| Royal National Institute for Deaf People (Trading name 1911-2011) | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1911 |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Charity |
| Location | 19-23 Featherstone Street, Islington, London, EC1Y 8SL |
| Region served | United Kingdom |
| Chief Executive | Jackie Ballard |
| Website | http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk |
Action on Hearing Loss, formerly known as The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people. The head office of RNID is in Islington, Central London (19-23 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8SL). Its President is Lord Ashley of Stoke. The Chief Executive is Jackie Ballard. Its Patron is the Duke of Edinburgh.
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RNID was founded as the National Bureau for Promoting the General Welfare of the Deaf in 1911 by Leo Bonn, a deaf merchant banker. It was reorganised as the National Institute for the Deaf in 1924. Alongside its role in influencing public policy in favour of people who are hard of hearing in the UK, it also developed a role as a provider of care to deaf and hard of hearing people with additional needs during the late 1920s and early 1930s.
During the 1940s, with the introduction of the National Health Service (NHS) to the UK, it successfully campaigned for the provision of free hearing aids through the new welfare state system. The 1950s and 1960s saw its increasing influence marked by Royal recognition: in 1958 the Duke of Edinburgh became the Patron of the Institute; and in 1961 H.M. the Queen approved the addition of the "Royal" prefix, creating the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID).
The Institute expanded into medical and technological research during the 1960s and 1970s, being a key player in the development of NHS provided behind-the-ear hearing aids. During the 1980s it developed the Telephone Exchange for the Deaf, a pioneering relay service allowing telephone users and deaf "textphone" users to communicate with each other using a third-party operator to relay voice and text communication. This became the service known as Typetalk in 1991, funded by BT but operated on their behalf by RNID until the 7th December 2009 when the RNID stepped down from the service. It is now solely owned, run and managed by BT alone. In March 2009 the name of the Typetalk service was changed to Text Relay.
In 1992 the Institute changed its name to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People but kept the initials RNID.
June 2011 sees the Centenary Celebrations, 100 years of the RNID and a new change of name - Action on Hearing Loss. 'Action on Hearing Loss' was chosen because it better describes the breadth of help and support they provide for people with all types of hearing loss – from people who are profoundly deaf, to people who are losing their hearing. With this new name they can reach out and help more people than ever before. [1] [2] They will be trading under the new name 'Action on Hearing Loss', but like a lot of other charities who have changed their names, they will be keeping the legal name, Royal National Institute for Deaf People. So they now become RNID - Action on Hearing Loss to quote their full title.
RNID's activities include:
The RNID has achieved a high profile for its work in lobbying and working with the UK government on modernisation of the UK's audiology services. This has resulted in the introduction of superior digital hearing aids free of charge via the NHS.
To deliver its activities, the RNID has a dedicated Casework service, that represents deaf and hard of hearing people across all aspects of Social Security and Welfare Rights issues. The service was started with the aid of Lottery Funding, but has recently become core funded.
RNID has also emerged as a major player in technology research and development, in particular through its work in the area of product development. The RNID Product Development team won an Innovation Award for their work on a new genre of telephone - the ScreenPhone.
In 2006, RNID won two prestigious awards at the Third Sector Excellence Awards ceremony - in the categories of 'Best Integrated Campaign' and 'Overall Excellence'. Both of these were for its Breaking the Sound Barrier campaign, which aims to reduce the stigma associated with hearing aids and hearing loss, in order to assist the 4 million people in the UK who would benefit from a hearing aid but currently do not.[3]
RNID have developed an online RNID free, confidential online hearing check, and can identify potential hearing problems. The five-minute check assesses your ability to hear someone speaking when there is background noise. It can indicate whether your hearing is within the normal range or if it is perhaps below normal. The hearing check does not give a medical diagnosis, but RNID hopes it will prompt people to take action and visit their GP or an audiologist for a fuller assessment. On average, it can take people living in the UK up to 15 years to deal with a hearing loss. RNID wants 1 million people to take the hearing check.