I want to share something with you, something I’ve suspected and perhaps even jested about for a long time but haven’t always taken seriously…
This week it was confirmed that I have some hearing loss. I will be fitted for hearing aids which will hopefully boost my hearing ability enough, that the lost frequencies don’t feel so lost anymore.
This has been something I’ve experienced for many years and now I understand the complete impact it has had on my life, I feel a sense of loss. Events where there’s a lot of conflicting noise, people talking over each other have left me so physically drained I’ve mistaken it for increased anxiety. Those gorgeously soft spoken friends I’ve not always heard full sentences from, but have been too afraid to ask them to repeat for fear they’d get annoyed and not want to talk to me anymore. The times I’ve been speaking to someone about something incredibly important, but because my brain has been so overwhelmed from trying to hear, I’ve not absorbed the conversation. I’m sorry to you all, I’m sorry to myself for all I’ve missed.
The audiologist mentioned a possible connection to my #hashimotos and my #T1D. Now whilst my hearing is definitely worse when my hashimotos isn’t dosed well, this issue precedes my diagnosis. I was however surprised to hear (pun intended) that it can sometimes be a complication of #diabetes. Again, there is no way to know with any certainty that this isn’t the case for me, there is scarring to consider too. But it took me a moment to unpick why it was so important for me to not have a diabetes related complication…..and it all boils down to fear of the stigma!
Now I am someone whose journey with T1D went almost 15 years relatively unsupported so now we’re 23 years in I’m not afraid of some of the lesser impactful complications, but I’m still afraid of the stigma attached. “You don’t look after your diabetes”, “you’re not very good at controlling it are you”, “you….you…you” blame filled misconceptions are rife and it is statements like this that disempower some PLWDs from regular screening, from disclosing their condition – even to loved ones, it can seriously impact the quality of health support they access but it can make a big dent in their emotional armour too.
Stigma and fear of it, turns a situation where the earlier we seek help, the better the outcomes, into a situation where we’re afraid to seek that help.
Thanks to the #TalkAboutComplications and #LanguageMatters campaign many people living with diabetes are more empowered to challenge stigmatising behaviours, but there is still work to be done.
For me now, I will spend some time adjusting to this new reality, and then I’ll get more bionic bits and adjust again. Much like living life with diabetes along for the ride.
I recently signed the pledge, a global consensus to #EndDiabetesStigma The link is below, whether your life is impacted by diabetes or not, signing this makes a huge difference!
The fact that a post about my hearing loss quickly became about ending stigma, shows how insidious this part of living with diabetes can be….let’s change that.
http://www.enddiabetesatigma.org
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