Royal National Institute for the Deaf
| Formation | 1911 |
|---|---|
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | Charity |
| Location |
|
|
Region served
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United Kingdom |
| Paul Breckell | |
| Website | http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk |
Action on Hearing Loss, known until 2011 by its official title, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss. The head office is in Islington, London. Its President until April 2012 was Lord Ashley of Stoke. The Chief Executive is Paul Breckell. Its Patron is the Duke of York.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People was founded as the National Bureau for Promoting the General Welfare of the Deaf in 1911 by Leo Bonn, a deaf merchant banker, at his home 22 Upper Brook Street, Mayfair, on 9 June 1911. The house is marked by a memorial plaque unveiled by The Duke of Edinburgh, Patron to the RNID, on 9 June 1998.
The Bureau was reorganised as the National Institute for the Deaf in 1924. Alongside its role in influencing public policy in favour of people who are hard of hearing in the UK, it also developed a role as a provider of care to deaf and hard of hearing people with additional needs during the late 1920s and early 1930s.
During the 1940s, with the introduction of the National Health Service (NHS) to the UK, it successfully campaigned for the provision of free hearing aids through the new welfare state system. The 1950s and 1960s saw its increasing influence marked by Royal recognition: in 1958 the Duke of Edinburgh became the Patron of the Institute; and in 1961 H.M. the Queen approved the addition of the "Royal" prefix, creating the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID).
The Institute expanded into medical and technological research during the 1960s and 1970s, being a key player in the development of NHS provided behind-the-ear hearing aids. During the 1980s it developed the Telephone Exchange for the Deaf, a pioneering relay service allowing telephone users and deaf "textphone" users to communicate with each other using a third-party operator to relay voice and text communication. This became the service known as Typetalk in 1991, funded by BT but operated on their behalf by RNID until 7 December 2009 when the RNID stepped down from the service. It is now solely owned, run and managed by BT alone. In March 2009 the name of the Typetalk service was changed to Text Relay.
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