As Gordon Brown put it, it wasn’t exactly a very well-kept secret, but we now know for sure that a general election will be taking place on the 6th May.

So how can we make deaf children matter during the election? Well, you can email your local candidates in your area.

The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) has set up a “pledge for deaf children” and they want lots of local candidates to sign it to show their support. The website makes it quick and easy for you to email your candidates – as long as you know where you live, it can work out who your local candidates are.

The more candidates who sign it, the more likely we’ll have a large bunch of MPs in the next Parliament who know that supporting deaf children is really important. There’s a looming threat of spending cuts hanging over everything. But we also know deaf children are still under achieving at schools and are more likely to be bullied, abused and without a job when they grow up. So NDCS is going to need as much support as they can get.

I’ve just done it for my local candidates in south west London. There’s a hard fight going on to become MP for my seat so I’m hoping the local candidates will be keen to pay attention to my views on deafness if they hope to get my vote. Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve also done it for my previous address where I lived until very recently. Hee!