This Spring, we’re on a mission to raise more smiles!
Many of the people we support rely on their smell and touch to do everyday things and to gather information about the world around them. This can be frightening, hard work and draining. But, thanks to supporters like you, our helpline is available to anyone who contacts us. We reassure people if they’re scared or pick them up when they’re down and give them that vital information that so many of us take for granted.
Alison’s story
How would you feel if you couldn’t see the spring blossom or hear the birdsong? This is reality for thousands of people who are deafblind. Alison can’t see the welcome colours of spring petals, but she knows the seasons are changing. “I can smell Spring, it’s a different scent to Winter. I can smell the leaves on the trees and the roses in bloom. I can feel the warmth from the sun through my window and I can sense birds in my garden again.”
Alison has always been blind and has since lost a lot of her hearing. “When you can’t see and hear, you have to use what you’re left with. I have no choice but to rely on smell and touch for everything; from deciding what to wear to cooking and reading. If I can’t remember what the fabric of my favourite shirt feels like or how my black jeans feel different to my blue jeans, then how can I choose what to wear? My memory and imagination fill in the gaps, I create images in my mind based on what people have told me about the world. I have never seen the colour red, but I have my own idea of what a red rose looks like. No one will ever know if I’m right or not.”
Can you give just £5 per month to help maintain it and to ensure that people like Alison continue to have somewhere to turn when they need it?
On behalf of everyone we support, thank you!