History
In 1944, a small group of parents got together to form the National Deaf Children’s Society. They had one purpose – to make sure their deaf children had a fair and equal right to education.
The charity was originally known as the Society of St John of Beverley before being named the Deaf Children’s Society. We adopted our modern name in 1958, after expanding to become a national charity.
Our passion and drive have helped us break down many barriers over the years. And today deaf children are still at the heart of everything we do.
Helping families find a way through
Advice and support for families has been hugely important to us since the beginning. In 1947, we published our first information resource, ‘If your child is deaf’, as well as setting up a monthly course to help parents support their deaf child.
In the 1990s, we secured a grant to set up a free Helpline for families. It’s still running today, and we receive more than 8,000 enquiries every year.
Today, we have a host of information resources, online and in print. We also run online sessions for families, covering topics as diverse as sleep, welfare benefits and deaf identity.
Transforming the world around deaf children
We’ve always campaigned to make sure deaf children get the support they need.
Since the 1960s, we’ve been fighting for all types of communication, including speech and sign language, to be equally valued. Today, you can see this commitment in our Right to Sign campaign, which aims to introduce a British Sign Language GCSE into schools in England. Since the 1970s, we’ve also been battling cuts to deaf education services.
One of our biggest campaign wins happened in 2006 with the roll-out of newborn hearing screening across the UK. As a result, many more babies have been identified as deaf in their first few weeks of life and can get the support they need right from the start.
International work
In 2002, we set up the International Deaf Children’s Society – now known as Deaf Child Worldwide – to support deaf children in low- and middle-income countries.
In 2025, we introduced our new international focus, to set up newborn hearing screening and early intervention programmes in low- and middle-income countries.
Today
In 2023, we launched Every Moment Counts: our 2023 to 2028 strategy, which is focused on getting deaf children the support they need right from the start.
We’re turning how we support deaf children and their families on its head and giving parents and volunteers the knowledge and tools to drive change in their communities.