The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is the largest charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. As a membership charity, we aim to achieve a radically better quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people. We do this by campaigning and lobbying vigorously, by raising awareness of deafness and hearing loss, by providing services and through social, medical and technical research.

Our Vision-

RNID's vision is of a world where deafness and hearing loss are not barriers to opportunity and fulfilment.

Our mission is:


To be a powerful force for change with government, and public and private sector organisations.


To change radically the attitudes and behaviour of individuals towards deaf and hard of hearing people.


To provide services directly to deaf and hard of hearing people to improve their everyday lives.


To be a catalyst for research in medicine and technology to improve the lives of people with a hearing loss.

We seek to work in partnership with those who share our vision and mission.

Programmes and Activities-

Campaigning and lobbying to change laws and government policies
· Providing information and raising awareness of deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus
· Training courses and consultancy on deafness and disability
· Communication services including sign language interpreters, lipspeakers, speech-to-text operators
· Training of interpreters, lipspeakers and speech-to-text operators
· Seeking lasting change in education for deaf children and young people
· Employment programmes to help deaf people into work
· Residential and community services for deaf people with special needs.
· Typetalk, the national telephone relay service for deaf and hard of hearing people
· Equipment and products for deaf and hard of hearing people
· Social, medical and technical research