Susan Daniels: Deaf children have limitless potential but we must champion them at an early age

I recently went to the cinema with my husband to watch a captioned version of the Darkest Hour but whilst sitting there watching Gary Oldman give possibly the best performance of his career as Winston Churchill, I thought about the lack of access to the arts, even in 2018.

Deaf children are far too frequently unable to go to the cinema with their hearing peers as captioned showings take place at odd times and are few and far between.

This week, deaf actor and model Nyle Dimarco took to social media to raise awareness of the poor captioning of Black Panther at his local cinema. However the problem isn’t only one of access.

Deaf children can do everything other children can do given the right support.  This is absolutely true of the performing arts too.

Next month six year old Maisie Sly, who is profoundly deaf, will travel to the Oscars, where the film she stars in, written by and starring our talented ambassador Rachael Shenton, is up for an award.

This is obviously the pinnacle of performing arts success but championing deaf children’s involvement in the arts at grassroots levels is just as important.

For instance, there is an all too common misunderstanding that deaf people don’t enjoy music, yet music can have huge benefits for deaf children and young people.

As well as the vibrations, the visual aspect and performance value of playing an instrument, music can increase children’s confidence and develop their fine motor skills. These are important skills for any child, whether hearing or deaf.

BBC Radio 4 recently produced an excellent documentary Listening Without Ears exploring how deaf people engage with music. In it, Eloise Garland, a professional singer, violinist and teacher who is deaf, brilliantly challenges head on the assumptions people too frequently make. There is a long way to go on this but we are moving in the right direction.

We launched our flagship nationwide performing arts programme Raising the Bar in 2015 to demonstrate what deaf children and young people in the UK can achieve in music, dance and drama. We need to challenge the misconception that deaf children cannot compete with their hearing peers in performing arts.

I was over the moon that Rugby World Cup winner and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ben Cohen took the decision to support this year. Speaking about the event, Ben said, “It’s such a great way to build confidence and show that for a deaf young person, you can achieve anything a hearing person can, and can absolutely get involved in the arts if that’s what you love and are passionate about.”

This message couldn’t be more important. As the profoundly deaf Chief Executive of a leading charity, I’ve ignored everyone who ever told me to limit my ambitions and rein in my expectations.

Being able to take part in performing arts is absolutely key for every child growing up. Whether that is joining a local drama class or playing the guitar, the importance of expressing oneself through performing arts is something every child, hearing or deaf, should be able to do.

As an organisation we exist to create a world without barriers for every deaf child. Raising the Bar is about making the performing arts more inclusive and having high expectations of deaf children, not just so they can participate but so they can thrive as much as any hearing child.

Susan Daniels is CEO of the National Deaf Children’s Society and Deaf Child Worldwide, working to break down the barriers faced by deaf children.