Gwen Carr - National Deaf Childrens Society
Question: This week NDCS celebrates its Diamond Anniversary. How do you think things have changed for deaf children and their families over the last 60 years?
Gwen Carr: It is massively different for families particularly with regard to technology. Sixty years ago a very young deaf child probably wouldn’t have been identified sufficiently early. And even if they were, a deaf toddler would have been equipped with large body worn hearing aids which were quite heavy. The limited amount of technology available would have been very bulky.
Parents would have had access to very little information and that is of course why NDCS was set up. Parents 60 years ago were very worried about their children’s future and the educational opportunities available to them.
So over the last 60 years there has been huge improvement in early identification. We now know very early that children are deaf, health and education services have improved, and just the amount of information NDCS and others put out provides a much healthier, positive outlook for the future.
Having said that some things haven’t changed, there are families out there still struggling to access good quality services, and they are still not getting the right amount of support and information that they need, so it is different but we also still have a long way to go.
Question: Do you think society’s attitude towards disabilities have changed?
Gwen Carr: I think to a large extent they have but I still think deafness in itself isn’t well understood and in particular childhood deafness.
I think society knows elderly people wear hearing aids and that hearing tends to deteriorate over time. I think society perhaps has a view of many deaf people being out there who use sign language as their first language, and British Sign Language has its rightful place now as a properly recognised language, but many people will chose to communicate using English.
However I think people don’t understand childhood deafness, they don’t understand the impact it can have because they can’t see it, and I still think there is a long way to go on that but generally I think there are more positive societal attitudes to disability on the whole.
Question: What are the highlights of this anniversary year for NDCS?
Gwen Carr: We have got a new Listening Bus which is a technological road show demonstrating mobile phones, pager systems and teaching aids to assist communication. But it does far more than just bring technology out into the regions. Our staff are highly trained to talk to parents, professionals and children about all different aspects of the technology available but also about the other ways to help deaf children. They spend a lot of their time when they are out and about talking to hearing children about understanding deafness, talking about deaf friendly schools and how people can make their schools more suitable and welcoming so that deaf children are fully included. The listening bus has been a huge success and this one is even bigger and better equipped than our previous one.
We have had the David Beckham inspired art auction at Christies, which was also hugely successful, very well supported and raised a lot of money.
We have got a parenting CD rom which is exciting because NDCS has put it together but it is parents who have put the information on and it is parents advising other parents and sharing experiences. This won an award partly because it is a very unique, adept product but also because the advice on there is parents who have had real experiences and are sharing those experiences and advice with other parents.
Our Deaf Friendly Clinic Pledge is asking audiology clinics to try to make sure that their waiting areas are more welcoming, that their staff are deaf aware, that families are involved in service planning and make sure that staff share all information about children with the parents.
There are also two important research projects, one on informed choice for parents which of course is very important to NDCS. Parents should be fully informed about their choices and supported in the choices that they make. This is in partnership with
There have been lots of exciting things, but they are probably the highlights.
Question: What's the Deaf Friendly Schools Pledge?
Gwen Carr: The Deaf Friendly Schools Pledge is based on a series of publications which the NDCS produced last year called Deaf Friendly Teaching,
So we have designed a pledge with 10 points and we ask schools to work towards adopting each of the points. They have to ensure that the whole school community is deaf aware ranging from the lollipop lady standing outside through to the governors so that everybody is aware of the needs of deaf children. There are some very simple things which can be done to help improve communication for the whole school, not only deaf pupils.
They are asked to foster positive attitudes towards deafness, promote effective communications regardless of whether that is through sign, speech, symbols or whatever matches the children’s needs in their school. We ask them to provide an acoustically friendly environment where children who wear hearing aids can wear them well and the acoustics can support good use. A real commitment to the inclusion of deaf children is key not just in the classroom but in pre school activities and social activities.
We want schools to have high expectations of children and to commit to developing them to their fullest potential thus not having the attitude that just because a child is deaf they will automatically have their potential limited. It is a real ‘the skies the limit’ philosophy. We want to help schools create equal learning and social opportunities for deaf children, to work in partnership with other specialist support teams and other agencies, including speech and language therapists, specialist teachers of the deaf, and occupational therapists so that it is a whole team approach to supporting the child.
It is also important to provide the opportunity for deaf children to meet other deaf children and adults so that they don’t feel isolated being the only deaf person they know. In the past it is actually true that some deaf children thought they either got better as they grew up or in fact they died because they hadn’t met any deaf adults, so the opportunity to meet other deaf children and share in that community and to meet successful deaf adults who are leading good and ordinary lives is also important.
Question: NDCS was also involved in campaigning for new born hearing screening which is being rolled out across the
Gwen Carr: Hugely so, because research from America shows quite clearly that if you identify a child and give them support and give the family support before a child is six months old, then the outcomes are substantially better in terms of a child’s language and communication. Whether you use sign or whether you go for an oral approach all the outcomes are better for deaf children if you intervene early.
New born hearing screening is allowing children to be identified early, to have their assessment period earlier, to be fitted with hearing aids early and most importantly it allows families time to make their choices and time to learn about communicating with their child and to establish very good early communication.
When you have got a tiny baby it is not about whether you are speaking to them or signing to them, it is about whether you are making good eye contact and really communicating through touch and relating to each other and optimising every chance you have to establish good contact. The earlier you can do that the better and so the potential benefits of new born hearing screening are quite revolutionary.
Question: What are the key issues for the future?
Gwen Carr: One is ensuring that parents have high quality, full and unbiased information. The field of deafness has some quite radical views within it, with different professionals feeling that they know which is the best way to support a family and what is best for deaf children. NDCS feels very strongly that all deaf children are different and all families are different therefore they have different needs. We will continue to both campaign and work to support the effective implementation of informed choice and of course part and parcel of that is ensuring that there is an appropriate professional work force. There is a national shortage of teachers for the deaf. I was one myself, many are due to retire about the same time and we need more audiologists, we need more speech and language therapists. We need more teachers of the deaf who are committed to be there for the future for deaf children.
