Insight: The Local Authority that failed me as a child is now letting my son down too (BSL)

I am a qualified teacher of the deaf and also a Deaf parent to a Deaf child. I have written this blog because I want to raise awareness of how I feel the educational system is currently failing deaf children.

I have just recently received news that we have not been successful in getting an EHCP (Educational Health Care Plan) for our son because he is – in their words – “coping.

So, we are now at the start of our fight against our local authority, and it is unbelievable to think that nearly 30 years on, parents are still having to fight for their child’s right to an education they need.

I was born with a moderate loss which has worsened and I’m now at a severe/profound loss. It is genetic and all the members in my family that are deaf do end up with a profound loss.

My mother, grandparents and cousin are also deaf, and I found this really helpful growing up as I had several family members who were able to sign and understand me better.

I grew up bilingual and had many deaf and hearing friends. I was fortunate enough to attend a mainstream primary school with a resourced provision that had around 20 deaf children; in my year group there was 6 of us who were deaf.

When I reached the age of 11, I sat the entrance exam for Mary Hare school which I passed and planned to attend but my local authority refused to pay.

I had what was called a statement, which was automatically provided to deaf children but because I was deemed to be “coping” and learning at average levels, they refused to fund me to attend Mary Hare initially.

My parents fought this decision and it ended up in tribunal which we lost. I then had to attend the local secondary school which had a unit but there were only 4 deaf pupils there, so I had gone from having “the best of both worlds” to feeling quite isolated.

Although my hearing friends from primary followed onto the same school, their attitudes changed and I felt very different and unfortunately experienced bullying due to my deafness. So, my parents started the fight again to get me into Mary Hare.

Luckily Mohammad Al Fayed at the time was kind enough to pay for me to attend for one term whilst my parents were waiting for my local authority to make their decision; at this point I had been out of school for months with no support and this had a detrimental effect on my mental health.

With the support of Mohammad Al Fayed, my local authority eventually agreed to fund for me to attend Mary Hare until I was 18.

I didn’t expect there to still be such a battle for Deaf Children’s education all this time later. My younger son is deaf and although some people may disagree with my reaction, I was actually devastated when he was diagnosed as deaf and I really struggled with it.

It wasn’t because he is deaf because I already knew I could provide him with a rich language from birth and as a family we can all sign with him. My family have all learnt sign language with some passing their BSL level 1. But my distress at the diagnosis was because I know he will be at a disadvantage in education.

My son was diagnosed with a moderate loss and is already sitting at severe. Because of my knowledge as a Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) I know he won’t be eligible for an EHCP. People will assume that because he can hear some sounds without hearing aids, he will be okay in school.

But research has shown that those with a moderate loss are often overlooked and those children don’t really know what sounds they are missing until it is pointed out. He will also only be seen by a teacher of the deaf a few times a year.

I feel as though deafness really is an invisible disability. If children are able to have some speech and “speak well” they are assumed to be “okay.” Cochlear implants/aids are also seen as a cure and often promoted to parents as the best thing ever for them. Yes, they are really useful and support language development but once those aids are off, the children are still deaf.

My son is a hearing aid refuser, I have seen the support die down due to this too. We have even had to change ToD’s because we felt as deaf parents, our voices for him were not being listened to. Our son communicates in BSL and although hearing aids are offered to him daily and encouraged, when he is with us, he refuses to wear them.

The local authority that is letting my son down is the same authority that let me down nearly 30 years ago. They said my son does not meet the criteria for an EHCP. He is a BSL user and he struggles to communicate his needs or access learning without sign language – so how does he not meet the criteria?

My son has to be seen to be struggling or failing to get specialist support or to get an education alongside deaf peers – the latter is something I believe is fundamental for his deaf identity.  He is only currently achieving age appropriate targets because of all the signing support he currently receives from his family and those working with him. We need this to carry on.

Parents are having to fund privately for assessments, but some will not be fortunate enough to be able to do this. I feel we need to go back to using statements where all deaf children have the choice of attending educational placements with units, deaf schools, or whichever parents feel is best for them.

Mental health issues are on the rise especially in the deaf community. I do not want my son to have to “fail” or his mental health be affected in order to get an EHCP. Why can’t this be in place to prevent this?

To any parents who are in similar situations as me, I would like to say the fight will be hard and tough but don’t give up nor assume the professionals know best. You know your children best so again – don’t give up!

You can reach out to NDCS (National Deaf Childrens Society) for support if needed and your local SENDISS should also be able to help as they provide specialist advice for those with special educational needs.

This blog has been written anonymously as part of the Insight series – where readers are invited to share their story or news about their interesting job with The Limping Chicken. If you have a story to share please email rebecca@rawithey.com 

Image courtesy of i-stock photos.