Deaf News: NDCS releases list of General Election ‘asks’

The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) has released a fact sheet of the charity’s 10 ‘asks’ for the General Election. The fact sheet can be downloaded by clicking here: Election Briefing NDCS.

The summary says:

Deafness is not a learning disability and, with the right support, deaf children should be achieving as well as other children. Despite this, Government figures show that too many deaf children are still failing to get the support they need from public services.

This factsheet sets out the key areas where we’re calling for action on education, health, welfare and social care from the new Government from June 2017.

In particular, we’re calling on the next Government to take action to:

1. ensure that funding for services for deaf children is sufficient

2. inspect the quality of education services for deaf children

3. set up a new bursary scheme to recruit Teachers of the Deaf

4. establish a new British Sign Language GCSE

5. improve data collection so that we know how many deaf children there are and what outcomes they achieve

6. ensure deaf young people can access specialist careers advice

7. revamp the Access to Work employment support scheme

8. make it easier for deaf young people to become apprentices

9. ensure children’s audiology services are fit for purpose by making it a requirement they accredit under the Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) programme

10. rule out any cuts or narrowing of eligibility criteria to welfare support for disabled children and young people.

Find out more about the NDCS on their website: http://www.ndcs.org.uk/