Article contributed by Georgie St-Claire
Hello. I’m Georgie. I have severe hearing loss in one ear and profound hearing loss in the other. I lost my hearing at age three through meningitis. No one really noticed for a few years. By the time the full extent of hearing loss in both ears was investigated, I remember already loathing hearing tests. I’m telling you this because I want to talk about something that I call “disability burnout.”
Growing up in a Hearing World
I was the quiet, deaf student all the way through school. In sixth form, I discovered that no one else could really hear inside clubs anyway and decided I loved clubbing and dancing. I was made to wear my hearing aid from the moment I woke up until I went to bed. There were no hearing breaks. I don’t think my parents even considered such a thing. For them, I lived in a hearing world and I had to be the one to adapt. I’m sure many of you have had a similar reaction from loved ones when we’ve asked them to adapt to us. As a result, each year I grew a little more withdrawn, and my daydreams became more vivid.
I went to a hearing school and grew used to classrooms where I couldn’t distinguish the noise of someone moving a chair from the teacher’s instructions. Sounds overlapped at one level and I couldn’t pick out what I was supposed to ignore. I started to write in my own time. It didn’t matter whether it was a story or a poem. I wrote the vivid images in my head onto paper.
Striving for Success
I followed the same route many are advised to take—school, sixth form, university, then work—applying for promotion after promotion, only to see the positions go to others. My requested feedback said the same thing—they showed more confidence. I promised myself “next time” and pushed myself to try harder every day to be as functional as a hearing person.
The Mental Strain of Hearing Loss
For people with hearing loss, trying to listen takes a lot of mental energy. Pretending to hear at a level you can’t forces you to be hyper-aware of everything around you, constantly watching lips, body language, and gestures to piece together conversations from the few words you catch, all while never being able to relax. This constant effort can lead to what I call “disability burnout,” where the stress and fatigue of managing hearing loss becomes overwhelming. For me, this was my normal. I spent so much time focused outward that I rarely acknowledged how I was feeling inside. The constant message I received from others was to “try harder,” but no one ever defined what that meant or gave me space to say I was struggling. However, there were situations I looked forward to—long train journeys with earphones in, sitting in the sun with a book, walking in the countryside alone—these were my places, where I could just exist as I was.
The Turning Point
In the end, the switch flipped during COVID. Trying to hear people behind a mask was impossible. I went on Etsy and bought a few badges to proclaim my deafness to the world. I could shrug, shake my head, and point to my badge. In doing that, my lost confidence came running back. I stopped wearing my hearing aid for trips to the supermarket. Then for bigger things once the world opened up again such as going out for a coffee where the verbal interactions are predictable and limited. I found freedom, relief, and more importantly, myself, in the silence. It was then that I truly realised how burnt out I was. In the enforced silence and isolation, my body took a deep breath and started to relax.
Rediscovering Passions Through Writing
I wanted to start enjoying life. I listed all my childhood hobbies and the one that I truly enjoyed, and could have access to for free, was writing. My husband and I ran a small business from home, so I had a laptop to work from. I had a few things saved that I’d started over the years and never finished, but this time I decided that I was going to be serious about writing.
From Draft to Published with In Silence and Shadows
Honestly, the first draft of In Silence and Shadows in no way resembled the finished book. It was about a mum wanting to hide away. I developed reasons why the mum wanted to hide away, and how society made it so that she couldn’t. It started to resemble a novel but as an avid reader, I knew it wasn’t yet in a place where I could call it anything other than amateur writing for fun. I needed to work on my knowledge of how to turn a plot into a readable book. I used all the free online resources that I could find, even when they were contradictory.
My imagination, up to now simply my best friend, became a tool I could use freely in silence. I turned my desire to hide away into a wonderful dark folkloric tale set in modern-day Yorkshire about a single mum with amazing witch powers. I sent it out to open submissions in early 2024 and it was accepted for publication within weeks. It launched this month and was selected as the Caring Book Club read, and I’m proud to say I’m now a traditionally published author.
In Silence and Shadows is the first of my planned White Rose Witches Series. I’d like to give my publishers a big shout-out for understanding my deafness, ditching the phone calls and doing everything through email. I know it’s not their way of working, but my confidence has never been higher.
Sudden Hearing Loss Support 