In February, a group of families and other supporters of Afasic gathered in Birmingham for DLD Fest 2024.
The day was designed to be a celebration of people with DLD, and it was only right that young people with DLD were given the chance to speak about their experiences of living with DLD. It was great to hear different accounts from Siouxsie Webster, Ioan Berry and Amelia Hoyle.
We were delighted to welcome Mikey Akers (Mikey’s Wish) and Gillian Rudd (RCSLT) who spoke about effective campaigning, sharing some of the things Mikey has done to raise awareness of Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
For some of the young people who attended, it was the first time they had knowingly met another child with DLD, and it was amazing to see friendships being forged on the day!
The final part of the day was a recording of our very own cover of F.R. David’s “Words” – with Lyrics altered to explain DLD. Thank you to everyone involved in the video (both on the day and in sharing clips to use – sorry we weren’t able to use all of them!), and especially to “Family Run Productions” for your work in filming and editing. We hope this can be shared widely to help improve awareness of DLD.
Watch the video Here