Latest news with #NDCS
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Strictly's Tasha Ghouri says 'future looks bright' as she carves out new career
After making it all the way to the Strictly Come Dancing final last year, Tasha now has her sights set on something new as she revealed that the "future looks bright" Strictly Come Dancing star Tasha Ghouri has revealed the "future looks bright" as she has opened up about taking a new path in her career. It has been a rollercoaster few months for the former Love Island star after she made it all the way to the Strictly Come Dancing final last December before being pipped to top spot by stand-up comedian, Chris McCausland. Meanwhile, not long after her success on the show, her relationship with Andrew Le Page came to an end, with the news of the break-up coming as a shock to their social media followers. But, away from the latest goings-on in her life, Tasha recently explained that, while she isn't entirely certain what the future holds, she is eager to "push" herself in the months ahead. She told the Mirror: "I don't really know, the future looks bright. I want to do more presenting and documentaries." She added: "That's the path I want to go down. I've done quite a few TV appearances that are coming out soon but I think I kind of want to push myself and challenge myself this year." Away from her latest TV exploits, the 26-year-old has also dedicated much of her time to charity, lending support to the likes of NDCS (National Deaf Children's Society), RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf People), and Deaf Kidz International. The charities hold a particularly important place in her heart after she herself was diagnosed as deaf shortly after being born. Prior to her fifth birthday, the Strictly star was fitted with a cochlear implant which helps people hear by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve. More recently, the former Love Islander has lent her support to a recent collaboration between Disney and the Make A Wish charity. The star appeared as the celebrity ambassador during their Disney Wish event at Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire. Over the course of three days, children with serious illnesses had the opportunity to meet and spend time with some of their favourite characters, as well as Tasha who was on hand to meet them and their families at the event. Looking back on her time spent with the children at the event, Tasha said that it "was such a beautiful, magical day, that I look back on and feel grateful to be part of".
The Guardian
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘The only thing we can't do is hear': the deaf pupil who beat Fife council in court
The slogan on Niamdh Braid's powder-blue sweatshirt puts it plainly enough: 'I define my own deaf identity.' 'We're in a world that's built for hearing people,' says the 16-year-old from Glenrothes in Fife, 'and we have to navigate through it to find what works best for us.' Earlier this year, the teenager won a legal battle with her local council to have a British Sign Language interpreter in lessons, after she realised how much of what was said in class she was missing out on. Niamdh, who has been deaf since birth, wears hearing aids, but can struggle to follow in noisy environments and her preferred language is BSL. As a younger child, she didn't have any deaf people she could look up to on TV or on the news. Now she hopes that through her advocacy 'younger deaf kids can look up to me and see that they can achieve anything'. 'A lot of people think that because we can't hear we can't achieve high-earning jobs and go into good professions,' says Niamdh, whose favourite subject is modern studies and who hopes to get into teaching then politics when she grows older. 'But the only thing we can't do is hear – there's nothing actually wrong with us. We can do anything that we put our mind to.' Yet deaf children are eight times more likely to leave school with no qualifications, according to the National Deaf Children's Society, which financially supported Niamdh's legal action. Niamdh was talking in advance of a report by MSPs that will reveal a significant fall in the number of specialist teachers of deaf people in Scotland. It is prompting the NDCS to warn of a 'growing crisis in deaf education' and lack of guidance from local authorities about what kind of support they should be providing deaf children in schools. At high school, she explains, there was an assumption that she did not need support because she was still achieving decent grades. But at Niamdh's tribunal, an independent assessment by a deaf education specialist found she was only accessing 70% of what was being said in class, even when her teacher wore a microphone transmitting to her hearing aids. Her dad, Steve, chips in: 'If she was accessing 100% at the teaching, imagine what she could be achieving. Why should she settle for average just because she's deaf?' Constantly struggling to hear came at a heavy price, and Niamdh was increasingly exhausted. 'I was always tired, asking to go to my bed at four o'clock before I'd had anything to eat.' At weekend she was too tired to go out with her friends. After her request for a BSL interpreter was turned down, first by her school and then by Fife council, Niamdh felt she had no choice: 'At this point it was getting close to my exams and I'd missed so much class already. I wanted to launch the action under my own name because it was for me, and I can voice my needs without the help of my parents.' Giving evidence, she explained that 'it's always a hearing person that makes decisions for the deaf person, and it shouldn't be the case. Because hearing people don't know what it's like to go through life in a world that's not built for them.' Early last year the tribunal ruled that Niamdh was being placed at 'substantial disadvantage', but the appeals process was only concluded this spring. 'When the last appeal got thrown out, it was the biggest relief I've ever felt,' says Niamdh. She went out for a Chinese buffet meal with her parents and younger brother to celebrate. The teenager, who takes part in taekwondo competitions and is a devoted fan of the hospital drama series Grey's Anatomy, says she's very lucky to have a close group of friends she's known since nursery school. 'It's all they've known with their friendship with me: if we're talking they need to face me, make sure there's not too much noise in the background.' She feels strongly that young deaf people should be allowed to make their own choices about what support they access, and that they are not a homogenous group: 'Everyone has their own way of communicating. It's not up to anyone else to decide that. 'It's the kid's choice of what they want to be as a deaf person. If they want to go without aids, if they want to have the hearing technology, if they want to be involved in the deaf community, let them decide.' Fife council's head of education and children's services, Angela Logue, said: 'We are continuing to work very closely with Niamdh and her family to meet her needs as identified by the outcomes of the tribunal.'
