Hi Kent

In 1986 John Brown, who was profoundly deaf, established the Hearing-Impaired Centre for deaf and hearing-impaired people in Maidstone Community Support Centre. His aim was to bridge the gap between the deaf community and the hearing world. Two years later, working in partnership with Kent Social Services, Hi Kent Association was registered as a new charity name.

The Maidstone Hi Centre became the first resource unit offering working displays of environmental aids, provision, and installation of the equipment.

“Hi” was selected to represent Hearing Impaired as well as the philosophy of hearing integration through total communication. The 'Hi' logo incorporated the 'ear' symbol of deafness as the dot over the 'i'.

In 1993, further Hi Centres were set up, including our Canterbury office, with core funding from Kent County Council Social Services.

On 30th November 1995 the Association transferred its assets and activities to Hi Kent on its incorporation as a Company Limited by Guarantee. The following year Hi Kent moved to self-contained premises centrally within Maidstone, where we remain today. It officially became a Registered Charity (1052036) on 18th January 1996.

After taking over the roles and responsibilities of another charity in 2002, Hi Kent began operating the Volunteer Visiting Scheme. We went on to receive The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2007 for this scheme, a Volunteer-run Hearing Aid Maintenance Clinic network across the county.