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Duration: 55 minutes

Documentary. EastEnders actress Rita Simons has five-year old twin daughters, Maiya and Jaimee. Maiya was diagnosed with hearing loss at six-months old. Rita and husband Theo have just had the shocking news that, one day, she will probably lose her hearing completely.

Rita and her family need to make life-changing decisions for Maiya's future - should they embrace the deaf world, learn to sign and send her to a specialist school or try and give her hearing with technology, implants and artificial sound or a mixture of the two?

Every parent agonises over the choices they make for their children but it is even more difficult when you have to decide on the fate of one of your child's senses, when they are too young to make a decision for themselves.

Last on

Wed 21 Mar 2012 01:20 BBC One

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  • Producer and director Sophie Leonard on making the documentary

    Producer and director Sophie Leonard on making the documentary

    "Rita came to the conclusion that if she could break some of the stigma about deafness and raise awareness that deaf people can achieve whatever they want in life, it was worth doing the documentary."

    Read Sophie's post on the BBC TV Blog

Credits

Director
Sophie Leonard
Producer
Sophie Leonard
Executive Producer
Todd Austin

Broadcasts

See all broadcasts of Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me (6)

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