Local boy wins Festival of Science National competition prize
March 19, 2008 4:58 PM
It's my future: Being Deaf in 2018.
Doug Dunn from Redland, Bristol has recently won the runner up prize in a competition to find out where deaf young people think research into deafness is heading in the next ten or twenty years.
The competition was run by UCL's Deafness, Cognition and Language Centre as part of the Economic and Social Research Council's Festival of Social Science. It was for deaf young people aged 15 - 19 years old. Entrants needed to write a short piece on how new ideas and research into deafness might have changed things by 2018 or even 2028.
Doug received his award at a ceremony at the Houses of Parliament, and his MP Stephen Williams was there to congratulate him. He said
"I am delighted that Doug has won a prize in this competition which attracted a very high standard of entries. His hopes that research will help to bring about a level playing field for deaf people is something that we should all be working towards."."
Doug wants to see hearing aids become practically invisible and large radio aids, museum pieces; he also thinks that in the future British Sign Language may be an option at GSE. Doug hopes that by 2018 societies' attitude to deaf people will have changed, and that they won't be bullied or pitied, but treated as equals. Research efforts should be redirected towards making this a reality. He says
"It seems to me amusing that we can create computers the size of a pea, can create visual films and games breathtaking in their animation and yet we have not progressed far beyond the hearing-aid. Perhaps a shift in values is needed! But research is accumulating and who knows where we will be by 2018?"
The ESRC Festival of Social Science runs from 7th to 16th March 2008 and a programme of events can be found at: www.esrcfestival.ac.uk The Festival of Social Science is run by the Economic and Social Research Council to celebrate some of the country's leading social science research, giving an exciting opportunity to show everyone what the UK's social scientists are doing and demonstrating how their work makes a difference to all our lives. The ESRC Festival of Social runs alongside National Science and Engineering Week, co-ordinated by the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) , in order to highlight just how integral the social sciences are to the wider world of science and engineering.
For further information, contact:
DCAL contact Liz Daone on 01227 275998 or 07808 957 414 or at dcalcomms@ucl.ac.uk
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