Deaf People A partnership that helps deaf people become active members of society, Friends for Young Deaf People wanted to provide a family coordinator to work with parents of deaf babies. Through last year's Guardian Christmas Appeal, the charity was able to highlight the lack of services available for parents of newly diagnosed deaf babies. Therese Wilson, FYD's head of marketing and fundraising, said many parents the charity sees have just discovered the disability in their baby, deafness that sometimes has occurred after meningitis or measles. Whatever the cause, the impact is always the same - shock and bewilderment. And there are not that many services available to advise parents on how to cope.
Parents ask themselves how are they going to communicate with their child.
They are really terrified for their child's future. Even basic questions such as how you tell your children you love them or how deaf children tell you they are thirsty, seem enormous problems at first. But all these problems can be overcome and there are tried and tested mechanisms for teaching your child to sign. You do build up a rapport with them. But you need the confidence to know that it will be all right.