Do more to help deaf children, says Darlington mother of two babies with hearing loss

With no history of deafness in the family, Darlington woman Anita Pickard was shocked to discover daughters Alicia and Suzanne were unable to hear properly.

Ms Pickard’s oldest child, three-year-old Michael, has normal hearing but her daughters both failed their newborn hearing tests.

Two-year-old Alicia has moderate to bad hearing loss in both ears while one-year-old Suzanne is deaf on one side.

Ms Pickard said: “Michael had normal hearing when he was born and I never thought anything like this would happen, it was a real shock.

“Both of them failed their screening and it’s been difficult as I didn’t know a lot about hearing loss.

“I’d never been around deafness and it was devastating until I realised they could live perfectly normal lives, they just learn in a different way.”

Ms Pickard is now campaigning for better awareness and support for families coping with hearing loss.

She is hoping to establish a support group in the Darlington area and organise events to support the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS).

She said: “I’m new to this and I’m new to the area – I didn’t know how to get help and there doesn’t seem to be a lot going on here for parents of deaf children.

“NDCS help in many ways and have supported us a lot, they provide support workers for children in school, for example – and there’s already someone helping Alicia.

“I’d like the local community’s support and I’d like to bring parents together so they can meet people in the same situation and to give deaf children the chance to communicate with each other.”

Hoping to hold a charity event in aid of NDCS later this month, Ms Pickard is currently looking for a venue and appealing for raffle donations.

Anyone who can assist or who would be interested in joining a support group should contact Ms Pickard on 07788 3338810 or by email on anita3s@hotmail.co.uk.

For further details on NDCS call freephone 0808 800 8880 or visit www.ndcs.org.uk