GDA has launched an appeal to raise £1,500 to fund three new laptops. The laptops will be used to assist young deaf people in improving their IT skills, which can be imperative to their future career prospects.

Working in partnership with Remploy, GDA will offer weekly sessions to deaf young people with the simple aim of increasing their skills and confidence in the most widely used computer programmes. The difference between lessons at GDA and at school will be that these sessions will be led by a British Sign Language (BSL) user who as well as having experience of teaching young people, has first hand understanding of how deafness affects the way a person learns. Classes will be delivered in a fun and engaging way to maximise learning outcomes.

GDA is hosting a Race Night on Friday 25 January as part of this special fundraising appeal, but is calling on the local communities to help ensure the target is reached so the project can start as soon as possible.

Jenny Hopkins, GDA’s Chief Executive said “Deaf children often fall behind their hearing peers at school, not because they are any less intelligent, but simply because so much learning relies on being able to hear information. A hearing-aid wearer may miss  a good proportion of what is being said in the classroom; and for a Deaf child who uses British Sign Language primarily to communicate, it can be quite a struggle to master secondary school textbooks when English is your second language. GDA is passionate about giving Deaf young people an equal opportunity to show their potential, and we are grateful to Remploy for working with us to give our young people the stepping stone they need to be equal to their hearing peers on the career ladder. £1,500 will allow us to purchase three laptops and the necessary software to get the sessions started. In the coming months we hope to increase this to 12 laptops to so even more young people can benefit from the sessions.”

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