Watch eight-year-old Penwortham girl with hearing difficulties teach sign language as she raises funds for National Deaf Children’s Society

Lucy Johnson, of Penwortham, has held several teddy and book sales, as well as baked cakes to raise funds for the charity.

The eight-year-old has also been educating her fellow pupils about communicating with a deaf person to help raise awareness.

Her mum, Laura said: “Lucy got diagnosed with moderate to severe deafness at birth after she failed the hearing test. She has cochlear damage, which affects her hearing.“Through the support of the early years team, learning sign language and speech and language programmes we have been able to communicate with her.“She has hearing aids in both ears, which helps her hear 80 to 90 per cent.“We were told she would not be able to go to mainstream school but she takes life in her stride and has been able to attend Cop Lane CE Primary School.

“She loves to make people deaf aware and has been talking to other pupils about communicating with people, by making eye contact and not speaking to someone when they have their back to you. She has also taught people to sign.

“This passion has really come over the past two years. I said if she raised £300 I would do a half marathon and she managed her target in eight weeks.“So I did the Manchester half marathon in October, raising more than £1,000.

“Lucy has regular bake sales with strawberry and raspberry jam rock cakes with the support of the Lime Bar in Penwortham and has raised more than £1,000 over the past 12 months doing various things including a teddy sale and a non-uniform day at school. “We are really proud of her. “She believes everyone should be deaf aware in her local community and doesn’t want anyone to be isolated.”She loves to raise money for NDCS and strongly believes in the work it does.”

Lucy said: “I am really pleased with how much money we have raised. I want people to be aware that some people are deaf and some people are not.“I enjoy helping people and doing things like cake sales.”

Colin Brook, of the NDCS, said: “I want to say a huge thank you to the Lucy and her mum for all their hard work and inspiration. Not only has Lucy raised much-needed funds for us, but she’s also helped raise deaf awareness among her schoolmates and beyond, which is absolutely vital in ensuring that deaf children have exactly the same opportunities in life as their hearing friends.

“Deafness is not a learning disability and deaf children can do anything other children can if they are given the right support from the start. We believe that deaf children should be valued and included by society and have the same opportunities as any other child.”

For more information visit https://www.ndcs.org.uk/