Young People Advisory Board
The Young People Advisory Board (we call it YAB) is made up of deaf young people from across the UK. We meet both online and face to face to gather young people’s ideas and perspectives on what needs to happen to make sure that deaf young people lead healthy and happy lives.
Why do we have a Young People Advisory Board?
At SignHealth, it is important to us that our services and campaigns are led by deaf people, and in this case, by deaf young people. Young people are the experts on the issues that impact them and what they need from services. We hope the experience will support the development of future deaf leaders too.
Meet the board members
- I currently study Maths and Chemistry A Levels.
- I love football, table tennis, chess and singing.
- I consider myself very friendly and polite.
- I joined the YAB as it would be really cool to meet people from all around the world and the YAB would look good on my CV.
- I enjoy playing video games
- My favourite subjects in school are History and RE
- I joined the YAB because I wanted to make a difference and learn more about the deaf community
- I love cooking and crocheting
- In school I like food prep and textiles
- I joined the YAB because I wanted to make it better for deaf young people and meet new deaf friends
- I like ball games and I am a member of the tennis club.
- My favourite subjects are French and History.
- I would describe myself as witty, articulate and insightful.
- I’m involved in the YAB because as I want to show that I can do it as a deaf young person, and I want to give support and advice to others while learning from other deaf young people.
- My favourite hobbies are going out with friends, travelling to different places / countries – I’m interested in learning about different cultures
- I love cooking food and baking cakes – I’ve got a sweet tooth!
- My mum is my role model because she supports me, is good at BSL and has high expectations of me. I can tell her anything. Vicky from Deaf club is also my role model because she makes me feel happy and confident and always has time to talk to help with my mental health. Mrs Curran is also my role model because she always helped by explaining details to me.
- Recently, I learnt how to ski and have just got back from a school trip in Italy I loved it so much! I achieved level 3 and made some new friends too.
- In the future, I really want to be a primary school teacher teaching D/deaf children because more D/deaf children should have the opportunity to be taught by a D/deaf teacher and learn sign language.
- I joined the YAB team as I want to help explain what it is like to be a young deaf person in the UK today.
- I love all kinds of music (apart from classical!) as well as animation.
- I have a dog called Star who is super cute.
- I like reading books relating to mystery, murder and thrillers.
- I’m a very chatty person and I like talking with my friends
- I like taking selfies / photos and I live by the quote ‘you only live once’!
- I like to research and to find out new facts
- I like deaf history.
- I joined YAB so that I can truly make a difference and make some new friends
- I love to travel and I have currently been to 16 countries
- I like to bake cakes and read fantasy books
- My favourite subjects at school are sociology and animal care.
- One thing I would improve about the world is making BSL courses free and easy to learn so then all hearing and deaf people can communicate.
- I joined YAB so then I can improve my BSL skills but also so then I can meet other people like me and become friends with people that understand my deafness.
The Young People Advisory Board meets for the first time!
In November 2024, SignHealth’s first ever Young People Advisory Board met for the first time in Birmingham. The plan for the weekend was to get to know each other, set the foundations of our new Young People Advisory Board and discuss a potential new logo for SignHealth’s Children and Young People services – how exciting!
