Who am I? family weekends: 2008/2009

Find out about our Who am I? project weekends which took place in Scotland in March and April 2009. 

Deaf young people and their families travelled from all over Scotland to the first Who am I? Family Weekends. 11 families came along to our October Scottish Borders weekend, 15 attended a weekend in Perthshire in March and 11 families joined us for a non-residential event in Glasgow.

Many had been to our events before whilst some were attending an NDCS event for the first time. Either way, everyone was quick to make friends.

On the first day, there were workshops and activities for everyone – for deaf young people, for parents and for siblings. Each workshop was a mix of fun activities and discussion.

Parent workshops
In the parent workshop, topics included:

• What makes for good family relationships?
• What’s important as parents? What is important to deaf children?
• Means of supporting deaf children into adulthood and independence.

These workshops gave parents an opportunity to share experiences – many realised they had a lot in common, especially around concerns for their child leaving education.

Young people workshops
The workshops for young people explored issues such as:

• Identity.
• What’s important to deaf young people and their parents?
• Confidence.
  

The activities gave young people the opportunity to mix with their deaf peers, explore their identity and see deafness in a positive light. For some attendees, it was the first time they had really talked about being deaf and how it affects their life.

Sibling workshops
Workshops for siblings included activities on:

• Identity.
• Family.
• What’s important to siblings of deaf children?
  

Attending an NDCS event was a new experience for many siblings. It gave them the opportunity to feel good about themselves and their own identity, realise what was important to them in their family life and relationship with their deaf sibling.

Family activities
On the second day of the weekends, families got together for fun activities and to look at what the other members of their family had talked about in their workshops.

At the Perth weekend families had fun making huge newspaper houses. They also looked at ‘owning’ deafness, encouraging young people to take responsibility for their own deafness.

At the Glasgow weekend parents and young people took part in fun activities to compare their ideas of the things that are really important in life.

A popular part of this weekend were the presentations by two of our Who am I? Project Workers. They shared their own experiences growing up as deaf young people, the challenges they faced and how they dealt with them.

Families were also able to discuss the support available for the deaf child going through the transitional stage of leaving school.

At the Borders weekend, families had fun orienteering and swimming. They also took part in a fair trade activity, working as a team to manufacture trainers to make a living in a Peruvian village!

Most families really enjoyed the weekends. They told us that meeting other families and making new friends were the best things about the weekend:

• “I enjoyed communication with families, sharing of experiences…”
• “Excellent weekend. Most enjoyable. Would be very interested in future day/weekend events.”
• “I feel this weekend has been so educational and fun for the whole family.”
• “[What I enjoyed the most was] meeting other parents in similar situations."
• Best part was the three young deaf achievers – valuable for children and parents."

Young people and siblings enjoyed the weekends and making new friends:

• “I thought the information about deafness was useful.”
• “I liked the games and practical activities. Also the presentations by the project workers.”
• "I like it because make new mates!"
• "Loved every minute of it."
  

Many parents said they wanted more time to chat with other parents, outside of the workshop activities. 
Our new Family Weekends include social time on Friday evenings for families to get to know each other and relax.

Some young people felt the workshop activities could have been a bit more fun and interesting.
We held an event for young people who went to the previous weekends to ask how we could do this. They generated some great  ideas for new games which we'll be running at our new weekends. 

Families rated the presentations by Project Workers as one of the best things about the weekend.
Presentations by Project Workers are a permanent feature of future Family Weekends.

Visit this page to find out more about attending a future Who am I? family weekend. 

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