SENSE
Connecting sight, sound and life.
Specialist Services for children and young people with deafblindness.
Cantiacorum Foundation has supported Sense’s work in Kent since 2013 when we first introduced them to the difficulties of people living with deafblindness in the area. Sense supports children and adults with deafblindness in many different ways, including respite holidays, supported living, and specialist services for children to enable them to get the best start in life. We teach communication and daily living skills to people with deafblindness, and enable them to try exciting new experiences that many of us take for granted. In addition, funding from the Foundation has enabled Sense to teach parents skills they need to help their deafblind child themselves and to feel empowered to fight for their rights in the health, education and social care system.
Sense’s most recent donation from Cantiacorum Foundation came in summer 2019 to enable us to provide our specialist support to two children in Kent. We have advocated for one family to get their child into the appropriate school placement with the right Local Authority support and carried out home visits to another child to teach deafblind manual sign language which will enable the family to communicate with their child for the very first time. This life-changing work is charitably funded and we wouldn’t be able to do it without the support of generous funders such as Cantiacorum Foundation. Thank you!
An extract from the grandmother of one of the children we support who recently attended our Family Day:
The staff had gone above and beyond to cater for so many children and young people: face painting, trampolining, swimming, arts and crafts and even cooking were all on offer, generously resourced. In the current economic climate, when difficult decisions have to be made about expenditure, we greatly appreciated the priority and resourcing given to this family day. What made it very special was the helpfulness and the friendliness of the SENSE staff, including the catering staff. Our first Christmas dinner of the festive season in November! The arrival of Father Christmas added to the excitement - how terrific that the children’s names were signed in BSL.
As importantly as the enjoyment of the children, was the opportunity for families to get together and simply chat. Parents (and grand parents) of disabled children so often feel isolated and whilst social media has been a huge enabler, meeting other families face to face cannot be under estimated. Thank you so very much.
Jennifer Clough
Trust Officer