During the Labour Party Conference Helen had the pleasure of meeting Ella, the 14-year-old deaf campaigner, to talk about the future of deaf children’s education in the region.

Ella and Helen discussed the key issues affecting deaf children, including vital education funding and the gap in attainment between deaf children and their hearing peers throughout the North East.

This meeting is timely, as deaf children’s services across the country face cuts of £4 million this year.

Jessica Reeves, Campaigns Manager at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said:

“It’s great to see MPs like Helen coming to meet young deaf people to hear about the daily challenges they have to face.

“Deafness is not a learning disability and when deaf children get the support they need at school, there are no limits to what they can achieve. However, deaf children in the North East are currently falling a grade behind their hearing classmates at GCSE.

“Meetings like this are an excellent way for deaf children like Ella to talk to MPs about the barriers they face in their education and how we can all work together to overcome them.”