She has been nominated for the Signature Joseph Maitland Robinson Award in this category and will be attending the awards ceremony in London in November.
Born in Suffolk, Angela has been working in the Island for seven years. Clients may be referred to her by a number of agencies, including the audiology department, Education, Social Services, or by self-referral. She also visits people of all ages in their homes, school or workplace.
If new-born babies are diagnosed as having a hearing problem, Angela works with the parents to help them to understand what that means, providing them with information and accompanying them on appointments to the audiology department.
The individual needs of each child who is deaf or hard of hearing are assessed, and they are provided with those resources, including, for example, a clock which vibrates to alert them that it is time to get up for school.
‘You have to enter into the world of a child or young person and consider what everyday living is like for them,’ she said. ‘They may be frustrated at their communication difficulties and may not like having to wear a hearing aid.’
It was also important to take into account their normal growing up behaviour, she added.
Angela works closely in schools with British sign language teacher Robert Le Masurier, who won the UK Teacher of the Year Award last year.
Her role also includes helping deaf people to gain access to all aspects of life by encouraging them, family members and friends to become adept in a range of skills to help them to communicate. These include the use of gestures, facial expression, writing, lip-reading and signing.
She also talks to colleagues in the workplace about how they can improve their communication skills with someone who is deaf or hard of hearing by facing that person when talking to them, standing at the same level, and speaking clearly.
Angela is currently involved in a project with Family Nursing and Home Care in which staff have been using a hand-held screener to check the hearing ability of some of their older clients.
‘This is a pilot scheme aimed at picking up communication needs and hearing difficulties which people may have, either because they are undiagnosed, or because adjustments may be needed to their hearing aid,’ she said.
Angela was instrumental in the setting up of the Jersey dDeaf Partnership Board – a multi-agency group of professionals, service users, parents and charities who aim to improve services for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Laura Goldstein, head of this board, which nominated Angela for the award, said that her passion, long-term commitment and enthusiasm had led the board to pursue projects which had successfully raised awareness and improved the lives of the deaf community.
