Sabina is delighted to welcome our new Ambassador for Wales, Richard Jones who is Deaf father of three. “He brings a wealth of experiences on community developments especially in Wales and we look forward to working closely with him with view of developing Deaf Parenting UK-Wales and services to meet the needs of Deaf parents in Wales.”
Richard Jones is currently employed as Researcher and Development Officer for Deaf Access Cymru on a part-time basis. He is also a freelance consultant and set up his own company in 2010 after leaving the British Deaf Association where he worked as Director of National Operations. Prior to that, he was Director for BDA Wales as he was born and bred in Swansea. He graduated with MBA from the Open University and PGCE from the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2010. Richard is a second generation deaf person in his family and has three children himself.
Richard was a Founder Chair of Wales Deaf Rugby Union, a Founder Trustee of Advocacy Wales and is a current Chair of SignWales, a social enterprise company which focuses on enabling deaf community to have access to Information Technology. He is also a Trustee of Swansea Centre for Deaf People.
“Being deaf and faced with attitudinal discrimination is something deaf people live with every day in their lives. Also as a Deaf parent, having a family is one of the most important experiences anyone could have in life and it needs to be positive. In my previous experiences as an advocate, I have seen the injustice and prejudice placed on deaf parents from different services agencies as well as the rest of the society. As an Ambassador for Deaf Parenting UK, I hope to play a part in promoting positive experiences of Deaf Parents in the UK.”