Tell us what tools you need to help get others involved and persuade people why they should help us change the world for deaf and hard of hearing people.

For example, would you require:

Some members have already made suggestions, below. Submit your suggestion now (external link), and we'll feed your comments into our future work.

Sally, a member, comments: I would like to be involved in a local group. I was recently diagnosed with early onset moderate hearing loss in both ears and now wear bi-lateral hearing aids. I am going to lip-reading classes soon, so hope to meet others in my position. I have had to give up my teaching job as the school didn't know how to support me, again talking to others could help here too.

Tim, a member, comments: I have recently been on the LINK Intensive Programme at Eastbourne. One of the issues that I raised was the fact that there were many different deaf related organisations but no way of making contacts between them. My next-door neighbour might be hard-of-hearing, like myself, but I would have no way of knowing that if they belonged to/or had dealings with deaf organisations that I do not prescribe to.

My feeling is that it would be useful, I think, to have a national web-based database of deaf, deafened, or HOH people regardless of their associations. This could be entirely voluntary (Friends Reunited style!) and could even pay for itself (for each entry you could charge £3.95 say, and even make that voluntary).

Once created, I would not think that this would be an enormous task to run. And if it pays for itself, so why not? I'd volunteer to maintain it. Even within LINK it is apparent that people tend to 'shy away' from anything like this and simply choose to 'hide within their own world'. Perhaps a simple on-line database might help to 'draw people out'.

A Member, Shaftesbury, comments: I live in Shaftesbury and am totally deaf. I have tried to get people interested in deaf matters - without success. I don't know what the RNID can do to help, but feel some sort of campaign would bring the deaf out of the woodwork.

Tim Blackwell,Wrexham, comments: I think RNID could take advantage of the internet and set up a general forum so that deaf and hard of hearing people can freely discuss all the things which concern them. RNID can then follow these discussions to see what our priorities are. RNID could also set up e-surgeries so that trustees can be more like MPs – hearing our concerns and implementing our priorities.

Andrew Arthur, Cornwall, comments: I think RNID can help its members more by increasing its support at grassroots level. It's all very well lobbying the government with top-level campaigns, but that sort of thing is far from your ordinary member.

What we need is local RNID offices, preferably staffed by deaf and hard of hearing people, who are able to properly support their local communities in overcoming the many problems of being deaf. RNID does not make anywhere near enough use of its 'people power'. It doesn't organise a local Christmas party for members, run deaf social events or make the best use of its volunteers. Your power is with us, your members, not with highly paid business tycoons.

RNID says:

Thank you for your valuable comments – it is very useful to see a broad range of ideas about how we could engage with you better, from locally-based groups to communities on the internet.

I will start by addressing the former: the development of local networks to engage with you. A key ambition in our 2009–13 strategy is a renewed focus on engagement, on our capacity to serve and advocate at a local level. This includes plans to establish a permanent volunteering structure and ethos within RNID. So watch this space, and please keep your feedback coming. You can find out about the many local services that we do already provide in this previous One in Seven article (PDF 108KB).

We know that over half of you are now using the internet regularly, and that you're keen to share your experiences, tips and advice with each other in an interactive way. We're also keen to develop our web presence to support this - and we're excited about what this could look like in the future. We are planning a new and improved website over the next 2 years. Now's the time to input into this process, by telling us which features of existing forums or social networking sites you find most useful. Please email membership@rnid.org.uk.

In the meantime, you may find that existing websites such as Facebook (external link, opens new browser window) or Sagazone (external link, opens new browser window) can provide opportunities to meet likeminded people, and join special interest groups. Please do join our Facebook group (external link, opens new browser window). And remember, our interactive Your say area, and our dedicated forums are already up and running.

Jackie Ballard