March Hearing Awareness Month

World Hearing Day is an annual campaign observed in March in over 100 countries worldwide, drawing attention to the importance of ear and hearing care as a fundamental aspect of overall health and well-being. Governments, healthcare providers, and advocacy groups come together to raise awareness, promote early detection, and encourage hearing health practices to prevent avoidable hearing loss. 

The campaign highlights the critical role that hearing plays in communication, education, employment, and social inclusion. Despite the progress made, over 80% of the world's ear and hearing care needs remain unmet, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO)*. 

Globally, school-age children with hearing loss often remain undiagnosed and without access to needed services (World report on hearing, 2021). Hearing loss affects around 90 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 years, across all parts of the world (Global burden of disease study, 2021). However, it commonly remains undetected, especially in low-resource settings.

I did not think we would have many books to support this topic, but I was wrong. Yesterday a friend who kindly volunteers in my school library and I collected together books for a display. Among them were:

And this series of short chapter books about Lizzie and her dog Lucky.

22nd - 28th September International Week of Deaf People; 23rd September International Day of Sign Languages

International Week of Deaf People Theme for 2025:

No Human Rights Without Sign Language Rights

International Day of Sign Languages is observed on 23rd September each year as an opportunity to offer visibility to sign languages and deaf people, estimated to be 72 million worldwide.

Sign languages are ways to communicate with hand gestures and other movements, including facial expressions and postures, rather than spoken words. There are more than 300 sign languages in use all around the world. 

StoryBox Library has a very large collection of Auslan signed picture books (88 and counting!) and for the National Week of Deaf People they have an interview with Emma Watkins and her  creative partner Elvin Melvin. Together, they share their passion for Auslan, inclusive storytelling, and the joy of bringing visual language to life through music, movement, and media. 

There is also a ASL Kids Club on Youtube where you can find more picture books that are being signed.

I have written about these celebrations before, here and here, but here are some other resources.

• Dancing Hands  by Joanna Que

Sam’s new neighbors’ hands make graceful movements she doesn’t recognize, and she wonders what they are saying. Soon she meets her new neighbor, Mai, who teaches Sam some Filipino Sign Language. Along the way, they both discover the joys of making a new friend, a best friend.

• Butterfly on the Wind  by Adam Pottle

On the day of the talent show, Aurora's hands tremble. No matter how hard she tries to sign, her fingers stumble over one and another and the words just won't come. But as she's about to give up, she spots a butterfly. Using her hands to sign the ASL word for "butterfly," Aurora sends a magical butterfly of her own into the world, inspiring Deaf people across the globe to add their own. 

• Listening to the Quiet  by Cassie Silva

Jacki’s mama has a rare condition. She is slowly losing her hearing. Together, they are learning Sign Language so that they’ll always be able to tell each other everything. But as Mama’s world becomes quieter, Jacki’s remains full of sound, especially on Music Appreciation Fridays. How can Jacki enjoy listening to music when her mama can no longer hear it? 

• Mara Hears in Style  by Terrie Clemmons

Mara's first day at her new school is filled with ups and downs surrounding her hearing aids: her teacher doesn't remember to turn on her microphone. This book will encourage readers to respect hearing differences and inspire kids who worry about making new friends. The book is filled with American Sign Language depictions--including a full alphabet spread--so readers can sign alongside Mara.

• Next Door  by Deborah Kerbel 

In this wordless picture book, a deaf boy and his mother enjoy a walk through their community. Together, they greet their neighbors, stop by the playground, spy a bird's nest in a tree and buy cookies at the grocery store. Later, they visit their new neighbors, a woman and her daughter, who have only recently immigrated from another country. Although the girl is shy, and the two kids speak different languages - American Sign Language (ASL) and Arabic - find a way to communicate and become fast friends. 

•  More than Words  by Roz MacLean

At school, Nathan quietly observes the diverse ways his peers communicate. Even when they're not talking, they're expressing themselves in all sorts of ways!

Beautifully illustrated, this tender picture book moves from exploring and celebrating many different forms of expression-signing, speaking, singing, smiling, among others-to a poignant story about the search for connection and understanding. By its co

27th June Helen Keller Day

Helen Keller was an American deaf-blind activist, a well-known writer, and a lecturer who advocated for laws to protect and help people with disabilities. 

We celebrate Helen Keller Day as part of Deaf-Blind Awareness Week (the last week in June). The 27th June was Helen Keller's birthday.

Helen Keller was born in Alabama in 1880 and lost her hearing and sight due to a disease before the age of two. At seven, her parents sought help from the Perkins School for The Blind. Anne Sullivan was asked to work with Helen. She was also visually impaired and became nearly as famous as Helen. 

Sullivan used “touch teaching” techniques and her skilled guidance calmed the seemingly uncontrollable Keller. Keller learned how to read and write in Braille thanks to Sullivan’s own experiences that gave her a deeper understanding of her student’s struggles. Keller also used hand signals of the deaf-mute, which she understood by touch. 

The school library has these biographies, but there are many others:

 

23rd September International Day of Sign Languages

 

Theme for 2022:
Sign Languages Unite Us!

 Some books to highlight sign language:

• What the Jackdaw Saw by Julia Donaldson and Nick Sharratt

This book about friendship and sign language was created by Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, with a group of deaf children in a workshop organised by the not-for-profit organisation Life & Deaf which helps deaf children to explore their identities through poetry, film, performance and art. 

• Moonbird  by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray

A Moonchild blows a bubble that pops on an Earth baby and surrounds him in silence. He cannot hear or speak. His parents, a King and Queen, are devastated when they realise but a Moonbird teaches the little prince how to use his hands and eyes to communicate. 

• Hands and Hearts by Donna Jo Napoli and Amy Bates

A mother and daughter spend a sunny day at the beach together where they swim, dance, build sandcastles, and, most importantly, communicate. But their communication is not spoken; rather, it is created by loving hands that use American Sign Language. Readers will learn how to sign 15 words using American Sign Language with the help of sidebars that are both instructive and playful.

• Jack Signs by Karen Hardwicke and Amanda Walker 

The heart-warming tale of a little boy who is deaf, wears hearing aids and discovers the magic of sign language - based on a true story!

Our school library still has a copy of The River of Silence  a picture book by Sarah Bertels and Catherine Hewitt which is a children's story with the appropriate sign language symbols accompanying the written text. Colourful illustrations tell the story of a river in search of its sound, conveying the message that it is not necessary to hear to appreciate beauty. Written for the author's deaf son, the book won the Lothian Centenary Children's Picture Book Award.

19th -25th September International Week of Deaf People

 

Theme for 2022:
Building Inclusive Communities for All

It has been estimated that 466 million people in the world suffer from hearing issues or deafness! So it is likely you know someone or of someone who is deaf.

Deaf people in our world are beginning to be much more visible for school students which is a wonderful thing. At school we have two deaf students, one of whom has a cochlear implant. They are super keen to fit in and I have made sure that they see themselves represented in books in the library. Story Box Library an online Australian book website which we subscribe to, has books read in Auslan. The news and community announcements on television are signed and often a class will add signing to a song in assembly. Probably not enough, but far better than it used to be.

There are some wonderful picture books to introduce 'deafness' to children. I have written about some before. See here, but there are newer ones.

• Freddie and the Fairy by Julia Donaldson. This book is about lip reading and Julia Donaldson wrote it because she is hard of hearing and wanted to see a story with a deaf character.

Can Bears Ski? by Richard Antrobus and Polly Dunbar

Boy Bear cannot hear Dad Bear coming to wake him up in the morning but he can feel the floor vibrate with his heavy footsteps. He can only grasp little bits of what his teacher says to him at school. He cannot catch what his friends are laughing at. And, all the time, Boy Bear keeps hearing the question, "Can Bears ski?" What does it mean? Richard Antrobus is telling his own story of being young and deaf.

El Deafo by Cece Bell

El Deafo is a funny, deeply honest graphic novel memoir for middle graders. It chronicles the author's hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with a powerful and very awkward hearing aid called the Phonic Ear. It gives her the ability to hear--sometimes things she shouldn't--but also isolates her from her classmates. 

The Boy in the Jam Jar by Joyce Dunbar and John Shelley

A powerful and personal story from Joyce Dunbar about what it's like to experience hearing difficulties.

Boy  by Phil Cummings and Shane deVries

The boy in this story lives in a silent world because he is deaf, but he feels his community's fear of a dragon.

There are quite a few picture book biographies about deaf people who were leaders.

See all those about Helen Keller.

See those about Annie Sullivan

The biography of  world-famous deaf percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.

A biography about deaf baseball player William Hoy

Based on the true story of Chinese dancer Lihua Tai, The Visible Sounds tells the uplifting tale of a young child dealing with the frustration and solitude of hearing loss. Alone in silence, the child's life is changed forever when a chance touch unlocks a vibrant new world, now blazing with rainbows.

And of course there's also Edison and Beethoven.