NDCS meets Children's Minister on family sign language

Chief Executive of NDCS and other deaf organisations yesterday met with Children's Minister Sarah Teather to discuss family sign language classes.

Susan Daniels, NDCS Chief Executive, said:

“Many families of deaf children are having to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds, just to learn to communicate with their deaf child. We met with Children’s Minister Sarah Teather yesterday (Thursday 3 November) to discuss the need for family sign language courses to be available across the UK, following successful regional pilots from NDCS.

“We are disappointed that the Government hasn’t committed to making free family sign language classes accessible for parents nationwide at this time. However, the Government listened to our concerns about the difficulties parents face in accessing sign language classes and is looking at how these can be addressed through the work of the SEN Green Paper. In the meantime, we will continue to explore opportunities to give more families the support they need to communicate with their deaf child. We will continue to support parents who want to learn to sign with their deaf children through our Family Sign language website, www.familysignlanguage.org.uk, and parents in Wales and Scotland will soon be able to sign up for NDCS family sign language training.”

We would like to thank everyone who wrote to their MP in advance of this meeting to show their support for the campaign. You can still take action now by visiting the Sign Up! campaign page.

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