The launching ceremony and press conference of the Charity Alliance for Hearing-impaired Children was held in China Rehabilitation Research Center for Deaf Children on July 20, 2016. Jia Yong, vice president of China Disabled Persons Federation attended the event and delivered a speech. Nearly 150 participants from organizations launching the alliance, specially invited charity organizations, donating enterprises, media and rehabilitation organizations attended the launching ceremony.
Honorary guests launch the Charity Alliance for Hearing-impaired Children.
As one of the founding members of the alliance, China Soong Ching Ling Foundation had always been focusing on and helping hearing-impaired children go back to the mainstream society. The foundation launched the Angels Hear Love program, a program to assist hearing-impaired children in 2011. The program has collected donation of altogether over 35 million yuan, supported over 120 hearing-impaired children to complete artificial cochlea implant surgery, and helped them recoer their ability of listening and speaking. Part of these children entered ordinary kindergartens and primary schools after rehabilitation. The launching of the alliance helped collect resources to form a combined strength, called for the society to pay attention to and help hearing-impaired children, as well as improve the level of China's charity course.
Hearing-impaired children and parents showed their achievements of rehabilitation at the ceremony. Officials from organizations launching the alliance read the initiative, and announced the launching of the official website of the alliance. A dialogue forum attended by parents of deaf children, people in charge of rehabilitation organizations, representatives from donating enterprises, organizations launching the alliance, experts and media, was also held to help participants understand the goal of the alliance.
The dialogue forum.
Background Introduction
China has 137,000 hearing-impaired children aged from 0 to 6 years old. Every year the nation has 23,000 new babies born with the problem, becoming the country that has the most hearing-impaired children in the world. The problem will seriously damage the children's sense of hearing, speaking and language ability, and bring heavy burden to the family and society. The central government has invested over 2.5 billion yuan special fund since the 11th Five-Year Plan, and helped nearly 50,000 hearing-impaired children. However, the number of hearing-impaired children that can receive systematic rehabilitation training and instruction at professional organizations only took up less than 60% of the total number. The major reasons are: there's a lack of such organizations. Some of them don't have good facilities and there may no such organizations in remote area; there's a lack of teachers and professional service in fundamental rehabilitation organizations; children cannot receive continuous and systematic instruction and rehabilitation due to poor family economic conditions and limited understanding of the problem.
More and more charity organizations and donors started to pay attention to these children in recent years. The support from both the government and the society help more and more such children learn to listen, speak, and come back to mainstream society.
China Rehabilitation Research Center for Deaf Children cooperated with Chinese Red Cross Foundation, CSCLF, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, China Foundation for Disabled Persons, China Women's Development Foundation, Audiology Development Foundation of China, and Sina Weibo Public Service to launch the alliance.
