Why deaf people have terrible haircuts

I hate having my hair cut. I have always hated having my hair cut. I go as rarely as I have to and consequently people rarely ever say to me “ooh, that’s a nice ‘do”.

I always have to take my hearing aid off when I have my haircut. Hairdressers then always try to make small talk with me. They seem incapable of not making small talk. So when I explain that’s not going to happen with me because my ears are FAULTY they look like they might self-combust. And they then forget 3 minutes later and start trying to make small talk again. I always feel like slapping them but then I remember I don’t want them to go all Van Gogh on my ears.

But last week when I was in Mr Toppers having my £7 hair cut (bargain!) I thought: Enough! I decided to just politely ignore the hairdresser, stop looking around at the corner of my eye and just think to myself.

And I concluded that actually there are 2 more substantive reasons why I hate having my hair cut. They may be personal to me. They may be common to other deaf people. I’ll let you decide.

Firstly, I’m deaf but I still exist in a mostly hearing world. So going from being in a noisy bustling environment to not hearing anything, whilst knowing that people are still talking around you and possibly to you can be discomforting. And it’s worse when you’re fixed to a barber’s chair, unable to move.

Secondly, to this day, I’ve never really been quite sure what to say in a barbers. Only a few years ago did I get the memo on what asking for a no.1 meant, and luckily just in the snip of time. So I waffle when trying to explain what I want and spend the next 15 minutes hoping for the best. Maybe I’ve just not been paying attention. But I think this is the kind of language and vocabularly that hearing people would pick up not by being taught but by listening in at the barbers. “Incidental learning”, learning from picking things up from the world around you.

I’m not saying that all deaf children and grown ups are like me in hating the hairdressers. But I think we sometimes overlook the fact that quite mundane situations can be awkward for deaf children and young people – unless they’ve been taught the skills to confidently manage such situations and to ‘own’ their deafness. Deaf children are taught to communicate, speak, do numbers, but what about the basic stuff that you take for granted? Do we need a greater focus on life skills and independent living?

My final thought on this is at least I’ve moved on from having hair like Boris Johnson…

Campaign to fight cuts to help for deaf children gets local

Campaigning for deaf children at the moment basically means fighting cuts and saving services. Which is quite demoralising. And it also means a lot of the time, for various reasons, I can’t really talk about what I’m up to. I’m bursting with outrageous information that I’ve got to keep confidential.

Well, today, that changed when I helped the National Deaf Children’s Society launch one of it’s first local campaigns against cuts, in Stoke on Trent in the West Midlands.

Where do I start with Stoke on Trent? The fact that the local authority has effectively halved the number of Teachers of the Deaf in the space of 14 months? Or the local authority’s continued assertion that this isn’t going to have an impact on the service they offer to deaf children, relying on this support? With nothing to back up such an assertion?

Hello? All deaf children in Stoke on Trent are going to get the same level of support with half the number of expert specialist staff? If I were living in Stoke on Trent, I would be writing to the council if they minded if I only paid half my council tax this year – it’s not going to have an impact is it, they can still offer the same service?

Actually far worse than this is the failure by the council to tell parents of deaf children what’s going on. A general consultation on overall funding plans came out last year. But it didn’t say anything specific about proposals to cut the number of Teachers of the Deaf. And the consultation wasn’t directly or proactively aimed at parents of deaf children. Most parents in the area I’ve spoken to had no idea what was going on. Proper and full consultation isn’t just a nice thing to do to keep people involved, it’s a legal requirement. And I would personally say that Stoke on Trent are really open to legal challenge on this.

The fear is that this is happening across the country. There are still a lot of local authorities in which NDCS haven’t yet been told what’s going on.

Luckily, there’s a fantastic group of parents in Stoke on Trent who are geared up to fight the cuts. They got themselves in the local paper today and have been busy making a noise. NDCS has helping them with their campaign to reinstate the posts that have done and prevent any further redundancies. There’s a special section on the NDCS web for their campaign. Fingers crossed, the council will realise that these kinds of cuts WILL have an impact, the lost posts must be reinstated and they can’t get away with making these kind of changes to services for deaf children without telling anyone.

Making jokes about deaf children

Ahh, Comic Relief. I settled down on Friday night for an evening of mirth and doughnuts. As the clock approached midnight, Jimmy Carr appeared on the telly. Ahh, I love Jimmy, I thought. Time for another doughnut. What followed was so unexpected that my cleaner is still wiping the doughnut stains off the wall. Yes, Jimmy Carr made a joke about the National Deaf Children’s Society.

I have rarely been so confused about my feelings and emotions, and I’ve watched The Only Way Is Essex. On the one hand, I was thrilled. Jimmy Carr has heard of the National Deaf Children’s Society! He quotes us on Friday night primetime TV! Beat that other deaf charities!

But then I thought, actually, shouldn’t I be offended by this?

The joke was thus: “11 Comic Relief singles at Number One is pretty impressive. Beat that National Deaf Children’s Society.”

If you’re looking as puzzled as my other half was, the joke is that it would manifestly be ludicrous for deaf children or the charity that works for them to do music or get to number one.

Which made me go: “Hey! Deaf children and grown ups listen to music! I may have terrible taste in music myself (I rather enjoyed the Susan Boyle performance on Comic Relief a bit too much after all) but I still “get” music. And we can make music too! My Mum says I have a beautiful singing voice AND I got a certificate for drumming at school!”

In other words, the joke did rather perpetuate the myth that music is alien to deaf children. I can see why some people might have been offended.

So does this mean it’s just not on to make jokes about deaf children?

I feel very wary of entering the debate but me? My own personal view as a card carrying deaf person who used to be a deaf child? I’m embarrassed to say I actually chortled a little at the joke. It was just a joke. It wasn’t particularly aggressive or victimising in its nature. I may have made worse jokes myself about my own deafness.

I guess equality means equality in being the subject of a few jokes once in a while. I don’t honestly believe that Jimmy has it in for deaf children – he is clearly acting a sarcastic persona as part of his comedy. I still love Jimmy, though my love now comes with a slight frown.

Overall, it was nice little light relief in a context where most of my day job is focusing on stopping cuts to services for deaf children. I’m saving my anger to fighting those cuts.

In the meantime though, I’m now on a mission to try and persuade Jimmy to come and make a record with some deaf children. 12 number ones by the time the next Red Nose Day comes along? Bring it on…

SEN / Disabilities Green Paper – rolling blog

Michael Gove with deaf young person. Image courtesy of NDCS (2008)

5.35pm Lots of very interesting ideas in the SEN Green Paper, some of which seem to have been inspired by NDCS’s Hands up for Help! report, which is nice. Though the devil will be in the detail, I think there’s much to welcome and much that will, if done carefully, make a big difference for deaf children. But that’s just my view – what do you think? Inspired or disappointed by the Green Paper? Leave a comment below to have your say.

As a reminder, check out NDCS’s initial analysis of the SEN Green Paper. NDCS will be adding more information to their website about what the SEN Green Paper might mean for deaf children soon, once the dust has settled, so watch this space.

I’m now going to wrap up this rolling blog experiment and have another cup of tea. Thanks for joining us and hope you enjoyed the ride.

5.08pm Praise be, I’ve finally made it to the end of the SEN Green Paper. Phew. There’s going to be a 4 month consultation – longer than usual – which is good. Though you may need it – the consultation asks 59 questions.

5.04pm Perhaps it’s because my brain is turning into mush but I’m not sure I understand the Department’s proposals on a “national banded funding framework”, what it’s meant to do and how it will work in practice. Alarm bells are ringing again though.

4.51pm NDCS has been pushing really hard for regional commissioning of specialist support services for deaf children (it’s one of the recommendations in the NDCS Hands up for help! report) and it’s great to see this get a mention in the SEN Green Paper. Too many local authorities, particularly the tiny ones, are trying to meet the diverse needs of all deaf children in their area. This is nonsense – far better for them to join forces and offer a comprehensive service across borders. This already happens in Berkshire where six local authorities have joined forces – the Berkshire consortium gets a positive mention in the paper. The Green Paper says the Department will explore how to encourage this kind of thing.

4.35pm You had to wait to chapter 5 to get to it, but there’s finally a mention of the important role of specialist support services for deaf children and other children with low incidence needs. Apparently, organisations will be asked to help improve availability of specialist advice to parents and teachers in relation to specific impairments.

There’s also a recognition of the importance of sorting out the funding for these services over the long-term. Something else that NDCS had been banging on about for a while. There will be a separate consultation on this this spring. This is an important one to get right because of the risks involved. Most specialist support services are funded by the local authority – but if schools split from local authority control, it risks draining this funding away from these vital services.

4.27pm Hmm. Alarm bells ringing. The Department will “simplify” statutory guidance around SEN and disability. One person’s ‘simplification’ is a loss of important rights to someone else – so it will be something to watch out for.

4.21pm Something tucked away towards the end (yes, it’s in sight) of the green paper is something quite interesting but which I haven’t seen picked up elsewhere. The Government is proposing to create a new “body” called HealthWatch which will allow disabled young people to feed in views on local health and social care services.

4.15pm Very exciting. NDCS is soon going to be doing a live interview with BBC Radio Berkshire. This is to talk about the Berkshire service for deaf children which gets a mention in the SEN Green Paper. Berkshire is a great example of how small local authorities have sought to work together to meet the needs of all deaf children across the area.

I will look out for a transcript later for those of us with defective ears or who just don’t like radios.

3.43pm I’m now on chapter 4: “Preparing for adulthood.” Having been reading the SEN Green Paper all day, I feel I should be preparing for bed but anyhow. First thing that leaps out is a goal to ensure a well-coordinated transition from chidlren’s to adult health services. Cannot overstate how important this is for audiology services for deaf children. NDCS’s Over to you project has been looking at this. I’ve met a lot of deaf young people who don’t get any preparation for the big transfer up to adult audiology services and can be a very worrying time.

3.29pm NDCS has been banging on about Ofsted inspections for so long that I was beginning to feel almost sorry for Ofsted. The key concern has been that deaf provision is not always inspected by someone with deaf expertise. Well, it seems that by banging on about it since time immemorial, the Department has noticed. The Green Paper says that:

“For mainstream schools that run resourced provision or special units, the Department for Education and Ofsted want to ensure that this provision is appropriately assessed by inspectors with the necessary specialist expertise.”

Lovely.

3.20pm NDCS media team seem very busy…

2.59pm A burst of excitement in the office. NDCS Deputy Director of Policy and Campaigns (aka my boss) is quoted in the Guardian article on the SEN Green Paper, warning about the impact of cuts. The quote is:

“Our main concern is that this taking place after many local authorities have made their budget decisions. We have received information about cuts to frontline education services. We are very worried that local authorities are making decisions that will seriously affect their ability to deliver these proposals.”

The Guardian don’t seem to have picked up on my concerns about the scheduling of the Green Paper with the first day of Lent though. Am sure it was just an oversight.

2.47pm I was going to give up tea for Lent. Well, I think the SEN Green Paper has killed that idea. I’m still only on chapter 3 and it’s only vast quantities of sugary tea that’s keeping me going.

2.33pm Parents should have “real choice” over where to send their child to school. The Green Paper recognises this doesn’t always happen now, but is not wholly clear about how it’s going to expand choice on this. Where are all the schools going to come from in a climate of spending cuts? Free schools are mentioned but is it realistic for parents of deaf children to be able to set up their own school if they don’t feel the local authority is providing enough choice? I think the jury is out on how this is going to be achieved.

SEN Green Paper does say though that parents must be able to express a preference for any school they want their child to go to – and local authorities must consider this. Will this help parents who strongly feel their deaf child will benefit from going to a special school for deaf children, outside of their own local authority?

2.15pm Lots of positive blurb about the need for more information and greater transparency on local SEN services in the SEN Green Paper. This is music to my ears. The Department will also legislate to amend current rules on what information local authorities need to provide. The big question for NDCS will be whether local authorities will be required to produce this information or their “local offer” broken down by type of need – so that parents of deaf children can see specifically what’s available for deaf children.

1.38pm The one thing that has caused the biggest intake of breath so far for NDCS was the BBC quote from earlier that I mentioned:

“Ministers will also look at involving state-funded voluntary groups in co-ordinating the support packages families need. This might mean a deaf children’s charity co-ordinating the package of need for a child who has hearing problems, for example.”

“A deaf children’s charity? Who could they possibly mean?” was my initial thought. Needless to say, this was new to me and to NDCS more generally.

Now seems as if the proposal is around involving charities in the assessment process in order to ensure greater independence. Many parents complain that those who pay for help for deaf children (the local authority) should not also be deciding what that help is. The Green Paper also says that charities could also have a role in providing information to parents and advocating for their rights.

All very interesting, and a proposal that comes with a range of challenges and opportunities. Be interested to see what other people think. Should charities, such as those who support deaf children, who shall remain nameless, be taking on a greater role like this?

1.34pm Allfie – the Alliance for Inclusive Education – who are very pro-mainstreaming are taking a strong line on the SEN Green Paper. Their press release runs with “Alliance for Inclusive Education says Govt SEN Green Paper proposals mean business as usual – BUT WORSE!” Possibly the best press release heading ever.

1.31pm Nope, the Sun is still running with the Katie Argie Bhaji story about the fight in a curry shop.

1.23pm I promised earlier I would post NDCS’s official take on the SEN Green Paper here. So here’s our press release for the media guys and a longer piece giving our initial analysis of what the Green Paper means for deaf children. I’m awaiting with interest to see if any of this knocks Katie Price off the front page of the Sun.

12.47am “A rolling blog? Easy!” was my thinking earlier today. But now having spent the morning reading the SEN Green Paper, tweeting about it, helping prepare an official NDCS response whilst also providing a sarcastic side-look here is much harder than I expected. So time for a lunch break. More to follow later.

12.05pm Single assessment will apply to SEN children from age of 0 to 25. This is good news for

a) children under the age of 2 – currently the SEN framework only applies from age of 2, even though early years support is most vital for deaf children’s futures
b) children at age of 16 – currently the assessment process varies according to whether you are at a college or 6th form or apprenticeships. I don’t understand how it’s currently meant to work and I’m not sure the local authorities do either.

Providing the assessment is done right, and is regularly updated, these single assessments and health, education and care plans could, I think, make a big difference.

12.02pm “Disjointed and confusing assessment processes” for post 16 support for children with SEN. Possibly the understatement of the year.

11.56am “New single-based SEN category for children whose needs exceed what is normally available in schools.” Could this mean that deaf children are more likely to be formally recorded as having a special educational needs if they get help from a visiting Teacher of the Deaf? A lot of people seem to think that all deaf children have statements when in fact it’s only around a quarter.

11.38am Some nice blurb about how those who work with disabled children should have high expectations of them in the paper. Very important. Very frustrating that some people think deaf children can’t do well, with the right support – deafness is not a learning disability after all.

11.34am Some debate going on here about what the Green Paper says about Disability Living Allowance. It implies that an assessment for DLA could be part of the single assessment for the new education, health and social care plans. If the assessment is done in the right way, this could be good news for parents of deaf children. It’s a big if though. Unsure if the paper is suggesting that DLA could be included as part of personal budgets. Hmm…

10.49am Phew. Well, I’ve read the executive summary. Lots of interesting proposals. Very gratifying to see some of them are very similar to those NDCS suggested in their response to an earlier consultation on SEN, particularly around making education, health and social care services work together more. Currently, the statementing process focuses on education when what happens with audiology, social care, speech and language therapy services is just as important.

The new education, health and care plans would be statutory, just like statements are now which is good – many parents like the sense of legal entitlement that a statement gives, especially when there are cuts happening left, right and centre.

9.44am It’s out and it’s big. Over 100 pages long. I may be a while…

9.38am The ATL teaching union have been making the point, likely to be made elsewhere, that overhauling the SEN framework is all very well, but when local authorities are making cuts to their specialist support services, is anything going to change for the better?

Over the past few months, NDCS has been trying to find out what’s happening to funding for help for deaf children, and putting this on our “map” . The current state of play in England is that 12 local authorities are confirmed as making cuts to education services for deaf children, 19 rumoured and 68 where we haven’t yet had enough information.

9.03am Apparently, Radio 4 today did a big splash on special educational needs. I say apparently because my ears don’t work and my colleague was in the shower when it was on. If your ears are fully functional and you’re now fully bathed, you can hear what they said here.

8.55am The Secretary of State for Education will be saying something in Parliament today about special educational needs, I’m told. His written ministerial statement will be the official launch of the green paper. Not sure what time this will be though.

There’s also ministerial statements today on the EU Education Council and Tobacco Control Plans. This could be a bad day for smokers.

8.51am It seems years ago but was in fact only last October when the National Deaf Children’s Society set out their views on what should go in the green paper. I shall have it to hand today. Maybe play a game of bingo with it when the full green paper finally comes out.

8.47am Apparently, the official name of the green paper is: Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability.

I like “aspiration”. Hopefully, this means a focus on higher expectations for deaf children.

8.37am The Guardian also seem to have had a preview. Hmm… Their interesting titbits include:

* Schools required to publish more information about provision for children with special educational needs
* Simplying the SEN framework – from 3 levels to 2.
* Encouraging parents to set up their own special needs “free schools”.
* Reviewing post-16 support.
* Improving early diagnosis.

Well, what do we think about that?

I had a quick look at the Sun newspaper too. Apparently, the moon is closing in on the earth and Jordan Price had a curry. I may need a moment to digest all of this.

8.17am Other interesting titbits from the BBC news article:

* Statements of educational provision to be scrapped in favour of a new education and health care plans.
* An end to endless assessment – just a single assessment from now on.
* Piloting this new approach in 25 areas.
* More mediation where parents and local authorities disagree.
* Personal budgets

The BBC are also asking people to have their say on the plans.

8.10am BBC news have an article on the SEN Green Paper and they seem to have already had a preview. Clearly, their persuasive skills are superior to ours. Anyhow, it includes a very interesting quote:

“Ministers will also look at involving state-funded voluntary groups in co-ordinating the support packages families need. This might mean a deaf children’s charity co-ordinating the package of need for a child who has hearing problems, for example.”

Crikey. This is going to be one of those days.

8.04am Before we go any further, I should probably point out that this is a personal blog and any views expressed in this blog on the green paper are mine alone. So if I say or do anything naughty, please don’t blame NDCS. Blame my parents. Or society. Or Canada.

NDCS will be doing an official response later in the day which I’ll post here.

7.43am Just for one day, I’m going to be experimenting with a rolling blog, prompted by today’s unveiling of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities Green Paper. On the plus side, I’ll be able to report on the latest throughout the day. On the downside, my inability to spot a typo is evidently going to manifest itself.

We’re expecting it to come out sometime this morning. Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education and Sarah Teather, Minister for SEN, will be launching it. The paper applies to children in England only. It was first announced last spring but the deadline for it has been pushed back several times. I’ve been told it’s been discussed at Cabinet level and the Prime Minister himself has taken an interest in it. I suppose it’s worth taking your time to get it right, though that excuse never always worked with my teachers when I was at school.

It promises a mega overhaul of the special educational needs framework. NDCS has been trying hard to get a sneak copy but our persuasive ways are clearly lacking. But we have a good idea what’s going to be included though. My bold predictions include:

* Individual budgets – letting parents decide what help their deaf child gets and from where
* Greater transparency and information to parents
* Tightening up the definition of special educational needs
* Regional commissioning – making local authorities work together to make sure they can meet the needs of all deaf children

But those are just punts. What are your guesses? Leave your comments below to have your say.

Of course, all of this takes place in the context of some fairly savage cuts across England so a question mark hangs over whether this is deliverable. We’ll see. Watch this space.

Stuck in the 80s – deaf access to telecomms

Image courtesy of www.geekalerts.com

Imagine that it’s still 1981 and all technological progress has just stopped. So no i-phones – everyone is still walking around with a brick-like phone looking like a muppet. No 3D cinemas. Just 4 channels on the telly. Subtitles only available on Blue Peter and Eastenders. Deaf children still wearing a box around their waist as a hearing aid.

Well, in terms of how deaf people use the phone, you don’t have to imagine, because it really is still 1981.

I can’t hear on the phone so if I want to communicate with the hearing world – *shudder* – I need someone , a 3rd party, to relay or type to me what the hearing person is saying. I need a relay service.

Currently, there’s only one show in town – text relay where I have to type what I want to see and have the 3rd party read it out to the hearing person for me. I hate text relay in its present form. I hate the fact that someone else is speaking for me when I can speak the Queen’s English perfectly well, thank you very much. That the call takes forever. And that I don’t know what the operator is plonked in the middle of my conversation. It feels a bit like getting my Mum to make my phone calls for me. If I were a deaf teenager, I’d be mortified if I had to use this service. In some respects, the dead have an advantage – an ouija board would probably be a more enjoyable and speedy means of conversing with the outside world.

It may have been acceptable in the 80s, but it’s certainly not now. So why are we stuck in the 80s?

I blame the regulators. In a nutshell, the regulatory framework means that only BT is required to offer a text relay service. And BT self-fund it. You don’t have to be a behavioural economist to realise there are no incentives for BT to modernise, improve or market the service. And as for video relay services for sign language users? Forget about it – it’s not mentioned in the regulatory framework.

Does it have to be like this? No. Deaf people in other countries enjoy a much better service. Captioned relay – where the operator uses voice recognition technology to speed up the phone call, where the deaf person can speak for him/herself and read a live transcript on the computer screen – is available in the States. As are video relay services, where an operator transposes text into sign language for deaf people who communicate in BSL. And in the States, they even have a choice of different providers. Competition! How modern!

The good news is that new European legislations mean that the Government and Ofcom, the regulator, are required to make improvements. It’s a shame it took the EU before Ofcom and the Government actually woke up to the current situation but anyhow.

The bad news is that Ofcom and the Government are dragging their heels and not taking it, I think, seriously. There seems to be a bit of ping-pong going on between the two with neither stepping up to the plate. Ofcom seem mired in very narrow perceptions of what the law allows them to do. A review is underway but it’s been going on for so long, I fear it may be another 30 years before it concludes.

Pressure is needed to break the status quo. The UK Council on Deafness is co-ordinating a campaign on this and a range of organisations, including DAART, TAG and VRS Today, are also applying pressure. NDCS has also set up an online campaign action for people to nag their MP about the issue. It’s fair to say that whatever happens in the next few months will determine whether any improvements are ever made to drag deaf access to telecommunications into the 21st century.

Does the Government know what they’re doing on benefits and disabled children?

Time for a confession – I’m what the tabloid newspapers would call a benefits scrounger. Yes, I receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Been receiving it since I was a child.

So what do I use my DLA for? Well, obviously, I use it for to pay for wild reckless parties, luxury holidays, a 5 a day in the pub and a dirty dozen daily Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I sometimes wonder why I bother going to work – with that £14 a week I get being on the sick, I could be totally living the dream!

Not really. Instead, I use my DLA to pay for special equipment like flashing fire alarms in my home. A special digital recorder thing so I can watch and record TV with subtitles and be able to chat about modern stuff with my friends. A decent phone to help me communicate with people on the go. And various other things to help me handle the horrors of what I call the “hearing” world. *shudder*

I may even get a textphone one day if relay services improve and make use of technology that was developed after I was born 30 years ago.

Though I sometimes ask myself whether I really deserve it, I value the fact that I live in a society that recognises that disability comes with extra costs and that it is just that disabled people should receive financial support to cover the costs of this.

I may not be living in such a society for much longer. The Government is planning to abolish DLA and replace it for adults with something called PIPS -Personal Independent Payments. They also plan to cut the costs of the benefit by 20%. Though they can’t say what it is, there’s obviously a clear rationale for the 20% figure – the Government would never just pluck a number out of thin air when it comes to vital benefits for disabled people. Ahem.

Image courtesy of NDCS

If I lost my DLA or it was reduced, I’d manage and get by. I might even write an angry blog about it. I can defend myself. But what worries me is what will happen to deaf children, for many of whom the benefit is vital. Lots of parents of deaf children have been writing in to NDCS to explain how important the benefit is to their families and helping their deaf child lead an independent life.

So what is happening to DLA for disabled children?

Well… nobody really knows. Despite the fact that the Government has legislation going through Parliament now that will abolish DLA, they haven’t yet said what they’re replacing it with for children.

Just a small detail. I’m sure they’ll explain their intentions at some point. Maybe before they’ve abolished DLA. It’s not as if the Government is just making it up as they go along and treating deaf and other disabled children, some of the most vulnerable children in society, as an afterthought.

If you, like me, would prefer to see some answers sooner rather than later and make sure that welfare reform doesn’t disadvantage deaf children, NDCS has set up a campaign action whereby you can email your MP. The action is urgent as MPs are debating the Welfare Reform Bill this week on Wednesday.

What about deaf children with additional needs?

Deaf children are a mixed bunch. Different levels of hearing losses, different communication approaches, etc. do literally mean that every deaf child is different. Some of them don’t even like listening to Lady Gaga. Complicating matters is that a high proportion of deaf children have additional needs, and these numbers are growing.

Trying to get a reliable figure on how many deaf children have additional needs is a bit like to trying to get Gadafi to take a hint. The figure of 40% is bandied around a lot. We know that many types of additional needs are incidental to the deafness – like communication difficulties. Others are physical disabilities that shouldn’t impact on deafness. I fell into this category as a child with the exotic sounding Pendred’s Syndrome – meaning a thyroid disorder which leaves me feeling easily prone to exhaustion from time to time and prone to ballooning if I as much look at a Big Mac. But it’s controllable and dealt with, like many other additional needs, and shouldn’t stop children achieving as well as their peers.

There’s a category of deaf children where it’s less straightforward – those with additional complex needs. Complex meaning that the disabilities compound each other and result in the child needing much more support. These include, for example, deaf children with Down’s Syndrome or severe learning difficulties.

We now know a little more about this group of children thanks to some research published yesterday by the National Deaf Children’s Society and the University of Manchester.

It makes for depressing reading. It shows that professionals with different specialisms don’t always work together. Deafness is sometimes treated as a minor condition that can be dealt with later. And that parents sometimes feel left out by charities, including NDCS, acting with a ‘silo’ approach, focusing on their “own”

There are some very sad quotes in the research. One that stood out for me was a Mum recalling how a professional told her to consider giving her child up for care. The Mum couldn’t countenance this possibility but when parents are left so unsupported and you read how she has been failed, I don’t think anyone could blame her otherwise.

It’s great that this research has shown a spotlight on this group of deaf children. Here’s hoping the forthcoming Special Educational Needs and Disability Green Paper takes action to support such children.