On Friday 21st October, the GC will be taking part in Loud Shirt Day to support Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK), a charity working to give deaf babies and children the same opportunities in life as their hearing peers. We are asking colleagues to change the life of a deaf child by wearing their loudest, brightest shirts and donating to AVUK.

Currently, 92% of deaf children under the age of five in the UK don’t have access to an Auditory Verbal early intervention programme that helps them to develop listening and spoken language. Additionally, a YouGov survey commissioned by AVUK revealed that more than a third (35%) of adults have no idea that a child born profoundly deaf can learn to speak as well as a hearing child. More than a quarter (27%) believe a child born profoundly deaf cannot learn to speak as well as a hearing child.

By taking part in Loud Shirt Day you can challenge the perceptions of what deaf children can achieve and support the charity in delivering its Auditory Verbal programme to more children in the UK.

Alicja Boryn