National Deaf Children's Society Scotland have produced a document, ‘National Deaf Children’s Society: Getting it Right for Every Deaf Child - A Manifesto for the Scottish Parliament Session 2026-2031’, it's published ahead of the Scottish Parliament Election on 7th May.
The National Deaf Children’s Society is the charity for deaf children with any level of hearing loss.
There are over 3,600 deaf children in Scotland, with levels of deafness ranging from mild to profound. Even mild deafness can have a huge impact on a child’s education and wellbeing. We help these children and their families by providing tailored information and advice, supporting them to get the best from services in their area, and campaigning on issues that matter to deaf children.
The Scottish Government has a clear ambition that Scotland should be the best place to grow up and that all children should have a good start in life. The reality however is that not all deaf children in Scotland are able to access the full range of support they need and are entitled to, when they need it. We envision a Scotland where deaf children are given every opportunity to achieve their full potential.
To secure this vision, we need to see more ambitious and co-ordinated action in the next Scottish Parliament to ensure that no deaf child gets left behind.
Our three manifesto priorities are:
· Improve audiology services to identify and support deaf children sooner.
· Increase Qualified Teacher of the Deaf numbers to deliver on deaf children’s right to education.
· Widen access to British Sign Language (BSL) to realise the ambition to make Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users.
