Deaf young campaigners share their experiences as UK Youth Voice members

It was at the start of the year that the organisation UK Youth were looking for its latest group of young people to be recruited to its UK Youth Voice panel. We helped spread the word, and as a result, three deaf young campaigners were recruited to the team. In this Campaigns blog post, members Aliyah, Ellie and Jess share their views.

“I wanted to be on UK Youth Voice because since participating in my first campaign, I’ve wanted to make change in subjects such as deaf education, mental health, education in general and how to reduce deaths,” Aliyah explains, “whether that be from youth violence or from mental health issues.”

For Jess, it was around employability: “I was looking for new experiences for both myself and my CV,” she explains. “I wanted to keep myself busy over the summer, and after seeing UK Youth Voice advertised on Facebook, I read about it and decided to apply.”

UK Youth Voice, a large group of young people aged 16 to 25 from across the UK, offers a chance for young campaigners to take action on the issues which matter to them. For deaf young people like Ellie, Aliyah and Jess, it’s an important opportunity to get their views heard.

“We have the same rights as any other young person, so why should deaf young people be any different?” Ellie says. “We should all be treated fairly and equally and get our voices heard, so changes can be made to make lives easier and more accessible for all young people.”

As a team, UK Youth Voice work on policy, fundraising and campaigning, as well as help with UK Youth’s direction as an organisation. For the three young deaf members, there’s several issues facing deaf young people that they want to address.

“I think one of biggest issues is cuts being made to deaf education and Teachers of the Deaf are being unemployed and cut off due to the government when deaf people desperately need them,” Aliyah says. “Teachers of Deaf can help deaf young people with their understanding from a young age through the use of speech and signs.”

She continues: “Deaf mental health is another huge issue that goes hand in hand with mental health as a whole. Deaf people are a minority but can also struggle with their mental health, as they don’t know where to start when trying to talk about it or who to talk to.”

Jess - who is severely deaf and from Scotland – agrees, and says it’s “a key contributory issue affecting deaf young people”.

Meanwhile for Ellie, the main issue is awareness: “I think that more people need to be educated and have a better awareness and understanding of not just deaf people but all disabilities too,” she says, “as some people do treat us differently.”

“This needs to change and this can be done by educating these people.”

More information about the UK Youth Voice scheme can be found on the group’s official website.

If you would like to get involved in our campaigns work – including campaigning against cuts to deaf children’s support in your area – sign up to our Campaigns Network today.