Fascinating insight into life for deaf children in 1954

Last week my father bought to my attention two videos that had been uploaded to YouTube of a documentary into life at the Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate from 1954. Unfortunately, the videos were not subtitled so Teresa Quail and myself set about the task of transcribing the videos and re-uploading them for all to enjoy.

The video is particularly close to my heart because in part two it features my mother, Catherine, as an eight-year-old girl enjoying class with her friend Linda Fincham who has remained a friend of our family for years.

It's provides a fascinating insight into school life and the approaches to educating deaf children sixty years ago. In the second part of the film, the children are discussing a book called 'Little Black Sambo' which was popular in the first part of the 20th century. Since then the book has fallen out of favour in schools because the language and illustrations are not appropriate today. For more information on this book, please see it's Wikipedia entry.

Please click the 'CC' button at the bottom right of the screen to access the subtitles.

William and Catherine Palmer Feature in Yours Magazine

PDDCS Member William Palmer and his Nan, Catherine, feature in the latest edition of Yours Magazine where they talk about cochlear implants, sign language and Nan's fantastic cooking! It's out now in all good newsagents on page 18.

William and Catherine are featured in the magazine to raise awareness of genetic conditions as part of Jeans for Genes day on Friday 7th October. National deafness charity, Action on Hearing Loss, is supported by Jeans for Genes.

William was also on the TV with his Dad recently too - you can watch that here.