As a girl with a visual impairment, having tech on bus journeys or train journeys are key to my ability to be independent. If such an option isn’t available then I will set myself up to use another method of knowing my location and when or where I am to get off.
so imagine my surprise and upset when half way through a bus journey yesterday evening, I find that the audio has stopped?
I was travelling to an poorly lit area, I had Fizz with me and as I got on the bus I checked with the driver that audio was on. And as we set off, the audio read out the next stop, confirming what the driver had told me. All good, I could feel safe and secure that I could just sit enjoying the ride and await my stop to be read out.
There seemed to be a long pause in the audio. I checked with another passenger sat near me and he confirmed that the screen (as the audio on buses is teamed with a visual; just like on the train) was reading the next stop, but he hadn’t been paying attention and didn’t know where we were as he was getting off at the last stop, so didn’t need to know.
it was then moments later that the audio returned, only to read out a destination that was much further along the route, a good 45 minute walk back to where I needed to be if I had got off then!
so instead I travelled back to the bus station and started the journey again.
This time, when I got on the bus I asked the driver for my specific stop and asked him to ensure that he stopped there for me, he said the bus had audio, but understood my concern following my previous journey.
The audio on this bus was on, it also continued to detail each and every stop, so I was aware of where I was and when I was due to get off.
I put it down to a glitch and having safely arrived at my destination all be it an hour later, I forgot all about it.
That was until this evening. This time I was travelling with my son home after a shopping trip. Again, it was dark but I was more aware of my surroundings as it is a journey I have done thousands of times.
Again, the bus left the station and the audio announced the next stop. This continued until just before we were due to get off the bus, we were literally around the corner and the audio stopped. I could work out roughly were we were, and having stopped at several stops to let people in and off of the bus, there were no further announcements.
Thankfully a block of flats lit the way to enable me to work out that we were approaching our stop. But again, the audio had let me down.
Memtioning it to the driver as we got off the bus he simple said “I don’t pay any attention, I couldn’t tell you it had stopped.”
So, what is a gal to do?
I shall be sending this blog to the bus company, is it just really bad luck that I have encountered this issue? Is it a relay issue with the bus audio?
I know that my hearing is going, but to hear the audio and then to not hear the audio….., that isn’t me?
I feel that I am not able to trust the audio on my bus journeys anymore, and with the dark early evenings. This is making me feel that going out after dark isn’t an option. Or do I just walk?
Lots of questions. But I am totally stuck with whatever I do.
All the climbing of 2016 has taught me so much more about myself as a climber, I am going to need to work on my technique dramatically if I am to turn my 1st place into a Team GB place.
This doesn’t mean that I am giving up on my fundraising, now more than ever I want to show my worth and EARN my Resound Hearing Aids, but with my climbing partner currently our of action, as the post title suggests ‘The Cheesegrater is going to have to wait’
Just days before Christmas, my climbing partner in crime underwent an operation for a hernia, one that has left him unable to train for a minimum of six weeks. So with him not even being able to go to the gym until mid-February, let alone climb. I have made the decision to postpone my climb.
Yes, I can climb with another partner.
No, I am not sharing my climb with ‘climbing partner in crime’.
But…… He is my motivator, my muse and my forceful “not let me down until I have reached the top” coach. It wouldn’t be right to climb without him as my belay.
The new date is looking like late March, early April. But no date is being set until the whole of ‘Team T’ is fit enough.
First a gherkin; Next a Cheesegrater !! is where I wrote about my challenge back in October, it was hoped that the climb would happen later this month, but health comes first and so, I am going to be cheeky and link you to the Crowdfunding page that has been set up for me, ‘HelpTeeHear’ where you can see why I am doing all of this.
My world is getting quieter in addition to darker and I’m not happy with it, not one little bit. I want to be able to keep me, my independence and my love of technology that helps me to do all this.
So, my shameless plug is above, please take a moment to have a look.
And in the meantime, follow me for more updates on the climb and my other adventures.
September two years ago, I set about climbing The Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) in the form of a relay climb at Calshot Activity Wall … My climbing partner did it too, he had a harder challenge I feel, as he took it on wearing a blindfold. Together we set out to climb the 180m (591ft) between us, but having done that within 3 hours, we upped it to challenge ourselves further and finished 5 hours later; just before the wall closed for the night having climbed the height EACH.
It has been an odd time since then, I have trained with my now working guide dog Fizz, moved house and discovered that my hearing is failing me along with my sight.
My climbing style has changed and these last few months I have found myself thrilled by the enjoyment of competing and moving my climbing forward to include bouldering and it just top-roping.
This leads me into my next challenge. In December I shall compete in the final heat for the Team GB Paraclimbing team, which is no mean feet, and most definitely not something I would have dreamt was possible just six months ago. It was through contact with The Molly Watt Trust, a charity that supports those with Ushers Syndrome that I made contact with John Churcher, a fellow climber who has both a visual impairment and a hearing impairment, who just happens to have been on the GB team for several years.
Molly Watt (an inspirational young woman) has done lots of work with and around raising awareness and support for people with ushers Sydrome and RP (the family that my eye condition belong to) She is a big believer in technology and has been using for some time Resound Lynx digital hearing aids. These hearing aids are fully compatible and work with an app on an iPhone to be adjusted, directions and tested. They also work as headphones to listen to music and with the addition of a small microphone enable her to be hands free to make and take calls.
I am not always so, but I try to look for the positives and I decided that if I was loosing my hearing, if I had to go through all this, then I wanted to do it in the most comfortable and least obtrusive way. But at just under £5,000 for a pair, that isn’t going to be easy.
My climbing partner and dearest friend Simon set up a crowdfunding page, I wasn’t keen and felt ‘odd’ asking for friends to help me pay for these.
SO…… I have decided to do something to EARN the money from my friends and family, in the form of sponsorship. And this is where the ‘Cheesegrater’ comes into it.
That is the nickname given to The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, the 225m (738ft) building that towers over The Gherkin; as is shown here:
So, the challenge …… To climb this height, all 228m of it, that is a whole 45m MORE than The Gherkin or 147ft in old money!
The tallest straight wall at Calshot is 14m (45ft) meaning that it will take 17 climbs up the wall to complete the equivalent of the buildings height.
Sounds simple when I break it down like that. But I know I have lots of training ahead of me, and a date to set. But I hope that you would agree, it is worth a little bit on sponsorship money?
The fundraising page: HelpTeeHear is up and running, so feel free to pop over and have a look, it shows the hearing aids in much more detail. I would appreciate your support.
Is politeness.
Have just had a friend call me and apologise, it was lovely to speak with her, however I was a little confused.
She was all flustered and sounded upset, I initially thought she was phoning about her mum who was very sick and that it was bad news.
So it took a few moments…. Then again she apologised, so this time I asked her why. Her answer;
Because I drove past you in my car going the opposite way and I waved to you.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at this and said I hadn’t noticed her, so surely I should be the one apologising. No, no; she continued. She had spent the rest of her drive chastising herself for it, she wanted to call me the moment she got home to apologise for being so stupid.
By this point she was getting upset again and I struggled to calm her down. I explained it wasn’t stupid and the gesture was lovely. I explained that I wouldn’t have seen her, so apologised for not responding.
We both laughed about it and then she said the words, the words I have heard many many times before;
I just didn’t think, because you don’t look blind.
To this I laughed and again, she apologised. Not that there was any need to, app of my friends know that I do not want to be treated differently, that if I need their help I will ask, so why wouldn’t she have waved to me while in her car? She would do exactly the same to her other friends.
We talked about how I wasn’t offended by her comment, that I knew she hadn’t meant it as a bad thing.
We had a good giggle about how she would walk past me in the street and wave without me even noticing her.
it is not that I am ignoring or snubbing her, but if she is t speaking I wouldn’t be able to tell who it is. And having spoken with total strangers before be chase they have waved at someone behind me!! It is a situation I can relate to.
I have tried to think of a witty title, something to grab your attention …. Words really are failing me on this post though, so just going with the simple choice.
I have been struggling for a while, I have been fortunate to be able to talk to close friends, able to ‘gauge’ the reaction. There are a few more I wanted to tell, but time and my own worry has stopped me.
Keeping it simple …… Not babbling on. So, do excuse me if this sounds unemotional. I don’t know how else to say it.
I am loosing my hearing.
So, it is said, those 5 little words and it is out there…… I have known now for a little while, it isn’t easy and I am not writing this for sympathy.
I’m writing this because it is getting harder and harder to hide it. Saying “Pardon” sometimes three or four times, not being able to hold a conversation easily as a passenger in friends’ cars.
Its confusing, I can still pick up a conversation across the room, yet not hear the person beside me. And the prognosis …. It will only get worse.
I am still awaiting my hearing aid appointment from the nhs, it could take upto another THREE months for them to book me in, I have however spoken with my consultants and they are putting appointments in place for me to confirm exactly the kind of deafness I have.
All early indications push towards it being a form of Ushers Sydrome, a condition that is part of the RP spectrum; Retinitis Pigmentosa Is the family that my eye conditions stems from. And hearing loss or ‘Deafblind’ is another strand.
Those with ushers are either born with hearing loss or sight loss and the other sensory loss occurs later.
As someone who was only categorised as ‘severely sight impaired’ 8 years ago, having been born with the condition …. I am feeling quite numb about it all at the moment.
Those close to me have noticed something is up, but I haven’t been able to tell them all in person, either because of Busy diaries or because I haven’t been able to find the words.
(which anyone who knows me, knows I am not often stuck for words!)
Just like my sight loss, I am not going to let my hearing loss take away my sense of humour or change the friend I am, it’s just not an easy time right now and it’s all a bit of a struggle.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I appreciates it.
xx
Depression is a ‘hidden’ disability. And yes it is a disability, anyone who has ever suffered with it, medicated or not will explain how on a ‘low’ day, even getting up to go to the loo is unbearable. Therefore, disabling….
So, if depression is a hidden disability; what does it look like?
it looks like this ……
Yup, it looks like me!
I don’t often put up the bits about me, but my depression is part of my sight loss, it is part of me and it isn’t something that can be fixed quickly with medication and ‘telling someone how you feel’.
As a trainee counsellor I more than most understand where my depression stems from and it isn’t just one thing, it is a lot of little things, some from my past, many of my present and also fears of my future.
Just because I know the WHY, doesn’t me I can fix it. Depression is partly an imbalance of chemicals and to support me I take medication, but this isn’t the cure.
Just like knowing how your car works; it doesn’t mean you would know how to fix it if it broke….. I am not finished with my training yet, a good counsellor NEVER is.
We don’t always know what is going on on the inside, a reminder to be kind and understanding. What may seem protective, controlling or even shying away may have a hidden meaning.
I wanted to share this, I do all I can to smile and ‘put a brave face on it’ but it doesn’t always work, also I have a really annoying best friend who knows me TOOOOOOOO well and he won’t always let me hide away.
