A very thankful deaf day

Today is Thankful Friday.

It is also the first day of July and the cherry on the icing on the cake, is that it’s gorgeously sunny outside.

This week has flown by. My post-Switzerland funk has slowly been carried away in the haze of sunshine, rumble of thunder and prospect of the fabulous weekend ahead.

And what am I thankful for?

Well, that would be for my readers – yesterday I wrote a piece about considering a text phone and I have had two very useful responses already. Although I’m not a technophobe, sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin looking for solutions to make everyday life easier.

But when you do, or when someone gives you amazing advice, suddenly a whole new world is opened up – like my free fire alarm fitted by the London Fire Brigade, or my Freedom pass and Disabled Rail Card, or the fact that EasyJet boards me with ahead of others – although after Speedy Boarding – to ensure the person I am travelling with can sit by me and tell me what’s going on.

Then, there’s the amazing little travel vibrating alarm clock I discovered that’s far better than any model I’ve had before, the lyrics application on my iPhone, that enables me to read along with the music I listen to, all the various apps that help me coordinate, book and run my entire life at the click of a button and tap of a screen rather than by phone, not to mention the fact that I normally get discounted theatre and concert tickets, plus a reduction for the person I am with on account of my deafness.

I know I write about this a lot, but it is amazing. On my flight out to Switzerland recently, I met three fantastic people – one a psychoanalyst, one a mother-of-the-bride who had been over for a dress fitting, and one a director of a budget airline. They were all so interesting to talk to, and naturally, I had to tell them I couldn’t hear, because airplanes are noisy at the best of times.

It was only when they asked me how I coped with everyday life that I realised how easy it is to cope these days. So many people are on your side. Even my local MP it seems – but that’s a whole other story.

And, so when I roll out of bed on the wrong side – like today – mishear the lady in Superdrug and accidentally answer yes to phone top-ups, mascara and Batiste Dry Shampoo, thus trebling my bill in three swift seconds, I will remind myself that it’s OK to mishear once in a while – hearing people slip up too, and it’s OK to be deaf in the city and having fun because the more you look, the more you see ways that make it even easier.

And really, that’s all I want to do.