A World Without Barriers: How NDCS is Transforming Futures for Deaf Children
Hello Atlassian Community! I am Hollie, the Agile Transformation Lead at NDCS.
The National Deaf Children's Society is a charity in the UK for deaf children with any level of hearing loss, and our mission is to create a world where anything is possible for them and nothing holds them back.
We are also a proud Atlassian Foundation customer and love talking about our use of the tools and how these help us deliver our vision and mission. We love how Atlassian gives us many ways to spread our message through Community activities, such as June’s Community Led Conference in London, and this very forum.
This week, I'm here to share a brief introduction to who we are, why we exist and what we do, and then next week - you're in for a techie-treat - my colleagues Hannah and Theresa will have an awesome blog for you about our Atlassian tech stack. (Spoiler alert: there will be mention of Jira Dashboards!)
A Grassroots Beginning
Our story began in 1944 when 14 parents of deaf children came together with a shared purpose: to ensure their children had an equal right to education. We started as a grassroots movement and organically grew, becoming a national charity in 1958 and adopting our modern name, the National Deaf Children's Society.
Major Milestones and Impact
Since then, we've achieved significant milestones in our journey:
1960s: We started our campaigning efforts.
1990: We secured a grant to launch our free Helpline, which is still going strong today.
2006: We successfully campaigned for FREE newborn hearing screening to be rolled out across the entire UK. This service helps to identify if a newborn may have some form of hearing loss, giving families the information they need right at the start of their journey to have the greatest impact on their child's development.
2016: We celebrated 10 years of newborn hearing screening.
2020: We migrated the majority of our services online, which increased our reach by four times.
Understanding the Need
The work we do is so vital because the statistics are truly sobering: every day in the UK, four babies are born deaf. In total, there are currently 50,000 children in the UK who are deaf. About half of them were born deaf, and the other half became deaf during childhood. In addition, one in ten children will experience some level of hearing loss (usually from glue ear). So, we're here to support kids across the spectrum, whether their hearing loss is permanent or temporary, and thier families.
Transformation from the inside
About five years ago, leaders at NDCS recognised the need to make significant changes in how we work so that we could meet the growing demand for our services and support. Since then, we've completely redesigned our organizational structure - from a top-down, waterfall approach to a much flatter, Agile structure. We've also made significant investments to grow our own staff to be Agile leaders. And, having initially adopted the Agile Manifesto - we povited to Modern Agile and every member of staff has ownership for adopting an Agile mindset! This transformation is all about getting us closer to our customers so that we can give them what they need, rather than what we think they need.
Our Five-Year Strategy: Every Moment Counts
In 2023, we launched our ambitious five-year strategy, "Every Moment Counts," to transform the futures of children with hearing loss. This year marks the halfway point of this strategy and we're proud of the headway we've made so far. Not only have we rolled out an app for parents, refreshed our brand and delivered a new website, we've been hard at work in communites.
Some of the outcomes to date include:
Grant Giving: We've designed a grants programme so that communities can apply for funding to create services that are tailored to their specific needs, like a deaf surf school in Devon.
Community Connectors: We have a team of community connectors, many of whom are parents of deaf children themselves, who can provide direct support and link with families.
Volunteer Hub: We are developing an online volunteer management system to connect people with the skills communities need. For example, if a community needs a volunteer with an accounting background, they can post the role and find the right person.
Through these initiatives, we're making sure that every moment counts for deaf children and their families, enabling them to get the support and advice they need.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about our charity! We're ever so proud of what we do and what we achieve.
If you want to learn more, check out our website and of course, follow our social media channels. Engagement is greatly appreciated.
See you next week for Hannah and Theresa’s techie blog.
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