RNIB College Loughborough is a national specialist college, supporting people aged 16 and upwards who are blind, partially sighted and/or have other disabilities, through day and residential places.

I'm met at reception by Norma Curtis, Quality Improvement Manager (with responsibility for Equalities and Staff Development - in the pink top in the photo above), who shows me a space among the tables offering tombola, raffles, crafts and games where I can display our pop-up banner and leaflets (as well as literature from the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership – REDP).

Once I’ve got that set up, Norma takes me to the Faith and Reflection Room ahead of its official opening, so she can show me what’s there and tell me how it has been developed. The room has been designed by learners for everyone's use: fellow learners, staff and visitors. It's reserved for use by Muslims exclusively every week day, 1310-1330.

Given its particular setting, those designing the room have addressed needs and sensitivities that are not often considered: high colour contrast between objects; soft furnishings; appealing to different sensory experiences than might be found in other such rooms (a fragrance diffuser, a basket of stones of varying textures, a speaking clock); use of braille and large type.

There’s a small chest of drawers with space for resources for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Humanism, Judaism, Sikhism (and for Islam, stored in a separate box, as one of the Muslim learners has particular access difficulties). Some of these are less full than the others; hopefully, we can encourage the relevant communities to donate some appropriate material.

Copies of the 2011 Directory of Places of Prayer, Meditation and Worship in Loughborough in large print and in braille are mounted on the wall (and copies to take away).as well as the "Find a Church" directory.

Improving quotations have been printed out and mounted on the wall, amongst which are the following:

"He who sows courtesy reaps friendships, and he who plants kindness sows love." (St Basil) 

"It is easy to do what is harmful to ourselves. What is helpful and good is hard to do." (from the Dhammapada) 

"Life is a progress and not a station" (Ralph Waldo Emerson) "Wonder is the beginning of wisdom." (Socrates)

Leicester Council of Faiths doesn't have any specially adapted material for people with sight loss, but we have tried to bear in mind best practice in terms of layout, typography etc for print and display materials to promote better accessibility (thanks for this advice and guidance to Eric Day, Access Officer at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living). We’ve tried to do the same for our online presence (e.g. website, blog).

We gather for the official opening shortly after 1100. Following a brief introduction by Tony Warren, Principal of the College (centre, in the photo above), a blessing is delivered by Father Joe Mullan, Roman Catholic Chaplain at Loughborough University (left of Mr Warren in the photo above). Next, I’m asked to say a few words about the multi-faith nature of the room and its resources.

Among the small party a the official opening of the Faith and Reflection Room is Lesley Ansari (far right in the photo) whom I know from Human Rights and Equalities Charnwood and as being involved with Loughborough Council of Faiths. What I didn’t know until today is that she’s also a member of the College's Board of Governors

Above and beyond the particular Protected Characteristic of Religion or Belief represented by opening of the Faith and Reflection Room, it's gratifying to see how the College is dedicated to equality and diversity in their fullest forms.

A statement of the college's Code of Practice on Equality and Diversity is on public display, not only in the Faith and Reflection Room, but throughout the building. There are also names and photos of the college's Equality and Diversity Champions, one for each of the following Protected Characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Marriage / Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy / Maternity
• Race
• Religion, Belief & Non-Belief [sic]
• Sexual orientation
• Transgender / Gender Identity / Sex

I speak with Norma about REDP and the possibility of the college’s involvement in our activities. We agree that I should come back out to discuss this specifically, early in the New Year.

After the official opening of the Faith and Reflection Room, we're all ushered into the Arts Centre for a performance by learners of their Christmas show, "The Thief of Christmas". This is tremendous fun to watch (and to perform, by the looks of it). Parts of it are presented as a pre-recorded video, which can be seen on the college's YouTube channel (and I bought a copy of it on DVD as well).

From a personal perspective, I’m interested in visiting the college and learning something about its work. I have several issues related to my sight: diabetes (though thankfully, no sign of retinopathy from my regular scans) narrow-angle glaucoma (treated with a combination of drops each morning and evening – though I had unsuccessful laser surgery to try and correct it a few years ago); I also had a cataract removed and replace earlier this year. So although I’ve had no personal contact or involvement with the RNIB College before this event, I find it reassuring that it’s there and doing what it does for those who need it most.

The College mentions the Faith and Reflection Room on its website.

Human Rights & Equalities Charnwood AGM

At Loughborough Town Hall this evening, in the Council Chamber, for the AGM of Human Rights & Equalities Charnwood. Here I run into some of those whom I see at various events and occasions around the region, whom I've come to consider dependable colleagues.

Speaker for the evening is Dave Thomas, Headteacher at Ashmount School, Loughborough, which serves students with special educational needs. He makes a special feature of the use of "Keep Safe" cards, which have helped young people with special learning needs in the local area (and in various parts throughout the country, where the scheme has been trialled) become more confident in social situations that they might otherwise have found tricky and which have previously resulted in police involvement. Nice to see something that works and makes a positive difference.

I was hoping to put up a banner for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership, but it wouldn't have been appropriate in this setting. It's not nice if it looks like you're crashing someone else's party. But of course I do get the chance to talk with several people about REDP, including Councillor Jill Vincent, Mayor of Charnwood. She was at the AGM of the Faiths Forum for the East Midlands in Loughborough University last week, but I didn't have the opportunity to speak with her then. Before leaving for the train back to Leicester, I get the chance to talk openly to all attending about the possibilities of joined up working between REDP and HR&EC, especially around the topic of Hate Crime.

Find out more about Equalities & Human Rights Charnwood:
http://humanrightsandequalitiescharnwood.aj-services.com/

Find out more about Ashmount School:
http://www.ashmount.leics.sch.uk/

HATE INCIDENT ACTION PROJECT

At the Ramada Hotel, Loughborough, this evening, for the launch of the Hate Incident Action Project. This is hosted by Human Rights & Equalities Charnwood, which has obtained funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission for this significant initiative. This new project will extend support to victims of hate crime across all the equality strands (age, disability, faith or belief, gender, race, sexual orientation). It will provide training for those involved with victims of hate crime (including visiting reporting centres, helping them extend their activities to all equality strands).

Among several interesting presentations, PC Pete Bumpus of Leicestershire Constabulary offers a look at the definition, history and current status of "hate crime". Leicestershire Constabulary deals with a total of 362,000 incidents per year. Of these,

• 24,000 involved domestic abuse
• 122 involved same sex domestic abuse
• 2,400 involved people with mental health issues
• 1,500 were race-related
• 220 involved religion or belief
• 200 were homophobic in nature
• 13 were disability-related

By far the majority of these were cases of verbal abuse (although that does not diminish their significance for the victims). I've asked Pete for a copy of his presentation, so I can lift some of the content for the blog.

This is one of those frequent occasions on which I'm speaking up for both Leicester Council of Faiths and the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership. Laura Horton's here, Ian Robson (Director of the LGBT Centre) and Jai Parmar (from LCIL). That's them in the photo above (then Laura and me in the photo below). We have an REDP display as well as one for the Council of Faiths.