March 4, 2026 NEWLY ADDED

🌱 Parents at the Table: Influencing the Future of Childhood Deafness Research 🌱

I’ve been part of the Childhood Deafness Research Network from the early stages of the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership into Childhood Deafness and Hearing Loss. As a parent, this has been an incredible opportunity to represent the voice of those with lived experience and to include the many highs and many lows of life with a deaf child! 

Representation of parents in the Childhood Deafness Research Network is enormously important, I wanted to make sure that professionals and researchers understand that parents are often making decisions and having to advocate for their deaf child when they have had little, or no previous experience of deafness. A good quality of community support is vital for parents of deaf children. 

I’m really excited to see where the Childhood Deafness Research Network goes from here. The two priority lists that were put together by adults and (most importantly!) children have so much potential to be developed into really meaningful, impactful research. 

Kay Confait, Parent, Bristol