It was so lovely to receive this from wonderful charity, CSSEF, now going into their third year of funding with us. Thank you to Karen, Zeta, and all of the CSSEF team for the incredible work you do, we are very proud to support you.

On World Book Day each year, hundreds of thousands of school children dress up as characters from their favourite books.

Representation is so important, and for World Book Day this year, back in March, something magical happened with one of our CSSEF children. 

Gracie-Mai goes to Borras Park School in Wrexham, and has struggled with her emotions and self-esteem, and she has struggled because she is Deaf.  CSSEF met Gracie-Mai in September 2021, and as we do with every child and young person we work with, we have worked hard with Gracie, to empower her to feel proud of herself. Our work with children and young people involves visits to schools, organising activities outside of school, taking time to talk so they can express themselves, and sharing the experiences and achievements of incredible Deaf role models even arranging for these Deaf role models to come into schools to meet the children and young people.  We also provide books for the children and young people we work with, that have Deaf characters or representation throughout the story. All of this is exactly the support we provided Gracie with.

On the morning of World Book Day, Gracie’s Mum, Jeanette, contacted us, as she was so overwhelmed, and here’s why:

“Today was a day that made me very emotional, World Book Day.  With the books Gracie has had from you at CSSEF, we had a choice of Deaf characters that Gracie could dress up as.  Amazing I thought.  So, she is getting ready this morning, and then came down in her own clothes carrying her Proud to be Deaf book.  I was so proud of her, as she had been going through a phase of not liking being Deaf, as she has been struggling to keep up with conversations, or group calls with her friends. Thanks so much for the books she has received, it’s definitely made her feel more comfortable being Deaf and accepted for being herself.”

Gracie-Mai, all of us at CSSEF are so proud of you, we can’t wait to send you some more books very soon.