ABSTRACT
Comments have been made on the composition of the committees that run voluntary organisations, however elected or selected. An examination of the composition of the committees of all the organisations in the sample shows that 13 at least have 50% or more in the expert category, and in two it was certainly less. The remainder comprised BDA, whose committee expertise in the activities undertaken by the Association might be questioned, but nearly all of whom were themselves deaf. It is certainly important that committee members should be knowledgeable, and what committees do will certainly be of better quality if one-class membership can be avoided. There are two other aspects which may shed light on the effectiveness of these committees – the degree of change of membership, and the adequacy of attendance at meetings. Committees must account to their members; this is an essential criterion of democracy.
