Peppa Pig hearing loss story may 'remove stigma'

An upcoming Peppa Pig episode in which George gets a hearing aid could help to "remove some stigma" around hearing loss, the head teacher of a prominent school for deaf children said.

Peppa's brother receives the device for partial hearing loss in the upcoming storyline from an audiologist voiced by Gladiators star Fury.

The episode has been developed in partnership with the National Deaf Children's Society and is due to come out on 9 March.

Paul Burrows, head teacher at the Royal School for the Deaf in Derby, said the story was "very important" in helping deaf children "not feel so different".

Burrows said: "I am not quite sure [I would use] the word normalised but what it is doing is making having a hearing aid, going to the audiologist... just part of life and I think having as much representation as you can of that is fantastic.

"It is very important for them [the students] themselves, it allows them to not feel so different, it might kind of remove some stigma.

"But I think actually for me the importance of this will be wider than the deaf young person.

"I think it will be for their brothers and sisters, their families, their friends, the people they go to school with because they will all see it."

Burrows said the school taught their students to be "proud of their deafness" and emphasised the "solution is not always just - 'let's get a hearing aid'".

"We are big supporters of British Sign Language (BSL) for example as a way of communicating," he said.

"So the technology is one side of it but I think equally we need to teach people that being deaf is just a part of who they are, there is nothing wrong with you if you are deaf, that's just you – it's part of your makeup."

George's audiologist is voiced by Jodie Ounsley, also known as Fury from Gladiators, who uses a cochlear implant.

The former England rugby union international said she sometimes felt "lonely" growing up as she was "probably" the only deaf person in her school.

She said: "I can just imagine if I had something like that when I was younger and saw it on TV... just normalising it, I think that would have had a huge impact on me."

The school in Derby was founded by Dr William Roe in the 1890s after witnessing a young deaf man being bullied.

Roe was "struck by the social and educational exclusion of deaf people" and so set out on a world wide tour to raise awareness and funds, the school said.

It currently accepts students aged three to 19.

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