Spreading the Word Research - VI children from BME communities

The following points summarise the research findings amongst families from minority ethnic communities with a child or teenager who has a visual impairment.

• Parents had limited knowledge on the range of service providers that could supply them with information, with only six voluntary organisations being named.
• Parents found that many organisations were culturally insensitive, that numerous services were targeted at their white counterparts and expressed concerns that professionals made cultural assumptions and lacked religious knowledge.
• Some parents had not utilised services due to linguistics barriers. The main information gathered tended to be the parent with the best understanding of English, which generally was the father. The Asian female participants felt that their role was in the home so they did not have time to gather information.
• Ethnic minority families want generic information that their white counterparts suggested in phase one of the project. However, the Asian families also want culturally specific information such as, details of other Asian families who led similar lifestyles and accessible religious material.
• The Asian reading families found the translated information currently available very poor, and want a multi-lingual outreach worker available who could come into their homes to deliver the information. Whilst the English speaking group want an ad hoc translation facility to reflect the variety of languages spoken in Greater Manchester, the Asian parents want information translated into Urdu and feel that pictures should not be included on leaflets due to cultural reasons.
• Parents want information available in tradition settings such as GP surgeries, as well as community based setting, for example, local shops and mosques.
• Families did not feel that information technology played an important role in promoting information.