Harrison fundraises to help other deaf children
Harrison from Christchurch fundraises and raises awareness for his deaf community.
Eleven-year-old Harrison Greenham from Christchurch advocates and raises awareness for his deaf community.
He also fundraises for the National Deaf Children's Society to help other deaf children access specialist speech therapy sessions.
Harrison is one of the finalists in BBC Radio Solent's Make a Difference Awards for 2026 and has been chatting to Rick Jackson.
Transcription from interview:
Presenter Rick Jackson - 11 year old Harrison Greenham from Christchurch advocates, fundraises and raises awareness and representation for his deaf community. He was in the studio along with Mum, Summer, who nominated him.
Summer - So I nominated Harrison because I think just the work that he does across the board for his community. It's just so special and he's so passionate about it so why not sort of give a little back to him and have him recognised for the beautiful work that he does.
Rick - How does that make you feel Harrison?
Harrison - That makes me feel happy.
Rick - Tell us what kind of things do you do that make a difference to other people?
Harrison - I do fundraising for my deaf community so they can benefit from speech therapy and get access to speech therapy.
Rick - What kind of challenges have you faced doing this?
Harrison - Trying to entertain people, get them intrigued with signing and it's quite nice.
Rick - You get a lot out of it?
Harrison - Yeah.
Rick - Tell us about Harrison, what kind of boy is he?
Summer - He's fantastic you know he gives everything to everything that he does, you know no matter what barriers or challenges he faces, he'll always put two feet on the ground and really strive forward.He just works so hard, he is so passionate about making change within deaf community, raising awareness. Another thing that he's really passionate about is representation because there isn't so much representation for any disabled community really.
Rick - Why is that really important to you Harrison that that we're more educated, that we know how to communicate and be part of your community as well?
Harrison - Yeah. I'm trying to include everybody with our community. It's not just us deaf people. It's like we can get other people to learn sign language and we can communicate with each other in our own ways and it's very special.
Rick - You speak beautifully. You sign as well, do you, at the same time?
Harrison - Well, a little bit.
Rick - You're going to be doing more fundraising?
Harrison - Yes, I will be.
Rick - What's the next challenge?
Harrison - The next challenge is doing the same thing, just trying to get everybody interested and intrigued with it.
