Resources for black and minority ethnic (BME) families in community languages

Find out about all the services NDCS offers for black and minority ethnic (BME) families in Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Welsh and Polish.

We are recruiting for sessional workers to run our Parenting courses in East Midlands and North West England. Find out more here >

We are currently looking to recruit volunteers for East Midlands and North West England. Read more here >

We provide free publications and other resources to NDCS members on a range of issues related to childhood deafness. Some of our family resources are translated into community languages.

You can either download these from the website or contact our Freephone Helpline for a free copy on 0808 800 8880 or by email on helpline@ndcs.org.uk. For more information about the Helpline and opening times, go to the Helpline page.

• What community languages does NDCS translate into and why? (41 kb)

Positive Families, Stronger Communities is an exciting new three-year project to support Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) families with a deaf child in London, East Midlands and North West England.

Please read more here >

We provide clear, balanced information and support for families of deaf children, deaf young people and professionals working with families. We can also refer you to our specialist staff via our Freephone Helpline.

If your first language is not English, we can still help using a telephone interpreting service which is free of charge through NDCS. It can translate over 150 different languages. Call us on the Freephone Helpline 0808 800 8880 (voice and text) and give your name, telephone number, and the language you would prefer to speak in. We will call you back within a few minutes with an interpreter on the line.

NDCS has a team of volunteers in London who can support families from a BME background.

These volunteers speak a variety of community languages and are from various ethnic minority backgrounds. Many of them have personal experience of being deaf or of having a deaf child. The support they can provide varies from emotional support and sharing personal experiences to providing communication support for families who do not have English as their first language, providing information on various topics and offering links to other parents or community groups.

Download the family and volunteer leaflets here:

• BME Volunteer Leaflet (284 kb)
• BME Family Flyer (418 kb)

To get support from a volunteer or to become one yourself, please contact Kerrol Alonga on 020 7267 2361 or 07975 516 000 or email kerrol.alonga@ndcs.org.uk

NDCS maintains a list of recommended interpreters in various community languages: Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Mirpuri, Hindco, Gujarati, Hindi, French, Arabic, Turkish, Somali, Swahili, Russian, Polish, Kurdish and Pushto.

All interpreters are highly qualified in public service interpreting and have received deaf-awareness training by the National Deaf Children’s Society. To find an interpreter in your language/area, call the NDCS Freephone Helpline on 0808 800 8880 or email helpline@ndcs.org.uk.

If you prefer to speak a language other than English, tell us the language of your choice and your phone number and we will call you back in a few minutes with an interpreter.

These interpreters are freelance and NDCS cannot be held responsible for their service.

Download the deaf-aware interpreters flyer: Deaf-aware interpreters (48 kb)

NDCS has a number of useful DVDs on different topics aimed at parents of deaf children which are available free of charge to members.

We currently have the following available in community languages:

1. Positive Parenting (You will be asked to sign in or join up as a member. Please add the item to your basket, select 'checkout' and provide your delivery address.)

This DVD is based on the NDCS Parenting a Deaf Child Curriculum and is aimed at families with a deaf child of primary school age or younger. It includes information on self-esteem (for children and parents), behaviour management, communication, play and reading, and wider family contact and community. It also includes stories from black and minority ethnic (BME) families of deaf children talking about their own experiences of parenting.

This DVD includes options for spoken English, Polish, Urdu, Sylheti, Punjabi and Somali with English subtitles and British Sign Language.

• You can also watch the video online here >

2. Communication begins at home (You will be asked to sign in or join up as a member. Please add the item to your basket, select 'checkout' and provide your delivery address.)

This DVD is for families with a deaf child three years or younger. The film follows six children and their families on a typical day to see how they communicate. It aims to show how communication can be supported during everyday activities and routines.

This DVD includes options for BSL or subtitles in English, Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi.

3. All Together (You will be asked to sign in or join up as a member. Please add the item to your basket, select 'checkout' and provide your delivery address.)

This DVD is for families with a deaf child/young person 15 years or younger. You can select a day from the All Together week and meet grandparents, fathers and siblings who share their thoughts and feelings about having a deaf child in their family.
You can see how the families have fun together on a number of activities and then try it yourself using the activity cards enclosed with the DVD pack.

The DVD includes options to play with BSL or subtitles and is also available in Urdu, Sylheti and Punjabi.

4. Who am I? (You will be asked to sign in or join up as a member. Please add the item to your basket, select 'checkout' and provide your delivery address.)

Meet five deaf young people who talk about what it's like to grow up deaf and their plans for the future.  Share the experiences of their families and find out what top tips they would give to other families. 

This DVD is voiced over in English, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu, has English subtitles and BSL in vision translation.

PLEASE NOTE: This DVD is already included with the publications 'Who am I- Deaf young people share their stories' and 'Who am I- Parent to parent'.  If you are ordering either of these you do not need to order this DVD as well.

Copies are restricted to one each for family members or five each for professional members.

You can also watch the chapters from the DVD online here:

• Young people >
• Families >

To order your free copy, you can also contact the NDCS Freephone Helpline on 0808 800 8880 (voice and text) or email helpline@ndcs.org.uk.

If you prefer to speak a language other than English, tell us the language of your choice and your phone number and we will call you back in a few minutes with an interpreter.

NDCS has started to create a podcast series that will cover key information topics such as education, audiology and communication. These podcasts are currently available in Urdu and Polish and can be downloaded for free.

Our family officers are based across the UK. Their role is to empower and support families to make informed choices. They can provide information and support to families covering a wide range of topics and issues related to deafness.

Some family officers can speak various community languages while others can support families via interpreters and Language Line if needed. To speak to a family officer, contact the NDCS Freephone Helpline on 0808 800 8880 (voice and text) or email helpline@ndcs.org.uk.

If you prefer to speak a language other than English, tell us the language of your choice and your phone number and we will call you back in a few minutes with an interpreter.

The Scottish Minority Deaf Children’s society was set up in 2009. They are a group of parents from varied ethnic backgrounds and are all multilingual.

The languages spoken in the group are Urdu, Punjabi, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Somali, Hindi, Farsi and Linghala to name a few. They have all been trained by the National Deaf Children’s Society as Family Support Volunteers, are affiliated to the National Deaf Children’s Society, but have our their constitution, trustees and are completely self-funded.

The group aims to provide a parent to parent network, sharing similar experience in a language they understand and providing:

• accessible information on issues such as health, education, technology and communication
• emotional support with the cultural and language aspects of the family
• deaf children from similar backgrounds the opportunity to meet each other
• sign language courses tailored specifically for parents whose first language is not English

The group also aims to recruit more volunteers who are parents of deaf children from Glasgow and further develop the Family Support Network.

The group has successfully organised a range of activities for deaf children and their families. E.g. a Saturday club for children where children made puppets and produced a DVD of an Indian wedding.

They currently host a drop-in session for parents on the last Saturday of every month.

Family Sign Language classes will be starting for the families in partnership with the Ishara project at Deaf Connections. The Family Sign Language curriculum is very visual and hence accessible to people who may not be able to read or write in English. The course also aims to include sign language that one would be able to use on a day-to-day basis with one's child. The aim is to give parents confidence to use sign to communicate with their child at home on a daily basis.

See below for links to other relevant websites that have useful information available in various community languages:

• The Newborn Hearing Screening Programme website (you will be linked to an external site) please click 'Refresh' or F5 if you have problems loading the page.
• The Contact a Family website (you will be linked to an external site).
• The BME Advice Network (BAN) website (you will be linked to an external site).
• Free dual language books from Bookstart (you will be linked to an external site).

For any further queries about the contents of this page or to find out more about our work with families from different communities, please contact Zobia Kalim, BME Development Manager on 01189 785 350 (v/f), 07966 341 036 (v/SMS) or email zobia.kalim@ndcs.org.uk

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