 |
Home |
|
Family |
| Click these links to
move around the page |
| Barnardo's |
| Tinnitus |
| My Life now |
 |
| David
designed
the moving Tubas |
| Roland's page |
|---|
|
|
Why the
obsession with Tubas? Well, I play a B flat Tuba in Stourport-on-Severn
Brass Band.
 |
I read
Theology at Birmingham University ( where I met Kathy)
and was contemplating a career in the C.of E. but
changed my mind and went into Social Work
instead. Happy years in Local Government
(including a short time on secondment to the National
Development Team for people with learning
difficulties) culminated in a move to Barnardos in
1987 as an Assistant Director based at the Regional
Office in Halesowen. 2001 was an eventful year as I
retired from Barnardo's after nearly 14 years. This
picture of me and my Boss was taken in July 2001 at my
"official" leaving do at Barnardo's Break-Away Project
based in Kidderminster. I had moved there from the
Regional Office to see if a different job was more
compatible with my hearing problems - it wasn't! More
on that below. |
| I joined
Barnardo's Midlands Region in 1987 as an Assistant
Director for Children's Services having spent all my
working life since qualification as a Social Worker
in 1971, first with Worcestershire County Council
and then with Dudley Borough Council. I had a varied
career up till 1987 and had managed both Social
Workers and Staff who work in Residential Homes and
Day Centres. Over the years I had become especially
interested in the needs of people with disabilities
and learning disabilities and when I went to
Barnardo's I was able to concentrate on supporting
and developing services for children who are
disabled or who have learning disabilities too. I
had a very happy time doing this work and was lucky
enough to have been able to set up several new
services (known as Projects) mainly around
Nottingham and Derby.
Being based in Halesowen I either travelled up and down the M 42 several times a week - a bit boring to say the least - or stopped over in Nottingham. The 1990's were a time of change for Barnardo's as it decided to concentrate on services for children families in the community and so the 3 remaining large homes for disabled children in the Midlands were closed. I therefore spent much of my energy helping to ensure that the young people who lived in them would continue to have somewhere to live as adults. Consequently we worked in partnership with Housing Associations and charities for adults to create several self contained housing schemes. It is hoped that these schemes will be able to ensure that these young men and women will enjoy good quality lives for as long as they need to remain there. If this paragraph has triggered some interest in the work of Barnardo's you may wish to find out more about what it does nowadays so click on Barnardo's to go to the web site. On New Year's Day
1996 I discovered that I had gone deaf in my
right ear (it happened when I was in the Sainsbury's
car park - how prosaic!) and next morning I had
developed severe Tinnitus . This has lead to
big changes in my life so I have also added some
thoughts on the subject. A few years earlier I had
developed high frequency hearing loss in my
left ear. From then on I wore a hearing aid for that
ear and because I also had mild Tinnitus I used a
White Noise Generator |
 |
||
| Return to Top |
| Tinnitus |
| Tinnitus is
still known to most people as "Ringing in the Ears"
which is not a good description as it rarely sounds
like ringing and it is not always experienced as being
in the ears! In fact there are countless types of
sounds that can be "heard" and these can be located
either in the ears or in the head. About 10% of the population will hear Tinnitus from time to time but only about 10% of this group will experience it incessantly and find it to be severe or distressing. It is not necessarily associated with going deaf, though this was so in my case. It does seem to often be caused by either physical or emotional trauma. Although there is no cure, people who are troubled by Tinnitus can do something about it. In my expereience the best help is through services that provide Retraining Therapy which aims to help the brain to be less aware of the noise and to stop thinking that it is threatening. I was fortunate to have been referred to the Rehabilitation Service for Deafened People at Selly Oak, Birmingham, which provides this type of therapy. A White Noise Generator worn in the ear can also help this process.Tinnitus can be very upsetting and exhausting. It can cause loss of concentration and it is often worse when the person is feeling tired or is experiencing stress. It is, therefore, sometimes necessary to change one's lifestyle in order reduce the factors that trigger the worst experience of the Tinnitus.This is what I have done, and although the Tinnitus has not gone away I am a lot better for it! I was a member of the users group of the Hearing Assessment and Rehabilitation Service (HARC) at the University Hospital, Birmingham, the new name for the service that did so much to help me. |
The British Tinnitus Association maintains a web-site that is a source of useful information and advice. Another superb web-site about Tinnitus is maintained by Dr. Jonathon Hazell (now retired) and Jacqueline Sheldrake. Dr. Hazell pioneered Retraining Therapy in the UK and Jacqueline is an Audiologist |
| Return to Top |
