Recently Jenny attended our Midsummer Party at the Mall Galleries in London where she shared Tom’s story.
Her account of her son’s deafness and the insights it offers into family life with a deaf child, Making Sense in Sign: A lifeline for a deaf child was published by Multilingual Matters in 2003. Last year, for Deaf Awareness Week, Jenny reflected on the progress made since then in a blog published on the website of Channel View Publications and Multilingual Matters. Meningitis Now is grateful to the author and publisher for allowing us to include extracts from this blog on our website.
Coming of age?
“Do books “come of age” I wonder? If so, I like to think that mine may have done so since the year in which it was launched was 2003. Now, my hope remains that deaf youngsters who may have been, quite unknowingly, influenced by some of its content may be approaching adulthood with confidence and pride in themselves and their deafness. And that parents, carers, teachers, support assistants, interpreters and other professionals might have found Tom’s story of interest and worth recommending over the years.
“I recently found myself in a time warp, seated (with Tom’s permission!) in a soundproof room in a London hospital, with a son in his 40s having a longed-for upgrade to his Cochlear UK implant processor. How it took me back, as I caught the faint beeps, to those years with firstly a newly deafened infant on my lap, then a toddler hesitantly putting a little figure into a red wooden Galt boat whenever he “heard” or, realistically, “hoped he had heard” a sound.
“Then came the years with a mature, signing teenager keen to have a cochlear implant at his own request and prepared to cope with the long process of testing, acceptance, surgery and then listening, mapping and responding to some sound at last.
Supportive role on his journey
“In the past such visits formed a source for chapters in my then embryo book, of course, but far more important was a mother’s anxiety to be there in a supportive role on his journey. Now, with a professional interpreter present, I was superfluous but personally fascinated to see Tom’s reactions to a new sound pitch and able to digest the innovative information aspect of his ongoing use, before releasing him back to his Deaf wife and three hearing children!
“Writing a book, I discovered, was very like having a baby – waiting, worrying, sleepless nights, excited anticipation, seeing it for the first time, naming it, checking that it’s alright and, finally, showing it off! Which is why, with my new arrival in my hand and my old “baby” beside me, all 6’2” of him, I was overjoyed to introduce Tom’s biography – Making Sense in Sign: A Lifeline for a Deaf Child – to a packed church at its launch during an Arts Festival 20 years ago.
Wonder how many families influenced by the book
“One much valued retired Teacher of the Deaf wrote last year to say, “I wonder how many families have been influenced by The Book. Your writing doesn’t hector – just tells it like you see it”. And added that a recent photo of Tom signing with his one-year-old Alfie was “worth more than a thousand words”.
“Thanks to Rose Ayling-Ellis and her Strictly Come Dancing success and those 16 seconds of silence that shook the viewers, more people have been introduced to Tom’s biography when the subject of signing has come up in conversation with friends who already have copies. A once-local friend with two deaf children, a few years younger than Tom, both now enjoying excellent careers, wrote years ago to tell me she would have liked “a book similar to yours when they were young” but it would, of course, have been a very slim edition had I written it in those early days! The learning curve had only just begun…!”
A timely reminder of the after-effects of meningitis
As our chief executive Tom Nutt reflected, following Jenny's reading at the Midsummer Party: “This is a lovely story about Jenny’s son growing up deaf and now having children of his own. A timely reminder about the lifelong and life-changing after-effects of meningitis, albeit this time with a happy ending and a positive outlook.”
For more information about Jenny’s book and to order a copy please click here.
We are holding an online support event focussing on hearing loss and learning to live with hearing loss after meningitis. This will take place on Tuesday 10 September. For further information and to register visit our website here.
