Your Christmas gift can transform a silent night
This Christmas, you could help us be there for a deaf person like David, right from their very first silent night
For many people, Silent Night is one of the most familiar sounds of Christmas. Connecting people in celebration. And celebrating all that is calm, bright and peaceful at Christmas.
But for someone who is profoundly deaf, like David, a silent night can mean something very different.
For David, silent nights meant lying awake, cut off from the sounds that used to make him feel safe.
Being surrounded by the people he cared about most, but unable to connect or follow the conversation. Smiling, nodding, feeling increasingly alone.
Falling into a fitful, uneasy sleep, worried about what he might not hear. Even wishing he wouldn’t wake up again.
Silent nights made David feel anxious, not calm. Isolated instead of peaceful. Life felt dark – not bright.
"During my own silent nights, I dreaded Christmas.
"I felt so isolated. So lonely – even with people around me. I've always been outgoing, a people person. But now I felt completely cut off.
And I felt it all the more at Christmas time. I couldn’t follow the conversation at family get togethers. People would bump into me in busy shops because I couldn’t hear them."
Thanks to people like you, we were able to help David feel hopeful about life again.
"It was my audiologist who suggested I speak to Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. I remember thinking ‘what? I don’t need a dog!’ The charity offered me a place on one of their support groups. That was the turning point for me. For the first time ever, I met people who really understood deafness.
And staff from Hearing Dogs said to me, 'David, you're in denial. You're not hearing properly. You need a hearing dog.' It was the best advice I've ever had in my life."
From that moment on, David started to feel less alone.
And when hearing dog Asti came into his world, that feeling of being part of a team crystallised into absolute certainty.
"Every day’s been getting a little better, and a little brighter, since Asti arrived."
