National Deaf Children’s Society 23/24 review

The National Deaf Children’s Society is dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people. It is our mission to overcome the social and educational barriers that hold deaf children back.

Thanks to the generosity of Childlife supporters, we have been able to provide life-changing support and invaluable

information to deaf children and their families across the UK over the last year.

This has included:

• Providing vital, timely help and advice via our Helpline service, with more than 3,800 calls, email and live chat messages responded to.

• supporting families with tailored guidance and casework, with 1,200 active cases managed

• reaching over 100 people through 7 events specifically tailored to provide support to families new to hearing loss

• running 20 online Happy Hands Baby and Toddler online sessions, attended by over 300 people

• providing an additional 20 online family courses covering topics such as selecting schools, understanding the educational support system, and exploring Deaf identity

• delivering Family Sign Language training to 600 people, enabling parents and their deaf children to gain invaluable communication skills

• developing and launching the MyNDCS app which provides tailored information and resources based on where a family lives and the age of the child

Childhood deafness can have a huge impact on language development, communication and social skills, and we know that supporting deaf children during those early years is where we can make the biggest impact and set them up for life. Our goal is to reach more deaf children and young people than ever before, and our ambitious plan is to reach every deaf child, wherever they are and whenever they need us.

Childlife donors help our work in making this a reality. Thank you for your continued support.

Ben is Deputy Director of Fundraising at Childlife member charity, National Deaf Children’s Society.