Girl campaigns for deaf kids

[Miss-Delectable]

CBBC Newsround | Press Pack Reports | Your Reports | Girl campaigns for deaf kids

Press Packer Tara talks about her life being deaf and what she'd like to see happen to improve her life.

Here's her story.

"I've been profoundly deaf since I was born. That means, without help, I can't hear anything. But thanks to an implant I had when I was three, I can hear loads of things.

I can have a chat on the phone, but because I find it quite hard to pick out one sound from another, I can't really tell the difference between many pop songs on the radio.

My best friend Leoni is learning British sign language to help me out.

School life

School can be quite noisy, so I have a teaching assistant who helps me get by.

She signs what the teacher is saying, so I keep up with everyone else.

When I'm playing sport, I have to take my implant out. My teaching assistant waves at me from the sidelines if the whistle's been blown.

My say

There are still a lot of things that make life tough for me, and other deaf children. The National Deaf Children's Society want to find out what kids think would make life easier.

There are three things I want to change. Not enough cinemas have subtitles in their films. If I go swimming, I can't hear lifeguards' whistles. And I'm not allowed to have my implant switched on in a plane.

It's really important that deaf children have their say, rather than adults telling us what they think is best.

Tara, 12, Cambridgeshire

 

[shel90]

CBBC Newsround | Press Pack Reports | Your Reports | Girl campaigns for deaf kids

Press Packer Tara talks about her life being deaf and what she'd like to see happen to improve her life.

Here's her story.

"I've been profoundly deaf since I was born. That means, without help, I can't hear anything. But thanks to an implant I had when I was three, I can hear loads of things.

I can have a chat on the phone, but because I find it quite hard to pick out one sound from another, I can't really tell the difference between many pop songs on the radio.

My best friend Leoni is learning British sign language to help me out.

School life

School can be quite noisy, so I have a teaching assistant who helps me get by.

She signs what the teacher is saying, so I keep up with everyone else.

When I'm playing sport, I have to take my implant out. My teaching assistant waves at me from the sidelines if the whistle's been blown.

My say

There are still a lot of things that make life tough for me, and other deaf children. The National Deaf Children's Society want to find out what kids think would make life easier.

There are three things I want to change. Not enough cinemas have subtitles in their films. If I go swimming, I can't hear lifeguards' whistles. And I'm not allowed to have my implant switched on in a plane.

It's really important that deaf children have their say, rather than adults telling us what they think is best.

Tara, 12, Cambridgeshire

She is right and that is coming from a child with a deaf perspective. She knows her needs and rights not the hearing adults.

 

[jillio]

What a wonderful and eloquent statement from a 12 year old! I think we may be seeing great things from this deaf child. And she is saying exactly what so many of us are attacked for.....see things from the deaf child's perspective of what they need, not from the hearing adult's perspective. Hooray for her! Please, please....to all of the hearing parents out there....listen to this child. She has much to teach you.