Dear all,

Andy Ford, Chair of Trustees, and I are delighted to be sending this message on NDCS’s 65th birthday.

When the charity was “born” back in 1944, life as a deaf child in the UK was especially tough. There was little understanding of the impact hearing loss has on language development and little educational support. Parents had to cope with limited information and advice, with many being told that their children would never amount to anything. And let us not forget that the NHS didn’t exist at that point in time!

It is safe to say that, since then, not only have we grown beyond our founders’ wildest dreams, but the outlook for deaf children has improved too! Thanks to your hard work, NDCS has been at the forefront of every major campaign that has improved the lives of deaf children: in education, technology, audiological and medical provision. We have initiated research and published guidelines to help professionals give the best support they can. We have changed laws as well as the public’s perceptions, and we have tirelessly raised funds to make all of this happen. Most of all, we have been on hand to offer balanced and practical support to every parent of a deaf child in the UK and many more throughout the world.

2009 has built on this foundation. In all four countries of the UK, we have made considerable progress in raising the profile of NDCS with national politicians and local decision makers to ensure they give serious consideration to issues facing deaf children. There have been notable successes in securing improvements in education, audiology, social care and the acoustic quality of new schools, the latter due in no small measure to the involvement of deaf children and young people and the actions of NDCS supporters. We have also added to our excellent range of publications for parents and professionals including guidance on BAHAs and the teaching of literacy and quality standards in education.

In November we launched The Buzz, the first national website designed by deaf children for deaf children. It has already proved to be a hit, with one child writing to say: “Thank you setting up The Buzz. I am happy. Wow.”

The Communications team this year revamped NDCS’s internal communications. Building on the success of In the Loop, lunchtime seminars were introduced to popular acclaim, and in June Our intranet went live. All make a big contribution to helping teams share skills and knowledge, as well as keeping everyone aware of the breadth of work NDCS carries out. The Fundraising team continued to achieve great success, ensuring that income broke the £15m barrier. 

We also continue to support the families and carers of deaf children and young people by providing family weekend events, through our Freephone Helpline and support materials and the work of our projects. A network of family officers continues to support and empower families and our appeals advisors work with families faced with special education needs and disability tribunals and welfare benefits tribunals, the vast majority of which are found in favour of parents.

Internationally, we continue working with parents and schools to raise awareness on the inclusion and right to education of deaf children. In India, one of the parent’s groups, Samudhan, supported by our partner Sanchar, found that bus companies in their district would not let deaf children travel on the buses. A group of parents from Samudhan lined the road in protest and did not let any buses pass until they allowed deaf children to travel. This protest was a success - deaf children can now travel by bus. This is a good example of a situation where, with our support, parents are demanding the inclusion of their deaf children in their local services. In Uganda, since the start of this year, we have been working with the local government to pilot the first ever inclusive secondary school in the Busheni district which means that deaf children can now access secondary education for the very first time. We have just received news of the end of year exam results from the first intake of six deaf students. All the students passed and will be continuing into Grade 2, and one of the profoundly deaf students came third out of 123 pupils.

Let’s not forget that many of these successes would not have happened without the support of the HR, Facilities, Finance and IT teams.

Most importantly, all of this has been achieved during the longest recession for 70 years. The impact of the economic climate meant that difficult decisions regarding staffing and recruitment had to be made earlier in the year and, for all of us, pay has been frozen for the year. Particular thanks go to all those staff who have taken on extra work to cover vacant posts and those which could not be filled immediately. The Board of Trustees, as well as the ED team, is extremely appreciative of the understanding of staff in this respect, as well as for your continuing hard work and commitment to our work. 65 years on, NDCS continues to transform the lives of deaf children, young people and their families. I can safely say we have no plans for retirement yet – we have greater plans going forward to ensure we break down the barriers facing deaf children.

That leaves it for me to say that Andy and I would like to thank you for your personal contribution to our work and to wish you a very enjoyable festive season and a happy new year.

Susan Daniels