I am doing this challenge to support Soundabout, a charity which has been doing an incredible job under the very challenging circumstances we are living in, of reaching and engaging with people with severe and profound learning disabilities through music. They have always done incredible work in unlocking the potential of disabled people using music and sound, and now they have moved their sessions online, helping families who are ‘in survival mode’ with their usual forms of support stripped away. 

Here’s how the mother of a profoundly disabled daughter explained the impact of their work: "We started lock down with Ava, weeks before the official lockdown began and have in reality been practising for this pandemic since the day she was born! Ava is 12, has multiple disabilities including cerebral palsy, complex epilepsy and is blind to name a few. My initial reaction to this was utter panic and tears and then another SN (special needs_ mum said to me, I think we will surprise ourselves, we are used to this and she was actually right! It’s been extremely difficult saying goodbye to our support system, vital therapies and education, not knowing when it might return. The first week was all about trying to develop a schedule for the week, trying to fill the hours with activities that not only stimulated Ava, educationally and physically but also protected her mental health. I’ve always been everything to Ava but suddenly our support team and cheerleaders were gone and we really were alone and I felt so vulnerable and overwhelmed but research has always been a strength of any SN mum and within weeks we started to see many online support services cropping up. Charities like yourselves, working in a whole new way and this pandemic has in may way, offered us what we’ve needed for years and I pray that many of these new online support services, will remain after the pandemic fades and normal services start to resume. Your live sessions have been such a gift to me and Ava. They’ve been an utter joy to be part of. Ava has no vision so has no idea you’re behind a iPad screen and when she hears her name, she reacts in the same way she wound if you were with her in person. We’ve laughed, danced, made all sorts of weird and wonderful noises and you’ve brought fun, love and laughter to our living room almost every day over the last few weeks as we’ve listened to your stories over and over and got together our props with great excitement as to what’s coming in future sessions. Thank you so much for being so reactive to the current crisis and reaching out to families without exception, many of whom you’ve never and will never meet in person. You’ve been one of our greatest lock down gifts and many beautiful things have come out of this awful pandemic and I hope they remain beyond it, as for so many families, there will never be a normal! 
Keep up the good work! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Soundabout really want to keep up the good work but are seeing a significant drop in their funding due to not being able to deliver their training in schools, and major fundraising events like the London Marathon being cancelled. That is why I am going to be doing my own little bit, on the day the London Marathon would have taken place, to support their work continuing.