Deaf sisters Sade (25) and Topaz (23) Oram and Sam Callaghan (13) met Members of Parliament (MPs) in Westminster yesterday (Wednesday, October 16th) calling for urgent Government action and support so more deaf children like them can access the life-changing programme which helped them learn to listen and speak and have the same opportunities as their hearing friends.
They all joined the charity which supported them, Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK), and met more than 40 cross-party MPs including Public Health Minister Andrew Gwynne and Shadow Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, ahead of Loud Shirt Day (Friday 18 October) – an international awareness day for challenging perceptions of what deaf children can achieve with early and effective support.
They spoke to the MPs about the Hear Us Now campaign which is calling for action to break down barriers to opportunities for deaf children and enable every family, who wants their deaf child to learn to listen and talk, to be able to access Auditory Verbal therapy through publicly funded services in their local area. Right now, less than 10% of deaf children in the UK can access Auditory Verbal therapy.
Sam, from Eastbourne, was diagnosed as profoundly deaf as a baby and was supported to listen and speak with Auditory Verbal therapy – an early intervention approach which supports deaf babies and children like Sam, to make sense of the sound they receive through their hearing technology, like cochlear implants and hearing aids, and develop spoken language so they can learn to talk like their hearing friends. He received a letter from 10 Downing Street yesterday acknowledging the positive difference Auditory Verbal therapy has made to his life and how is efforts supporting the Hear Us Now campaign will help other children.
Sam said: “Being deaf has never stopped me doing anything especially talking about my passion for science and I was really pleased to talk to the MPs about my dreams to be an astrophysicist. It was so exciting to get a letter from the Prime Minister because it’s really unfair that other deaf children don’t have the same support I had and I hope that this changes.”
Sade and Topaz, from Warminster in Wiltshire, who both wear cochlear implants, were also supported to listen and speak with Auditory Verbal therapy and are determined to debunk the myths around what is possible for deaf children and young people. Their parents only found out about the therapy by accident online and had to travel from Wiltshire to Oxfordshire to access it.
They both work in a children’s nursery and love travelling, fashion and music like many young people their age. They have also been inspired to share their stories to change mindsets of what deaf children and young people can do by deaf celebrity, influencer, proud cochlear implant user and current Strictly Come Dancing contestant Tasha Ghouri who they met earlier this year.
Sade said: “I was proud to talk to MPs about what both myself and Topaz have achieved and why we are so passionate about more deaf children being able to access support like Auditory Verbal therapy when they are very young. Awareness of the potential for deaf young people is still really low and it’s not fair that so many don’t have the opportunities that we had.”
And her sister Topaz added: “I really hope that by speaking to MPs they understand the difference Auditory Verbal therapy has made to my life opportunities and they will now take the action needed to increase access to this vital support.”
AVUK Chief Executive Anita Grover said: “Sade, Topaz and Sam are all thriving and showing what is possible when deaf children have access to early and effective support. It’s great to have the support of so many MPs for our Hear Us Now campaign to increase access to Auditory Verbal therapy through publicly funded services.
“All children have the right to develop language and communication so that they can achieve their potential in life and all deaf babies and children should have access to early and effective support whether their families wish for them to use sign language, spoken language or both. For those families who want their deaf children to learn to listen and talk, the benefits of Auditory Verbal therapy are clear. By improving opportunities and outcomes for these children, we can also unlock significant savings and economic benefit. But urgent investment is needed now so that more young people like Sade, Topaz and Sam can be supported to have the same opportunities in life as their hearing peers.”
AVUK’s #HearUsNow campaign is calling on the Government to support and invest in Auditory Verbal therapy so that all families with deaf children have the opportunity to access Auditory Verbal therapy through publicly funded services in their local area. Analysis by the charity, based on the HM Treasury model, shows that with an investment of just over £2 million a year, for the next 10 years, Auditory Verbal therapy can be made available as an option for all deaf children, and it can unlock economic benefits of £152million, rising to £11.7billion over 50 years, through improved quality of life, employment prospects, lower costs of schooling and avoided injuries.
Currently there is a postcode lottery for families being able to access support in the critical early years of their children’s lives and 90% of deaf children in the UK cannot access Auditory Verbal therapy. This is despite recent public research which shows 85% of adults in the UK believe Auditory Verbal therapy should be available via public services like the NHS*.
After attending an Auditory Verbal therapy programme for three years as a young child, Sam graduated with age-appropriate spoken language skills and has always attended mainstream school. Now in Year 8 Sam is excelling in science and recently won the Achievement in Science prize. He is especially passionate about astrophysics and astronautics and researching the subjects and designing space craft that could actually go to infinity and beyond. Drama is another passion and Sam recently passed his LAMDA exam with distinction. Sam is also an avid film maker and has made and directed many a short sci-film on his phone.
He was joined in Westminster by his Mum Joanna who added: “Auditory Verbal therapy transformed not just Sam’s life but our family’s life. I feel honoured to have had the chance to explain this to MPs and urge them to back the investment needed so more children and families can have the same opportunities as we have had.”
After attending an Auditory Verbal therapy programme from an early age, both Oram sisters graduated with age-appropriate spoken language skills, attended mainstream school and went on to further education.
They are not alone, with national and international research showing that more than 80% of deaf children who attended an Auditory Verbal therapy programme for at least two years achieve spoken language on a par with their hearing peers.
The event in UK Parliament was sponsored by Sharon Hodgson, MP for Washington and Gateshead South and Jen Craft, MP for Thurrock who both wore loud shirts in support of the campaign.
AVUK works with families of deaf children across the UK to provide Auditory Verbal therapy directly, and has an internationally accredited training programme in Auditory Verbal practice enabling speech and language therapists and teachers of the deaf in the NHS and Local Authority services to train in this approach. .
