In 2017, the British Deaf Association began working with Huawei on a new project for their Christmas charity campaign

As a Deaf-led charity, run by Deaf people, for Deaf people, the BDA has a unique view into the challenges our community faces, and we know how important early intervention is. This is why we felt it was so important to guide this project about deaf children and their families.

Even before reaching school age, deaf children can be behind their peers in development. This should not be the case, as deaf children have the same potential as any other child.

90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who may not learn to sign, or be dissuaded from signing. For many deaf children, lack of access to a sign language early on can lead to delays in language acquisition. A successful project will enable children to link concepts in sign language to written language, but help parents themselves see the benefits of giving their deaf child sign language early.

BDA were able to provide technical advice and guidance. This included language moderators, to ensure that each of the books had quality and age-appropriate translations into British Sign Language.

We knew it was vital to capture the non-manual features of BSL, which is why we were able to work developing a character who could fully express the intricacies of our language.

The product was also tested extensively with deaf children and their families, Deaf adults, and Teachers of the Deaf to ensure that the final version provided a useful real world application.

BDA provide vital work in early intervention, language access, and literacy projects that are fully Deaf-led. However, the demand for these projects is high, so we need your donations to continue this vital work.