As One Door Closes

Six months ago, I made the brave decision to confront my hyperacusis. Since suffering sudden hearing loss and tinnitus, the onset of hyperacusis made me almost house bound. Hyperacusis is a sound distortion caused in the dissonance between my tinnitus tones as they clash. Once triggered, even my own voice becomes distorted in my head. 

To avoid becoming isolated by the condition, we converted an old shop in the village into my studio and during that 6 months, I learnt how to manage my hyperacusis rather than hide from it. 

I'm so glad I took this step. Last term, I went back into schools as an adviser for the Young Promoters Project, Night Out, The Arts Council of Wales and found that with my new hearing aids and some sign language, I was flying high in class, once again. I could feel my old mojo coming back.

And now I have been offered a contract for the coming term with the Creative Lead Schools Project, The Arts Council of Wales, working with a small group of children who have special needs. There will be myself, a film maker and a theatre maker working collaboratively to devise a piece with the children which will be performed & filmed at a local theatre. 

With this new found confidence and return to self, I made another brave decision and that is, to let the shop go and re-base my studio at home.

For now, I have re-camped in the spare bedrooms and look forward to moving into my woman shed by the Spring, it's a bit chilly out there just now. 

One of the most important aspects in coming to terms with deafness has been a pair of magnificent hearing aids from the wonderful, NHS. My hearing aids have literally given me my life back. Massive thank you to Aneurin Bevan, the Minister for Health that introduced the NHS and to the Welsh Labour Party that he was part of, for backing him. We are so very blessed in the UK to have a National Health Service. 

The other equally important thing has been to open up and allow transitional energies to flow through me, trusting my heart to make the right choices. I hope my journey inspires you to do the same.