Member Article

Kerry-Ann gives Children’s Hearing Services new look

Warrington teenager Kerry-Ann Collar’s design has been chosen to become the new logo for the Cheshire Children’s Hearing Services Working Group (CHSWG). Cheshire CHSWG are a working group made up of people representing all services involved with hearing impaired children and young people, including parents.

The budding student graphic designer, 17, has attended the Deafness Support Network’s (DSN) Youth Vibe group for 4 years in order to meet with other young people that are part of the Deaf community. The group has a mixture of members, some deaf, some hearing and some who have parents that are deaf, like Kerry-Ann’s parents.

Youth Vibe provides youngsters the chance to participate in a wide variety of activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, volunteering programs and regular activities such as ice hockey and go-karting.

Alongside fun-filled activities, Youth Vibe also connects children with companies and organisations to collaboratively work on projects that may not otherwise be accessible.

So when an opportunity came up for service users to submit their designs for a new logo for the CHSWG, Youth Vibe encouraged Kerry-Ann to enter.

“I can’t believe that the CHSWG selected my logo,” she said. “I want to be a graphic designer once I have left college and I feel that this whole process has given me more confidence to really go for it!

“Without DSN and Youth Vibe, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to submit my design to the CHSWG. I feel like I have grown as a person, both personally and professionally.”

DSN offers a myriad of services to individuals in the local community who are personally affected by D/deafness and their youth offering – Youth Vibe – works solely with children and young adults in a number of ways.

“My parents definitely prefer communicating via BSL over lip reading,” she said. “Youth Vibe helped me achieve my Level One qualification, which is why I initially started coming weekly.

“It is a fantastic group for young people who are experiencing deafness, either themselves or through a family member. Everyone involved is focused on helping you make the most of your time and your skills and improving communication and interaction between D/deaf young people and hearing young people.”

Members from the CHSWG said; “Kerry-Ann’s design was brilliant and we are really happy to make it our new logo. We love it and we are confident Kerry-Ann has an incredibly bright future as a graphic designer.

The CHSWG are always looking for parents to become part of the group so if you are interested please get in touch via DSN.

For more information about the Deafness Support Network and Youth Vibe visit http://www.dsnonline.co.uk/dsn/

ENDS

Note to Editors:

For further information, contact Caitlin Laws, Caitlin@thinkdewinter.co.uk

DSN

DSN operates support centres in Chester, Northwich and Macclesfield. For further details of services provided by Positive Hearing, visit http://www.positivehearing.org.uk/ or call 01625 220066

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by deWinter PR .