National Deaf Children’s Society is supporting Anti-Bullying Week 2014 with the launch of a video featuring a 16 year old deaf boy providing tips on how to handle and prevent bullying.
Ammaar Hussein, who stars in the video, has a Profound Sensori Neural hearing loss and wears two hearing aids. He offers advice to young people, especially deaf young people who are being bullied, and offers tips including: talk to someone; don’t fight back; hold your anger; and give yourself a boost e.g. by joining a club or taking up a sport that will increase your confidence.
Research carried out by the National Deaf Children’s Society found that almost two thirds1 of deaf young people have been bullied because of their deafness. As well as the video it has developed resources to help deaf young people, their parents and education professionals tackle bullying issues. The resources cover all forms of bullying including, verbal, emotional – such as deliberately ignoring someone, and also includes physical and cyber-bullying.
Lucy Read, Head of Children and Young People’s Participation at the National Deaf Children’s Society said, “Any child can experience bullying but we know deaf children and young people can be more vulnerable. Difficulties with language, communication and social skills, such as simply not understanding a joke that everyone else is laughing at, can contribute to a deaf child feeling isolated and at risk of being bullied by their peers.”
Lucy continued, “Whatever the reason, bullying is unacceptable. There are 45,000 deaf children and young people in the UK and this guide aims to help parents prepared to spot, handle and prevent bullying from happening at all.”
Martha Evans, Acting National Coordinator at the Anti-Bullying Alliance, hosted by leading children’s charity the National Children’s Bureau said, “We are delighted to see the new video from National Deaf Children’s Society today supporting Anti-Bullying week 2014. Together with the excellent anti-bullying resources that National Deaf Children’s Society provides, young people, parents, carers and schools will be supported to tackle bullying and help support deaf children and young people.
“It is important we all work together to prevent bullying and ensure we respond appropriately when it does occur. These guides also support our theme for Anti-Bullying Week which starts today – Let’s Stop Bullying for All”.
More information on how to access the resources can be found at ndcs.org.uk/bullying
Anti-Bullying week takes place from 17 – 21 November 2014. You can follow the full
Anti-Bullying week campaign activity using #Stopbullying
1) The National Deaf Children’s Society commissioned a poll in 2012 on its young people’s website The Buzz, asking deaf young people their views on bullying. The poll received more than 600 respondents.