Three Oxfordshire fortysomethings are taking on the epic Ride London 100-mile event next month to help more deaf children achieve their dreams.
Ben Holland, Drew Spicer and Rhys Williams are all from Thame and describe themselves as “new to cycling” – especially a distance of 100 miles but have been inspired to support Bicester based Auditory Verbal UK by seeing the difference the programme can make to the lives of deaf children.
Drew’s wife Amy is AVUK’s Family Support Manager. The 41-year-old IT Consultant explained: “There is a tremendous need for the work AVUK does. The charity is the only one in the UK offering the programme which supports deaf children to listen and speak and be able to have the same life chances as hearing children.”
Architecture partner Ben (46) has previously completed running events to raise money for various charities including The Brain Tumour Charity following the death of his wife in 2016. He said: “I am most certainly not a cyclist but this is such a great cause. I have never ridden anything like this distance before so it will be such a challenge but I can’t wait and I hope we can do AVUK justice.”
AVUK is the only UK based charity offering the specialist Auditory Verbal therapy programme to support deaf children to learn to listen and speak.
Chief Executive Anita Grover explained: “At AVUK, we want to see a world where all deaf children have the same opportunities in life as hearing children. There are approximately 7,200 deaf children under the age of five in the UK who currently face the prospect of lower academic achievement, lower employment, and are at higher risk of poor mental health, bullying and social exclusion. But it doesn’t have to be this way. When children and families have access to effective, early support, deaf children can get an equal start at school and opportunities are transformed.”
Four out of five children who attend AVUK achieve the same spoken language as their hearing peers and many attend mainstream school. But only a tiny proportion of deaf children can currently access Auditory Verbal programmes in the UK.
Ride London-Essex 100 this year is taking place on May 29th with a new format and partnership with Essex County Council. The route begins in central London into Essex via Epping Forest and travels through picturesque towns and villages before joining a section of the 2014 Stage Three Tour de France route.
Landscape gardener Rhys (46) has been cycling for several years in the UK and abroad and previously trekked to Everest Base camp in the Himalayas to raise money for charity.
He said: “We are hoping to complete the route in six or seven hours, and I am very much looking forward to it. I just need more time in the saddle beforehand!”
Anita added: “Early support should be available for all deaf children whether their parents choose to communicate with spoken language, sign language or a combination. We want to enable all families who wish their child to develop spoken language to have the opportunity to access an Auditory Verbal programme through publicly funded services. To do that we need to expand the number of specialist Auditory Verbal therapists working in the NHS and local services.
“With an investment of £21.5m over the next 10 years, we can provide a sound future for deaf children and unlock an economic benefit of £152m, rising to £11.7billion over 50 years.”
You can read more about the trio and donate here or find out how you can take on a fundraising challenge for AVUK and help deaf children achieve their dreams here.
To support AVUK in calls for funding for early intervention to support deaf children visit the website.
