GDA (Gloucestershire Deaf Association)

Who we are

GDA is an award-winning, Gloucestershire-based charity. Our vision is of a society that actively supports ways to break down communication barriers for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

Deafness is invisible but it marginalises and its effect on relationships can be crippling. When a profoundly deaf child is born into a hearing family with little or no experience of how to overcome the communication challenges that deafness brings, social isolation can start at home. When an older person gradually loses their hearing, an early sign is their withdrawal from conversation.

We live in a hearing world which at best appears to lack understanding or empathy with deafness, and at worst stigmatises it. You only have to consider how many organisations today can only be reached by telephone. As a result, deaf people are left feeling unable to access the everyday services hearing people take for granted.

GDA provides a range of services and social activities which bring deaf people back into the conversation; to enjoy greater independence and ultimately better physical and mental wellbeing.

The people whom GDA supports include adults and children who have been born deaf and whose preferred method of communication is sign language, and also those who have gone deaf later in life and rely on aided listening with whatever hearing they still have. Our services include deaf awareness training, communications support (BSL interpreters), employment support, listening aid equipment, hearing aid clinics, lip reading classes, and deaf children's and deaf youth clubs.