- Aim: To provide high-quality information and aftercare services for people who wear hearing aids.
- Impact: We created our community-based Hear
to Help projects, which provide simple maintenance, support and advice
to new hearing aid wearers, and to the families and carers of existing
wearers. By enabling people to make better use of their aids, Hear to
Help leads to greater independence and reduces the risk of isolation.
It also plays a part in rehabilitation, befriending and equipment assessment.
We have 10 Hear to Help projects around the UK, reaching 20,000 people.
We have encouraged health professionals to recognise the value of Hear
to Help in relieving the strain on 'mainstream' audiology services by
establishing new contracts and funding for Hear to Help from four Primary
Care Trusts in England.
See our impact in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Aim: To provide life skills and learning support for young adults aged 16 to 30 who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Impact: Our Young Adult Transitions project in south-east
Wales reduces isolation and improves self-confidence in young adults who
are deaf or hard of hearing. It enables them to progress from dependent
to independent living by making their own decisions about their futures,
managing their own home lives and social activities, and maintaining good
physical health. It also enables them to develop and advance their careers
by joining training courses, attending structured learning programmes,
taking up volunteering and seeking new employment opportunities.
Funded by the Big Lottery and Barclays, we exceeded our first year target by supporting 21 young adults (our target was 17) on a one-to-one basis. We also provided basic information, advice and signposting to 79 clients, more than half (40) of whom were local to the area.
- Aim: To continue to build relationships with corporate partners for fundraising purposes.
- Impact: In September 2008, RNID was chosen as The
Co-operative Charity of the year for 2009. The partnership was launched
nationally in January, with regional launches taking place across the
UK at over 160 Co-operative Food stores. Since then, employees from across
The Co-operative have been aiming to raise £2m for our Hear
to Help projects, which support and provide information to people
with hearing aids. Their fundraising will also help us to make improvements
to a number of our Care Services projects. Through the partnership we
have benefited from a cause-related marketing campaign with Procter &
Gamble and other suppliers have supported RNID at corporate balls and
golf days. The Co-operative has supported our Hearing Check campaign and
raised awareness about deafness and hearing loss to the public by promoting
the check in-store and to its 120,000 employees.
See our impact in Scotland.
- Aim: To create opportunities for people to be more actively involved in our work.
- Impact: We work with volunteers to deliver community-based
services, including outreach information and Hear
to Help, the service that helps clients make the most of their hearing
aids. Most of our volunteers have a hearing loss themselves and are happy
to share their experiences and offer advice to clients, carers and professionals.
RNID Campaigns Network Members participated in the first ever meetings in the European Parliament to use a state-of-the-art infrared system that assists hearing aid wearers. They successfully lobbied the Parliament to install this system in its visitor centre and iconic debating chamber.
We appointed a Head of Volunteering Development who has simplified our recruitment process to make us more accessible to potential volunteers. We have put good practice into action, including regularly thanking our volunteers and acknowledging their contribution, which is helping to increase volunteer numbers and commitment.
- Aim: To make volunteer bureaux, and organisations offering volunteer placements, more accessible to prospective volunteers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Impact: We have increased the numbers of volunteers who are deaf or hard of hearing by supporting them in their volunteer roles. We have delivered deaf awareness and communication training to staff and volunteers within volunteering organisations and distributed our Volunteer Support Pack to targeted organisations.