Deaf Teacher & Mom Running The London Marathon

Hi, My name is Jenene Johnson, a deaf mother of four beautiful children and a grandma of five adorable grandchildren. My third child is deaf. We're a bilingual family and proud of it.

I have taught for almost twenty years as a deaf teacher for Deaf/DeafBlind children. Teaching deaf children means the world to me because I have been there before as a deaf child, and I know what it is like not to have and to have equal access to education. I have been in both worlds - hearing school without full access to education and deaf school with full access to education and rich in deaf culture. My main goal as a teacher is to promote academic quality and social well-being for my deaf and deafblind students by using the ASL/English bilingual approach. In addition, I want to empower my students to develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed as global citizens.

I’m honored to be accepted to be a part of the amazing charity: The National Deaf Children’s Society! They gave me a spot to have a fantastic opportunity to run the famous London Marathon! This is going to be a huge deal for me for several reasons.

Firstly, I get to raise funds for The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), the leading charity for deaf children worldwide. This means dear to my heart. NDCS is to help spread awareness about deafness and to help break barriers that many deaf children out there are facing. Many deaf children are language-deprived and are facing numerous barriers to information and education. Here are some quick facts:

Worldwide Impact: There are approximately 70 million Deaf people worldwide and between 300 – 500 million immediate family members.

Lack of access to bilingual education: Two percent (2%) of the world’s Deaf population has access to education in sign language.

Connecting parents with their Deaf child: Twenty-five percent (25%) of parents use sign language to communicate with their Deaf child.

Secondly, I'm honored to be part of this event because I love running! I found the love of running back in 2012. I'm an avid deaf runner. Running helps so much with my daily stress and anxiety. It brings me joy and happiness. I ran numerous 5Ks, 10Ks, and 51 half marathons.

Thirdly, running the London Marathon will be my 5th marathon and first overseas marathon! And what makes it even more remarkable is that I will be running for my 50th birthday!

Finally, The National Deaf Children Society is a charity that I hold close to my heart. They do amazing work to support deaf children, their families, and the professionals who work with them.

Hopefully, while I’m in London, I would love to visit deaf schools in the U.K. to meet the staff and students and maybe do an ASL/Running workshop there! With that, I'm hoping to raise funds and to get some help with the traveling expenses to support me and, if possible, my family from northern America. I would love for my family (husband and two kids) to join me so I would not have to celebrate the event and my birthday alone.

More information about The National Deaf Children's Society: Our vision is a world without barriers for every deaf child. Together we are building futures. https://www.ndcs.org.uk/

Every donation will help, and your support will go towards something incredibly important to me, my family, and the deaf community. Thank you!!!

No donation is too small! If you are not able to donate, please share this link. Again thank you so much!

Fundraising goal: $2,500 to NDCS