Deaf News From the UK: How ‘hearing’ dogs help deaf children get more out of life

Click image to read an article about a hard of hearing girl and her 'Hearing' dog.

 

The charity [Hearing Dogs]  has been providing assistance dogs to deaf adults for the past 27 years and wanted to see whether children might also benefit. The two-year initiative was launched 12 months ago. Six families have signed up so far, but eventually it will involve 12 hearing families, each with a deaf child aged between six and 11. 

The idea was that the specially trained dogs would help alert the children to noises they needed to respond to, like Mum calling them or a fire alarm going off. 

They would keep them safe in traffic, alerting them to oncoming vehicles, and sleep alongside them at night ready to wake them in the mornings. 

But, says Hearing Dogs spokeswoman Jenny Moir, the animals also appear to be providing an extra bonus. 

‘Parents are telling us that their children are benefiting on an emotional level, too,’ she says. 

I’ve always wondered what ‘hearing’ dogs do!

But this story made me feel so sad for the little girl, struggling to get used to her hearing aids. I don’t understand why some parents are so opposed to using sign language, even along with hearing aids – doesn’t it help hard of hearing children too?

Deaf MD: A Resource for Deaf People and For Hearing Interpreters

Like many bloggers, I’ve been too busy with my own life to post as much as I intended to when I first started this blog. I wanted this blog to be an interesting and informative resource for Sign Language Interpreting students and a place for me to connect with Deaf people whose blogs and vlogs I visit on a regular basis. 

But…well, you know how it is. Anyway, while I was looking up local Deaf events, hoping to find a Silent Movie event, I found a link to this really awesome website: DeafMD.org.

• Interpreters can use it to brush up on medical vocabulary if they are interested in ever entering the field of medical interpreting (which would be really neat for me to do since my husband is a doctor).
•  It is great for Deaf individuals who need better explanations about their health issues than what their doctors can provide. 
• It can also be used to search for Deaf friendly doctors in one’s area. (Unfortunately, my state is not on their. Perhaps, when my husband is finished with his residency program and is finally working on his own as a doctor, we can add his name to the list!)