The Rt Hon Lord Ashley of Stoke CH (President)
Jack and Pauline Ashley founded Deafness Research UK in 1985, in the belief that science held the answers to improving life for deaf and hearing-impaired people everywhere.
Speaking about Deafness Research UK, Lord Ashley said:
"My wife and I founded Deafness Research UK because we knew that medical research would lead to a better life for deaf and hard of hearing people.
"After 25 years without sound, my own life has been transformed by a cochlear implant, which has enabled me to hear again. It seems like a miracle, but it's actually the result of many years of work by skilled researchers. We want others to benefit from research as I have done"
Jack Ashley was born in 1922. He left elementary school at 14 to work in a metal factory. By the age of 22 he was a Trade Union official and member of the Chemical Workers’ Union National Executive Committee. He was also elected Town Councillor at the same age.
- 1948 - Oxford University Diploma in Economics and Political Science at Ruskin College.
- 1951 - Cambridge University Degree in Economics (President Cambridge Union Society
- 1951 - BBC Radio Producer in North American Service and BBC Home Service.
- 1956 - BBC Television Producer, mainly current affairs and documentary programmes, including Panorama, Gallery and Monitor.
- 1966 - Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent South.
- 1976 - Made a Companion of Honour.
- 1979 - Created a Privy Councillor.
- 1992 - Created Baron Ashley of Stoke.
In December 1967 Lord Ashley underwent an operation to clear up a minor hearing loss in his left ear which he had had since childhood. The operation went seriously wrong. He has been totally and permanently deaf since then.
He considered giving up politics but was encouraged to stay on by colleagues in Parliament as the only totally deaf member of any legislature in the world.
He has subsequently campaigned on many issues, most of them affecting under-privileged people and matters of palpable injustice. He played a leading role in the Thalidomide campaign which led to increased compensation and improvements in drug safety. He has also campaigned on similar compensation issues, such as vaccine damage, and the arthritis drug, Opren. He is a campaigner for women's rights, being the first MP to raise the issue of domestic violence in Parliament. He also pressed for changes in the law relating to rape, which were subsequently introduced. Disability has been a major interest, and he has campaigned over the whole field with emphasis on employment and social security.
After 25 years without sound, his life was transformed by a cochlear implant which enabled him to hear again. It seemed like a miracle, but it was actually the result of many years of work by skilled researchers. As a result, he founded Deafness Research UK (The Hearing Research Trust) in 1985 with his wife Pauline. Lord and Lady Ashley believed that no one should have to live with unwanted hearing impairment and the key to preventing or finding a cure is through scientific and medical research. They founded the charity because they believed that only a charity dedicated to hearing research could adequately generate the funding required to support high quality work in this field and now, Deafness Research UK remains the UK's only national charity dedicated to helping hearing-impaired people through medical research and education.
(Sadly, Lady Ashley died in 2003.)
