Hi everyone!

Yesterday was the best experience I’ve ever had! I was invited by Action on Hearing Loss to attend their ‘Hearing Matters’ launch, in the Members’ Dining Room in the House of Commons! It’s the first time that I’ve been to Parliament, and fair to say it’s such a great memory to treasure.

I went with my mum and my friend who is deafblind, as she is passionate about raising awareness, like me. We had a lovely day in London in the morning, with a very posh meal! During the afternoon we went to the Houses of Parliament, had a photo opportunity outside Big Ben, then went inside.

When queuing up, a lovely lady approached me and asked me: “are you Deafie Blogger?”, and I replied, yes it’s lovely to meet you. She quoted: “it feels like I’m meeting a celebrity!”… I was chuffed to hear this, and to have some admirers! All these people are the ones who motivate me more to keep writing.

The moment I’d been waiting for, was to meet Jo, the Senior Campaigner at Action on Hearing Loss. She was very friendly, such a genuine lady! We spoke a lot during the event, and I would love to work for them one day. Of course, I had to have a photo with her!

(And yes….. this is the real me- but oh well, I wanted to share the photos with you all!)

Jo introduced me to some great, inspiring people. There were quite a few deaf/HOH people who attended, whom I had a brief chat with, and some I recognise from Twitter! Staff from Action on Hearing Loss gave us lots of useful advice and answers to all our questions. I was proud of myself for having the confidence to approach people who I’d never met before!

I even had the chance to chat with Lilian Greenwood MP, who was the keynote speaker of the event. I felt privileged to speak about my experiences, being deaf and to be able to share them with someone like her was amazing! (Did I mention, she tweeted to me after the event!)

I also got to speak to the fantastic CEO of Action on Hearing Loss, Paul Breckell about how thankful I was to be here, and how important the Hearing Matters Report is to people like me. It was great to hear their encouragement, for me to keep up the blogging! Although he was very busy talking with important people, he was so kind to let us have a photo with himself and Alistair Burt MP!

Best photo of the day!

A quick snap of Paul Breckell CEO, Alistair Burt MP, and Jonathan Gardner from Boots Hearingcare.

For more photos, have a look at Action on Hearing Loss’ Twitter page.

I really hope that with this Hearing Matters Report, the Government will be able to realise that the deaf population is still increasing. There is more demand for different services, and the need for support is rising. Some of the topics in the report are really interesting, along the lines of healthcare, Access to Work, education, the Subtitle It campaign and so much more. I look forward to seeing the future changes that are made.

So thank you Action on Hearing Loss for inviting me, I had a wonderful time. I hope you enjoyed reading, as much as I did writing it.

Love E x