Rebecca A Withey: When deciding on a secondary school for a CODA, careful consideration must be made (BSL)

CODA’s (children of deaf adults) have unique skills, life experience and traits that sets them apart from their non-CODA peers.

I recently researched the social, emotional and educational implications that being a CODA has on a child. As well as being academically intrigued by this topic, I am also personally invested as I have my own CODA, my son.

For the past year my husband and I have been dealing with the decision of which secondary school our hearing son should attend. We applied for a school that we all were in favour of but were not granted the place by the local authority due to the school being oversubscribed.

Our second choice school was not granted either, instead we found ourselves being allocated a place at a local school with not only a poor Ofsted report but one that also has no experience of working with deaf families or CODA’s.

The school we were given a place at was ironically the only school we did not visit during the month of open evenings, as they told us they were ‘unable to provide a sign language interpreter.’

Knowing that the appeal system for secondary school places was lengthy, we inititally decided to contact the school we had a place at to see if we could make it work.

Emails were sent, but not responded to. Phone calls via text relay were made and messages passed on but requests to visit with an interpreter were repeatedly turned down.

After 8 months of contacting this school we were finally invited to visit but we had to bring someone ‘who could sign.’

This was just not good enough for us.

Knowing that if our son was to attend this school we would have a continous access battle on our hands, we decided to go forth and appeal for a place at our first choice school.

The grounds for our appeal were based on the fact that the school we had chosen had all of the access requirements for us as a family as well as being a diverse and inclusive school that prides itself on learning about each pupils background, culture and language.

Our preferred school had a history of teaching CODA’s and a clear system in place where professional interpreters were booked and deaf awareness was apparent in all staff members we met.

I was still advised by several parents not to even bother appealing. The waiting list alone for the school had over 400 pupils on it and the chances of succeeding were apparently very low.

Yet the more I found out about the difference between the schools, and the importance of catering to the needs of a CODA the more driven I was to fight for our sons place at our first choice school.

I contacted CODAUK and Ireland for advice and I learnt that many CODA’s struggle during their formative teenage years as they face academic, social and identity challenges. If a child is not in an environment that nurtures their unique home life their wellbeing is highly likely to be affected.

I also found out about the sad cases where deaf parents were unable to support their child’s education due to not being kept informed or having access to school meetings or events.

With support from our sons primary school head teacher, CODAUK & Ireland and research to back us up, we began the appeal process along with 48 other families.

The independent clerk who worked with a panel to make the appeal decision enabled us to remain involved and included throughout the whole process. Interpreters were provided and texts and emails were used instead of phone calls.

It has been a stressful, tiring few months but throughout it all I remained confident that we had a strong case.

CODA’s are not the same as your average hearing child. They are bilingual, bicultural, adaptable and resilient beings, They are often overly responsible and take on the role of being the family ‘ears’ if there aren’t any other hearing people in the family.

There is a silent underlying pressure that CODA’S feel but may not be able to express. They also have a need to be around others who can empathise with if not personally understand the challenges they experience in their life.

As a result, CODA’s need to be recognised as having unique needs and access requirements that must be met if they are to succeed in an educational setting.

I am pleased to share that our appeal for our sons school place was successful, and I cried tears of relief opening the decision letter, knowing that our sons needs have been recognised as valid and important as stated below,

“The panel recognises the unique challenges that your child faces as a child of deaf adults and unanimously agree that the school of your choice will be best placed to help guide him through these challenges.”

If anyone else reading this is going through a similar situation with their CODA and their secondary school place, feel free to email me for advice on the steps you can take to make your case strong and I wish you lots of luck!

Rebecca A Withey is a writer and creative artist based in the Midlands. She fronts the all deaf sign performance group Unify and is the Assistant Editor for The Limping Chicken. Rebecca is a Deaf, bilingual BSL user passionate about music and telling stories. Find out more at www.rawithey.com