Role
Anne holds two posts at NTU.
As a Learning Advisor/Personal Tutor for the Division of Social Work and Professional Practice, Anne’s role entails recruiting and selecting appropriate students for Nottingham Trent University's Social Work courses, monitoring and evaluating individual student progress on the Social Work course, liaising with practice learning settings and evaluating the quality of students’ practice learning experience as well as contributing to the on-going development of social work education at NTU.
In addition to this, Anne has a separate role with Student Support Services where she provides academic support to deaf students on a range of courses at NTU.
Career overview
Anne has worked as a researcher and consultant to a number of local authorities and voluntary agencies providing services to deaf and disabled people.
Anne joined The Open University in 1991 as Placements Officer for the Professional Diploma in Social Work with Deaf People and was a tutor on both D251 Issues in Deafness and K655 / K255 The Disabling Society. Anne also contributed to The Open University's courses K100 Health and Social Care and K255 The Disabling Society and to the Preparation for Social Work course at De Montfort University where she worked collaboratively with students, universities and voluntary agencies in a number of European countries. In addition Anne has also taught at Derby College for Deaf People.
Early in her career, Anne worked as a Residential Child Care Officer, Welfare Assistant and then as a Local Authority Social Worker.
Research areas
Anne is not currently active in research but in the past she has worked to highlight the access needs of deaf and disabled people to services and facilities, advice, employment and education.
External activity
Anne works in a voluntary capacity within the Deaf community and with the National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing. She is currently Chair for both the Deaf Focus Group and the Disability Involvement Group for the City of Nottingham.
Anne helped the local strategic partnership, One Nottingham, to establish their Equality and Fairness Commission, led the City of Nottingham's Community Equality Forum throughout its five year life-time and volunteered for a number of organisations supporting families with disabled children, including the Parent Partnership Service.
Anne was also on the editorial board of ‘Deaf Worlds’ and served on the BBC's East Midlands Regional Advisory Council.
Publications
Anne's publications include:
Safe Surroundings Thomas Briggs, Alan Cooper and Anne Darby Access by Design issue 29, summer 2011 centre for accessible environment
Deaf Identities Anne Darby and George Taylor Douglas McLean 2003
"Preparing deaf people for the university" George Taylor, Anne Darby and Dee Martin in Mehr lernen Magdeburger Reihe 2003
Inclusion: what young people tell us Penny Barratt, Anne Darby, Julia Hayes and Ruth Jobson City of Nottingham Education Department 2002
"Sign Language in the Brain" newsli issue 40 February 2002
"Sense of Security" Inside Housing 31st August 2001
"From There to Here to There" Shropshire Disability Consortium Mailshot vol 1 issue 23 August 2001
"Meeting the Needs of Children at Ivy House School" Anne Darby and Martin Greatorex The SLD Experience issue 28 Autumn 2000
"Social work with Deaf people: A response to Hamlin" Anne Darby and Cuthbert Redhead Deaf Worlds vol 16 issue 3 2000
"The Fourth Language" Peace News no 2439 June-August 2000
Deafness in Primary Schools. Information for Teachers, Governors and all School Staff CHASE Media Productions. 1999
"Training Social Workers with Deaf People: the story of a course" Ann Darby and Susan Gregory Deafness issue one vol.11 March 1995
The Practice of Social Work with Deaf People. D601 Course Book. Anne Darby and George Taylor. The Open University 1991
Social Work with Deaf People. D601 Placement Handbook The Open University 1991
"The Professional Diploma in Social Work with Deaf People" George Taylor, Susan Gregory and Ann Darby. Deafness 6 (2) 1990
"A Holiday Play-scheme" Journal of the National Council of Social Workers with Deaf People, Vol.1 No.5 1984