Gabby Benton
London Landmarks Half Marathon 2025
Fundraising for Auditory Verbal UK
Story
Thank you for taking the time to read my fundraising page for Auditory Verbal UK, I hope it can resonate with you all as much as it does for me :
Why am I raising money for this charity?
Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK) is a charity that supports children who are born with permanent deafness. This is approximately 7,200 children in the UK each year, with over 90% of these children born to hearing parents. The main focus of AVUK is for all children to have the same opportunities in life, deaf or hearing, by raising awareness, providing support to families and pioneering auditory verbal therapy. Parents of deaf children should always be presented with clear information about the range of communication approaches so they are able to make an informed decision about which communication approach they would like for their child, as early support is crucial for a child’s communication skills to thrive whether they are communicating through signing, spoken language or a combination of the two.
For families who want their deaf child to learn to listen and speak, Auditory Verbal therapy is a robust, evidence-based, family-centred, coaching programme which equips parents and caregivers with the tools to support the development of their deaf child’s speech through listening. But it is not currently widely available for families through publicly funded services in the UK. This needs to change so every family who wants their deaf child to learn to listen and speak has access to Auditory Verbal therapy through publicly funded services in their local area. Auditory Verbal Therapy is already a mainstream approach that’s been adopted by many other countries worldwide, including Australia and Denmark, but unfortunately in the UK the burden for this payment falls to families.
As it stands, this therapy is not available through many public services, and would cost the average family over £6,500 for fortnightly therapy for a year. Currently less than 10% of deaf children under 5 in the UK that could benefit from Auditory Verbal therapy can access it, which AVUK believe needs to change.
As many of you may know, I’m studying at university to be a speech and language therapist. Speech and language therapists can work with many different clients in a wide range of settings, including working with people who are d/Deaf. Studying for this amazing career has fuelled a passion for improving communication outcomes and access to healthcare for all.
How am I challenging myself?
To support this wonderful charity, I will be running the London Landmarks Half Marathon on the 6th April 2025. I have previously completed 2 half marathons, as personal challenges but now starting a solid training plan, I feel well prepared for my first charity run for a cause very close to my heart.
How will the money you raise help?
As briefly mentioned, the cost of this therapy is significant for many families in the UK, especially in the current climate. In addition to their work around research, training professionals to be auditory verbal therapy specialists and raising awareness, the charity has a means-tested bursary to improve access to this life-changing support. The rest of the therapy is funded by charitable donations that make this support possible.In addition to funding the bursary, the money raised can go towards training new professionals to improve wider access to the service and the on-going running costs of the charity itself. Your support is vital and any donation would be hugely appreciated by myself and the wider organisation it directly impacts.
Follow along!
If you’re interested in following along as I prepare for the half marathon, I’ve linked my Strava below where I’ll post regular running updates
https://www.strava.com/athletes/16473963
If you’d like to find out more about AVUK and the current evidence-base for the work they do, follow the links below.