Search the journal articles


Choose a journal by date and volume:

Browse all journal articles

Journal Vol. 36, No. 4 — The deafness loop: a cycle of inequality

ISSN 2516-5852 (Online)

AIMS Journal, 2024, Vol 36, No 4

Editorial: Hello and welcome. How are you?
Alex Smith introduces the theme for the December 2024 issue of the journal: the experience of care for profoundly deaf parents and for parents who discover that their baby is deaf.

History and politics of deafness
Senior midwifery lecturer Meghan Luton discusses the competing ideas of deafness as a disability or deafness as a culture, as context for describing the issues faced by Deaf women accessing maternity services.

Support for deaf and deafblind women in the maternity setting
Midwife and specialist interpreter for the deaf and deafblind, Lesely Weatherson, outlines her view on the provision of communication support for deaf and deafblind women in the maternity setting.

Hearing impaired and giving birth during the pandemic
Helen Jones, who is hard of hearing, shares her personal experience of being pregnant and giving birth during the Covid lockdowns.

Why can’t we just give deaf people a leaflet?
Alex Smith, who has a profoundly deaf grandson, explains why an information page or leaflet, rather than addressing inequality for deaf people, may actually compound it

A conversation with Karrie whose little boy is deaf
Karrie Williams shares her personal experience of discovering that her baby son is deaf.

A child is born into the world and their world is in silence
One mother’s moving account of navigating the challenges she faced in providing her deaf baby with language from the very start.

Welcome to the Deaf Community – a lesson in miscommunication to new (hearing) parents
When this new mother found her day-old baby was deaf, the initial care was as shocking as the diagnosis.

Pregnancy and hearing: Did you know?
Alex Smith shares some snippets of pregnancy-related deaf awareness.

The BSL Birth Certificate
Salli Ward tells us about the first baby to have their BSL sign name legally recorded on their birth certificate.

Physiology-Informed Maternity Services (PIMS)
Catharine Hart reports on the Microbirth Summit she attended in July, sharing what she learned about the infant microbiome and why it matters in maternity

Birth Activists Briefing: Maternal Mental Health Service Progress Report
The AIMS Campaigns Team share what they learned from the Maternal Mental Health Services progress report published in October 2024 by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA)

How does midwife continuity of care compare with other models of care?
On behalf of the Campaigns Team, Catharine Hart considers this recently updated Cochrane review.

A Pamphlet of Possibilities
Retired midwife Bine Browne introduces us to the Association of Radical Midwives’ pamphlet, ‘Proposals for Change : A New Era in Maternity Care’.

AIMS attends the NHS ConfedExpo 2024
AIMS volunteer Jo Dagustun tells us about her day at the NHS ConfedExpo

AIMS urges action as newly released analysis demonstrates better care when ‘full pathway continuity of carer’ is in place
The AIMS Campaigns Team explains why AIMS is calling for a full pathway continuity of carer model of care to be a key plank of the new Government’s renewed maternity transformation policy

What has the AIMS Campaigns Team been up to this quarter?
The AIMS Campaigns team updates us about their recent activities.

Latest Content

Journal

« »

An interview with Sarah Odling Smee

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 Interview by Leslie Altic What first attracted you to being a midwife, tell us a bit about your journey and how you got to where you are…

Read more

Birth Activists Briefing: The lates…

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 By the AIMS Campaigns Team In this article we will summarise some of the key points of data about the maternity services that have been p…

Read more

AIMS Physiology-Informed Maternity…

AIMS Journal, 2025, Vol 37, No 1 Art by Sophie Jenna Latest update from the PIMS team! The NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) recently asked the Campa…

Read more

Events

« »

AIMS Workshop: Politics and power i…

This is an invitation to anyone who was ever born... ... to explore our understanding and learn together. It’s part of a short series of interactive discussions around ho…

Read more

The 10th Annual Birth Trauma Summit

Join us online via livestream or in person at Conway Hall for a day of inspiring speakers and workshops. We promise to hold courageous conversations which challenge narra…

Read more

Midlands Maternity & Midwifery Fest…

The Maternity and Midwifery Festivals are back face to face and we’re looking forward to meeting you in 2025. Nine events across the UK and Ireland – all of them free of…

Read more

Latest Campaigns

« »

AIMS Letter to Professor Mary Renfr…

AIMS has written to Professor Mary Renfrew to thank her for taking the lead on reviewing maternity services in Northern Ireland. Her report is the first of its kind to ta…

Read more

MBRRACE-UK Saving Lives Improving M…

By the AIMS Campaigns team This note is intended to offer both a summary and AIMS commentary on the latest annual MBRRACE-UK report. MBRRACE stands for Mothers and Babies…

Read more

PIMS Short Case Study - Optimal Cor…

Optimal cord clamping AIMS supports midwife Amanda Burleigh’s campaign for optimal cord clamping “ Wait for White ”. Optimal cord clamping is a key part of physiological…

Read more