Our Staff Steven Emery Manager Steve was employed as the Manager of A Deaf Hub in March 2020. His job is to manage all aspects of the Hub, for example, to maintain the Cardiff Deaf Centre building, oversee repairs and building development, be a contact point for the projects that use the Centre and to help promote the future vision of the Hub. Steve is deaf, bilingual in British Sign Language and English and has been employed in a variety of roles working with deaf people since 1992. His employment has included advice work, development work, and counselling, but his main occupation has been in academic research. He obtained his PhD in Citizenship and the Deaf Community in 2007 and other research topics he has undertaken include, deaf migration, genetics and Deafhood, genetic counselling, minority group rights and mental health. He is a qualified counsellor and holds a BA (Hons) in Cultural Studies. Steve has lectured and researched in several UK universities and at Gallaudet, Washington D.C. He has also spent time living in Colombia, Ireland and Scotland. Prior to working in the deaf community, he worked as a typesetter in the printing trade. Steve is passionate about a wide range of issues involving social justice and human rights. He believes the key focus for deaf people is developing self-empowerment and advocacy through pursuing full citizenship and realising Deafhood. These are acts that he believes can be best obtained through working collectively with each other and in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders. Tracey Bancroft Project Development & Fundraising Support Tracey became involved with Cardiff Deaf Centre in 2016 when providing consultancy services on a voluntary basis to the trustee team of Cardiff Deaf Creative Hands. She has worked in the third sector for over 20 years, with much of this time spent in local organisations developing, supporting and delivering services to vulnerable people (across the 9 protected characteristics), alongside service users, families and carers. During this time, she has held volunteer roles and professional roles including owning and operating a not for profit organisation. Beside her third sector engagement work, Tracey has also spent a high percentage of her professional career in the commercial world holding different strategic and operational roles including running several of her own businesses. This has provided her with a strong knowledge of both public and private sector organisations. Tracey has a strong personal interest in and is passionate about Human Rights especially the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) and UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRDP). Her personal experience across all sectors and caring for disabled family members provides a wide knowledge base that is utilised to support organisations large or small with strategic and operational guidance. Tracey believes that knowledge sharing and awareness raising is key to making a difference and removing real or perceived barriers to everyone reaching their full and rightful potential.