Craig Crowley

Craig Crowley (born 1964) is a leader of UK Deaf Sport.

Craig is a well-known figure in the Deaf community both in UK and abroad. He has worked for Deaf charities in both professional and voluntary capacities for over 25 years. He is currently the Chief Executive of a regional voluntary organisation, Action Deafness, based in Leicester.

Craig was awarded an MBE in June 2006 for his services to Deaf Sport.

As a profoundly deaf child of hearing parents, he was brought up in a hearing-orientated environment until he met a Director of Friends for Young Deaf (FYD) and it was to prove a lasting impression on a 18 year-old. Craig went on to co-found National Leadership Training Programme for both Deaf and Hearing young people in the 1980s and since then its actions, words and influence have reverberated for two decades.

From his time with FYD he went to Bulmershe Court, University of Reading and it was there he took on the arduous task of standing for the presidency of the Students Union. He eventually won the election by a landslide margin and he was the first ever profoundly deaf President of a students union within a higher educational establishment in the 88 year history of the National Union of Students (NUS).

He went on to work for a number of voluntary organisations including stint as Deputy Director of UK Care Services for RNID and was briefly Executive Director of European Union of the Deaf (EUD) based in Belgium.

Being concerned with the rapid decline in real opportunities and equality for Deaf people in sport and taking into account his past involvement with FYD, this eventually led, at the request of UK Sport, to the formation of the Deaf Sports Strategy Group (DSSG) in 2002 to which he was appointed as Chair.

Craig devoted all of his spare time towards the promotion of the DSSG and UK Deaf Sport (UKDS) travelling all over the UK to explain the work and gain support for its ideals and philosophy. Eventually, in June 2003, UK Deaf Sport was established at the request of organisations involved and Craig continued to lead this organisation as Chair and has remained so up to present day.

Craig and his Board of Trustees continues to lobby staff and representatives at the National Governing Bodies of Sport, UK Sport and government levels. This has contributed greatly to the profile and reputation of UK Deaf Sport despite the fact that the Government's priority focus is on Sport Pathways for the Olympics and Paralympics.

External links

* http://www.eudnet.org/update/archive/2005/032005.doc