DK Defenders was developed by global charity DeafKidz International which aims to respond comprehensively to the protection, health, wellbeing, and access to education needs of deaf children, young people and adults worldwide.

Its vision is a world where deaf, hard of hearing, deafened and deafblind children, young people and adults are able to live safely and without fear of abuse and exploitation.

Safe Online Initiative

The project was funded by Safe Online Initiative at the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, a unique coalition of more than 700 organisations including governments, UN agencies, research institutions and private sector groups.

Safe Online is a priority initiative of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and this positions our work at the forefront of a global movement that is seeking to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.2 and secure a future where it is unacceptable for children to experience violence in any setting, anywhere in the world.

Safe Online works with its partners and grantees to transform the capacity of national, regional and global systems to address the growing threat of online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA). Our collective work has led the global effort to define the trajectory of the problem and generate evidence on what works in keeping children safe in digital environments.

You can find out more about Safe Online and the specific policy proposals produced by the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children to make the internet safe for children here.

DeafKidz Defenders

Everyone knows about the dangers that lurk on the internet for unwary young people, but it’s less known that deaf children are three times more likely to face online abuse than hearing children.

This is because, whether through barriers to communication or a lack of educational resources, deaf children are less able to recognise the warning signs of violence, cyberbullying and sexual abuse and are less equipped with the skills needed to know how to respond and how to raise the alarm.

Yet at the same time, avoiding going online is simply not an option: whether they’re gaming or socialising, to young people the internet is life, and deaf children have the right to benefit just as much as anybody else from the opportunities and fun that exist in the digital realm.

DK Defenders consists of seven animations and seven games all designed to be highly visual and easy to play, avoiding the high levels of literacy or listening skills required for more traditional learning.

Packed with information and relevant scenarios, the games teach children how to recognise the danger signs and how to react appropriately, thus increasing their knowledge and awareness of threats and how to handle them.

The resource covers 7 themes, each containing 3 sections:

Introduction - Short (30-45 seconds) introductory animations providing a brief summary of the theme, totally visual in approach using only body language, gestures and facial expressions to convey the message with minimal text.

Training game - Fun, fast, interactive training games which introduce and reinforce for the player the underlying themes and possible responses.

Real world scenario - Some real-world situations providing the deaf child with the opportunity to make decisions based on their learning from the two previous elements.

The first 4 games provide deaf children with the solid foundational knowledge and the essential skills to instill confidence for digital safety:

Trusted Adult

Saying Stop

Keeping Secrets

Private Body Parts

The final 3 modules expand on those themes, particularly focusing on safety in the digital landscape:

Cyber Bullying

Indecent Pictures/Videos

Online Grooming

What should they look out for? And what should they do? These are the questions they have to answer on the way to learning how to defend themselves.