Our Mission

​If either one (or both) of your parents are Deaf, then you're a CODA. Regardless of whether you sign or not. We would love to hear from you!

CODAs are Children of Deaf Adults. Most people with Deaf parents are themselves hearing - an often quoted figure places the proportion of hearing CODAs at 90% of the Deaf-parented population. 

As the only national organisation representing solely Children of Deaf Adults, CODA UK and Ireland was established in 2011 in order to:

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• Facilitate social interaction of CODAs with their peers

• Provide peer support 

• Celebrate our heritage 

We achieve this by arranging activities for CODAs of all ages - take a look at our events page to find out more. Through the establishment and growth of our flagship CODA Camp, our social activities and over 18's 'CODA Weekenders', and continued engagement on social media, we see that there is a need for CODA UK and Ireland to expand our operations into new domains.  

This means that we are in exciting times. We want to engage with the wider community - and our first step was to celebrate our 5th anniversary at an event in London with CODAs and our Deaf parents in 2017, since then we have celebrated our anniversary each year. This November will be our 8th anniversary!
 

• We are committed to honouring our heritage and our Deaf culture. As natives within Deaf culture, we have a crucial part to play in ensuring our culture and our indigenous sign languages of British Sign Language, Irish Sign Language, and Northern Irish Sign Language are kept alive and thriving.

• We want to create local, regional and national networks of CODAs, who can provide support and guidance for CODAs of all ages.

• We want to bring together young CODAs and their families, and to see a resurgence of Deaf community environments. 

• We want to re-establish youth groups for CODAs to attend - and we want those groups to provide a range of fun, participant-led and inspirational activities. 

• We are also committed to developing our international connections - particularly within Europe, as well as with CODA International. 

Inspired to help us achieve these aims? Why not become a volunteer? Keep an eye on our site for more details of how we will achieve our aims.