The Guardian has published a comment article by freelance journalist Josh Salisbury about the importance of Teachers of the Deaf for helping Deaf children both with learning and socialising at school.
Extract below, read it here.
I’m deaf in both ears. I wear hearing aids and rely heavily on lip-reading. I had a specialist teacher in my mainstream primary and secondary schools, and the support was crucial to me succeeding. The picture for deaf and hard-of-hearing children in education today is bleak. They fall behind their peers at every stage in school, and Department for Education statistics show around 60% don’t achieve government GCSE targets.
Faced with such a glaring disparity, a government that took education seriously would be pumping more cash into support services for deaf children, not less. Instead, shamefully, the lack of government funding has forced councils to exacerbate the crisis in support for children with special educational needs. These cuts won’t just risk deaf children being let down or prevented from reaching their full potential. Worse, they will fuel one of the most harmful prejudices that deaf people face: that being deaf is somehow the same as being unintelligent.
Enjoying our eggs? Support The Limping Chicken:
The Limping Chicken is the world's most popular Deaf blog, and is edited by Deaf journalist, screenwriter and director Charlie Swinbourne.
Our posts represent the opinions of blog authors, they do not represent the site's views or those of the site's editor. Posting a blog does not imply agreement with a blog's content. Read our disclaimer here and read our privacy policy here.
Find out how to write for us by clicking here, and how to follow us by clicking here.
The site exists thanks to our supporters. Check them out below:
- BSL Zone: TV programmes in BSL for the Deaf community
- Deaf Umbrella: what support is available for deaf students?
- Bellman & Symfon: home alerting solutions, including the mobile phone transceiver!
- SignVideo: Instant BSL video interpreting online
- SignHealth: check out the BSL health library
- 999 BSL: call 999 in an emergency, in BSL
- Appa: Looking for RSLIs, TSLIs and CSWs, apply here!
- Signly: Adding BSL to websites
- Signworld: Learn BSL online!
- DCAL: world-class research into deafness, cognition and language
- Action Deafness: “A Deaf-Led Charity” – interpreting & community support services
- Sign Solutions: Instant access to Interpreters, training and BSL translation nationwide
- InterpretersLive: On demand BSL video interpretation
- Lipspeaker UK: specialist lipspeaking support
- BID: Deaf services, including advice and support, interpreting, employment and letters
- Performance Interpreting: BSL interpreting at concerts
- National Deaf Children's Society: The leading charity for deaf children
Cathy
May 17, 2018
Hmmm the cuts continue, but whose perspective is it that deafness equates to being unintelligent?! It is not my perception as plenty hearing people are also unintelligent, so we should not go down that path. However, the cuts affect other children also and deaf ones are now caught in this economic fiasco. Deaf children will not be suffering alone and it is possible that teachers are not of the same calibre they used to be. This means ALL children are affected and we allow British education to go down the pan at our peril……!
Tim
May 18, 2018
Yes, Deaf children’s education is sabotaged by the Tories and then those children grow up and are blamed by the same Tory government for their own unemployment.
Then, rather than race to our defence, “Deaf” charities like AOHL and RAD help the Tory government to bully those unemployed Deaf people with welfare conditionality and sanctions, amongst other horrors. And in order to get their money, these treacherous “Deaf” charities even agree not to criticise the Tory government.
Have I got that all correct? Feel free to tell me if ghere are any mistakes.