East Cheshire Deaf Children's Society (ECDCS)

East Cheshire Deaf Children’s Society arrange events for local children and their families. These are wonderful opportunities to come together, meet others and have some fun.

Planned events are:

Circus Starr: Monday 2^nd June at Nantwich Civic Hall. Performances at 4.45pm and 7.00pm.

BeWILDerwood Family Adventure Park: Saturday 10^th May

Children’s Adventure Farm Trust (CAFT): Sunday 6^th July

For further information about these events or to be added to the ECDCS mailing list please contact Amanda on 07793200385 or email chair@ecdcs.co.uk

LOOKFest

LOOKFest is a festival designed specifically for families with children and young people who are visually impaired.

Where: Herefordshire

When: Friday 25^th - Sunday 27^th July 2025

Day tickets are available. Full information can be found by clicking the button below:

Marvin's Storytime Shows

Marvin's Storytime Shows promote engagement and participation in story time using high contrast stimulus, rhythm and repetition.

The story is part of a structured show specifically designed to engage children with complex needs and is the work and creation of Gwyn McCormack, a special needs educator and Qualified Teacher of VI from Positive Eye.

New shows are uploaded to YouTube monthly and can be watched anytime.

To sign up to access and find out more information, click the button below. 

Road safety technique for Visually Impaired Travellers

The indented method of crossing side roads is advised where there are no controlled crossings as it enables children and young people to listen more clearly to only two ways of traffic. Indent around corners and onto the side road to find a safe place to cross. Cross the road and then outdent to continue travelling straight along the road.

NDCS Battery Safety

Storing batteries

Batteries need to be stored correctly so that they don’t touch each other. If the batteries still have power in them, they can get hot if their terminals touch. Never leave batteries in hearing technology when they’re being stored for a long time.

Disposing of batteries

Keep your used batteries in the original packaging to keep them safe and make sure that no old batteries have gone missing. You can return old batteries to your local audiology service to be disposed of properly. Some local supermarkets also offer battery disposal.   

For more information, click the button below:

SUPPORT FOR POST 16s

The support students with a visual impairment receive at college will differ from the support received at school. Students may not see their Qualified Teacher for the Visually Impaired any longer and will be taught by a new team of staff at the college.

Colleges get money from their funding body in order to provide reasonable adjustments and make sure students have the support they need.

In colleges this is usually called Learning Support (LS). There is a variety of support and equipment that a college might offer and the college will look at what works best for you. Some examples of support are:

• a support teacher or worker, or a sighted guide
• materials in alternative formats such as braille or large print
• computers with speech output and/or magnification.

Colleges will also often offer ‘Taster’ sessions/days, where you can explore and experience the college on a quieter day with additional support.

You may want to check out organisations such as Ability Net and Blind in Business, which offer advice to blind and partially sighted students moving into education or work including assessments, equipment supply, ICT training and employment services.

FUNDING AVAILABLE TO POST 16s

PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENT

Young people over the age of 16 with a hearing or visual impairment or communication difficulties may be eligible for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from the government. This payment is made to the young person themselves if they are capable of managing the money. This replaces the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) which is available for parents or carers of under 16s. At 16 the DLA payment stops, and a young person will need to apply for PIP, they will not qualify automatically even if the family have been receiving DLA. PIP is assessed very differently to DLA.

PIP is for YP aged 16 or over with a health condition where they:

• Have had difficulties with daily living or getting around (or both) for at least 3 months.
• Expect these difficulties to continue for at least 9 months.

PIP isn’t means tested or taxable. There are two parts to PIP:

• Daily Living Component
• Mobility Component

Each component is assessed and scored to work out whether the young person qualifies for the PIP payment and whether this is at the standard or enhanced rate.

For further information visit  www.gov.uk

See also National Deaf Children’s Society:

www.ndcs.org.uk  for further information and guidance on filling out the PIP form.

It has been a busy term in the HI Resource Base at Lindow Primary.  We have been learning all about People Who Help Us and how to sign what we found in the doctor's bag.  We have been having fun baking heart shaped biscuits for Valentine’s Day and delicious pancakes for Shrove Tuesday!  

We really liked putting lemon, sugar and chocolate spread on our pancakes and flipping them high in the air!  We dressed up for World Book Day and had to be superheroes to rescue the frozen peas from the Evil Pea in the book Supertato.  We have also been superstars in Maths where we have been learning numbers to 20 and sharing amounts equally!  What an amazing term!

Please come and look round at the Lindow Summer Fair:

Saturday 14^th June, 1pm.

The Sensory Inclusion Service VI team held another social group event prior to Christmas at Oakenclough Family Hub for all students with a visual impairment of any age.

Parent / carers were also invited, and they had a space to sit and talk to each other. The young people had a great time!

They decorated little gift boxes, painted a large snowman before playing pin the nose on him, air hockey and some fun sound games.

A huge thank you to Nantwich Round Table whose donation of £250 worth of craft resources made the session possible.

East Cheshire Deaf Children’s Society arrange events for local children and their families. These are wonderful opportunities to come together, meet others and have some fun.
Since our last newsletter families have enjoyed:
UA Trampolining in Winsford for a Christmas Party, Tenpin bowling in Crewe and Soft Play at Just Kidding in Holmes Chapel.

For future events please see our What's On? section at the top of our newsletter.

We first heard from Emily and Alex in our very first newsletter in Nov 2021 where Emily spoke about the value of joining support groups to help her learn to live with a newly diagnosed visual impairment. Both have recently turned 20 so here is an update. Alex is now living independently at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk studying Primary Education with QTS. She is on her final week of 1st placement and has loved it. Emily is currently studying Classical Studies at University of Liverpool, including learning Ancient Greek. She's done really well in her 1st Semester and living independently in Student Halls.
Both universities have been helpful in offering additional support, having a Disabled support team and putting a plan in place before their start date. Even though Alex applied through clearing, she has found the support teams very accommodating and they have said her eyesight shouldn't be a barrier to her being able to teach. Both are still in contact with the charities Stargardts connected and Look.  Alex did some tutoring last year through Stargardts and they have done a Q&A session for parents and children nearing university age.
With regards to studying, they find Apple technology works best for them. They have both an Apple laptop and iPad as they find different features work better on different devices. Most lecturers provide PDFs of work required or links to digital copies of books (if not available on RNIB bookshare). They also find Microsoft lens is a useful tool for creating PDFs. Parents feel that as time has gone on, they've learnt to speak up if things aren't right or they need further help with something. With mum adding “I rarely have to get involved with problems with uni - it's more 'mum' help with chauffeuring, help with the supermarket shop, meal suggestions etc.”

Congratulations to Erin, on her receiving her star trainer trophy, from her VI football session with Sandbach United Football Club. The club runs Pan Disability sessions for children aged 5-7, 8- 11 and 12-16 every other Monday. There are also Young Adults 16+ sessions held every other Sunday. 

Erin is in the 8-11 years group and was recognised for her hard work and determination. Well done!

Isobel Signs on Children in Need

My name is Isobel and I am 14 years old. I am deaf in my left ear and have hearing loss in my right ear, which is decreasing. Deaf and Sensory Network have supported me over the last few years with this, and they are funded by Children in Need.

Back in September 2024 I was asked to be part of the Children in Need Choir. They were looking for children who had been supported by CiN funded projects to appear on their live show.

The choir was made up of 19 children from across the UK. We met 4 times over Zoom with our Choir Master, Mark De-Lisser, to practice the iconic song, Never Forget by Take That, before meeting for the first time on Children In Need day at Media City.

I found the whole experience so exciting and am privileged to have been part of it, and to have represented the North West. As part of the experience I was interviewed by Roger Johnson from North West Tonight and appeared on Radio 5 Live and Radio Stoke.

What made the experience all the more special for me, is that I got to sign through the performance and show everyone how DSN have supported me and how much signing means to me.

Ottilie has recently had her cochlear implant surgery at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. The lead up to the procedure was nerve-wracking, but the surgery day itself went really smoothly. We arrived at the hospital for 7:30am and straight away the team took us under their wing and got her ready for surgery. Then at 9am they called her into theatre. Both myself and Mike (Dad) were allowed to take her to the theatre to give her cuddles and reassurance before leaving her with the friendly surgical team.

The surgery took around 4 hours and we had lots of distractions planned to help the time pass. One cooked breakfast, two sunny walks around the hospital grounds and three strong coffees later, it was time to go and welcome her out of theatre.

She came out of theatre with a bandage around her head which she kept on for a few hours. Then we took that off and went for a little X-Ray to confirm everything was where it should be. The nursing staff made sure she was happy and comfortable, and even gave her a little certificate for being brave. She was home the same day, with a bit of swelling and a few nosebleeds which were to be expected, but she was still smiling. Within a day or two she was back to causing mischief at home climbing the stairs and chasing the cat.

A week later we arrived back at the hospital for her switch on appointment. She was intrigued by all the new sounds and has been enjoying wearing her new 'magic ears' at home. Her brother Oscar who also has magic ears has been helping us to put hers on in the morning and more importantly - helping her to decorate them with snazzy stickers!

BSL Zone has introduced a new signcast called “Be YourSeLf”.  Child presenters, Rocco and Sally, interview grown-ups around different topics. You can watch episode 3 of the sign cast where they invite Rachel, an adult who is Vegan. During the 6-minute sign-cast, they ask Rachel what it is like being vegan, learning about the history of veganism and also doing some food tasting. Take a look by clicking the button below:

Strictly Come Dancing Winner Chris McCausland has taken part in a futuristic podcast on the AI-driven talk show starring AI Michael Parkinson titled “Virtually Parkinson”. Here he discusses his childhood and life experience growing up with a visual impairment. During the interview he discusses about how the condition he has is genetic and explained that both his mother and grandmother also had the same condition. Chris talks about how he and his family have always used humour to navigate through the challenges of life and how that has helped him growing up.  This ultimately led him into his career in comedy.

You can watch the interview on YouTube by clicking on the button below:

RNIB Connect Radio broadcasts 24/7 and provides a range of talk and music shows hosted by blind and partially sighted presenters.
RNIB Connect Radio also features topics such as technology, Talking Books, sports, accessible arts, vintage music, and emerging artists.
Tune in through various platforms including Freeview Channel 730, online streaming, smart speakers, just ask your ‘smart speaker to play …’RNIB Connect radio’. There is also a North West Facebook group that you can join to find out or reach out to others.

Lucy Edwards; blind activist, presenter and now author has a new book, Ella Jones vs the Sun Stealer which was released in February. When a god steals the sun, Ella is well experienced in navigating the world without being able to see and so it’s now her turn to be a hero! Suitable for ages 9 – 10 years. Available in bookshops now.

Gilly O’Mara, who has worked as one of our Business Support Officers will be leaving us in April after 7 years with the Sensory Inclusion Service and Cheshire East Autism Team.

We would like to thank Gilly for all her amazing work during her years with us, and wish her the very best for her future.

She will be very much missed!