A 12-year-old deaf girl from London met international activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai at a global summit (on May 10th) calling on world leaders to address hearing loss and provide children and young people with early access to hearing healthcare.
Hope Dennis from, Highbury, London was invited to join inspirational deaf young people from across the world, including Brazil, France, India and the US, who have come to the UK capital to launch a consultation process for the development of a global declaration on hearing loss for children and young people and demonstrate that deaf young people can achieve anything.
Hope was one of the four young deaf people from the UK who have all been supported to learn to listen and talk through a specialist early intervention Auditory Verbal programme, provided by charity Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK).
After meeting Malala, who herself has hearing loss and wears a cochlear implant, Hope said: “This has been an unforgettable experience. I can’t believe I’ve met someone who has won the Noble Peace Prize and she is such an inspiration especially as she has a cochlear implant like me. I really hope this summit can help more deaf children get the kind of support I had which for me has also meant I can do everything my hearing friends can.”
Hope was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at just three weeks old and became one of the youngest babies to undergo bilateral cochlear implant surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital in July 2011 aged just nine months. She then began Auditory Verbal therapy at AVUK and by 14 months old Hope’s communication skills were on a par with hearing children of the same age.
Hope’s Mum, Becky Dennis, said: “When Hope was diagnosed as deaf we were devastated and thought our beautiful daughter would be facing a life and world of silence. But AVUK was that invaluable piece of the jigsaw puzzle that took Hope from a profoundly deaf baby to a happy, healthy child whose life is filled with sound and conversation. And for Hope to now be part of a global movement to call for improvements for deaf children across the world is unbelievable.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t feel endless gratitude to the incredible team at AVUK – both for the vital skills of listening and speaking that they have helped Hope to master, but also for the support that they continue to provide to us as a family. Every family with a deaf child no matter where you live or your circumstances should have access to early support to ensure they can have the same opportunities in life as hearing children.”
Hope now attends a high achieving mainstream school and loves sports, music and spending time with friends.
The Achieve Anything global summit has been organized by the Cochlear Foundation and all the young people from the UK and around the world were selected as part of the foundation’s Achieve anything program. They were chosen because they have overcome barriers and achieved so much in life, while inspiring others with hearing loss to fulfil their dreams and attended an advocacy workshop at Auditory Verbal UK as part of the summit.
AVUK Chief Executive Anita Grover said: “The inspirational young people, including Hope, show that deaf children and young adults can achieve anything, and should have the same opportunities in life as their hearing peers. They are leading the way and we are proud to be supporting their efforts to challenge governments to prioritise better access to hearing healthcare and support for millions of children around the globe.
“We encourage young people who are deaf to share their experiences and ideas with governments and health providers across the world to ensure early and effective support for all deaf babies and children, whether they use sign language, spoken language or both. Together we can raise expectations and outcomes for all deaf children and young people.”
At the summit, the young attendees also worked with hearing advocacy network CIICA (Cochlear Implant International Community of Action) to launch a consultation process for the development of a global declaration on hearing loss for children and young people.
Based on the views of children and young people with hearing loss, the declaration will challenge governments and health providers worldwide to ensure young people have access to hearing healthcare as early as possible. This will build on the recommendations of the World Health Organization’s World Report on Hearing, which underlines the urgency of hearing health needing to be prioritised by governments and society.
