A KEEN runner and charity worker is raising awareness about the difficulties deaf children face and is urging them to get involved in sport.

Reg Cobb has been deaf since birth, his wife Yvonne is deaf and his parents are also deaf.

He is more aware than most of the struggle that children with hearing difficulties face to make themselves heard and he is aiming to raise more awareness of these issues.

Reg, from Stroud, works for the Gloucestershire Deaf Association (GDA) and found that 43 per cent of deaf children do not access a sport club due to communication barriers.

He said: “Many deaf children either do not know how to explain themselves to others or are embarrassed.

“There are a range of mixed emotions they have towards their own deafness, some feel very restrained and depressed, others feel frustrated.

“Lots of deaf children experience a lack of communication within their own family.”

Reg has worked for the GDA since 2012 as a project developer and deaf awareness trainer.

He said: “A large issue is how people talk about deafness, even down to medical diagnosis.

“When parents are told their child is deaf it is approached as terrible news, much like how you would tell someone they have cancer ‘Sorry your child is deaf’.”

He feels the prejudice that surrounds any conversation of deafness only increases the idea that a lack of hearing is a negative situation, which can be very damaging.

Reg and his wife Yvette have three children, Serena, 16, Jovita, 13, and Frazer, 13.

“When my first daughter went for a hearing test, the doctor told me ‘Good news, she can hear,’ as if it was bad news that I couldn’t,” he said.

His son Frazer said: “Kids in school are actually very hands on about it when they found out my parents are deaf, they find it all very interesting and like to try sign language.”

Another problem that faces people with deafness is the level of training given to ‘signers’.

An inability to sign to a high enough level can leave someone with deafness feeling very restrained and GDA can assist in situations like this, providing professional teaching and assessing each person’s specific needs.

Reg is hosting an event to raise money for GDA and make people aware of the charity’s services.

Runners Night Out is on Friday, March 24, starting at 7pm in Lansdown Hall, Stroud.

Special guest and well-known runner Damian Hall, who has set the record time for completing the 600-mile South West Coastal Path, will be attending.

Reg's wife’s social enterprise Yumma Food will be catering the event, there will also be a raffle, disco, bar stocked by Stroud Brewery and a quiz, entrance is £15.

For more information email Reg Cobb at reg.cobb@yahoo.co.uk or text 078967 411713.