HEATHER JACKSON 1948-2007 A tribute by Ross Trotter Heather Marjorie Mercer Jackson, Chairman of NADP, died on August 14 2007, only two months after first being diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. She would have been 59 in October. Heather lost her hearing suddenly at the age of 35 with no apparent cause – in five days she went from having normal hearing to being profoundly deaf. In the early days she was a textbook example of the huge trauma this creates, especially as she received no professional help to cope. She thought her life was over, blamed herself for failing her family and felt she could no longer be a proper wife and mother, and even contemplated suicide (something that Heather herself never concealed and often mentioned when talking about those dark days). She hid herself away, went to absurd lengths to avoid social situations and saw herself as a failure. Then her husband, David, forced her very unwillingly to attend a NADP meeting, and she realised that with Palantype she could follow all that was said. From that point she never looked back, and not only did it give her the courage to take part again but she realised that by telling others about her experiences she could show them what was possible and that becoming deaf was not the end of the world. Her training as a speech therapist meant she always had good communication skills, but what distinguished Heather was that she spoke always from the heart, realistically but with humour, and inspired many people by her example. For somebody who had become so isolated after losing her hearing the range of Heather’s activities was astonishing. As Chairman of NADP she led the organisation with quiet authority for nine years from August 1998, and she was also a regular tutor at LINK, using her own experience to help newly deafened people and to encourage them to overcome their deafness. In fact she worked with LINK for more than fifteen years from 1989 until 2004, never accepting any payment for doing so. Countless people point to Heather’s presentation during their LINK course as being a turning point for them in coming to terms with their hearing loss. Heather also became one of the country’s foremost deaf awareness trainers, and indeed wrote the 300 page tutor training manual for the CACDP Certificate in Deaf Awareness almost single handed. She was also Chairman of the CACDP committee supporting this work. I still remember Heather delivering deaf awareness training to some of my colleagues at the British Library. They were initially quite resistant, but she quickly won them over by her sincerity and her enthusiasm and soon they were vying with each other to finger spell various words. Heather could always find the way to get the best from people. She also served on the CACDP committee for Notetaking and Speech to Text Reporting which I chaired, and she was for some years Vice Chairman of CACDP as well. Heather was also Chairman of Hearing Concern’s Sympathetic Hearing Scheme, which was an extension of this deaf awareness activity. She became involved with this in 1988 and continued this work until 1997, playing a huge role in standardising deaf equality training and setting up a network of volunteers. In one six month period she trained well over 1000 people. Her other roles included being President of Hi Kent and a Governor of the City Lit in London from 1996 to 1999. Obviously my own knowledge of Heather is mainly through her work for NADP. She was always a very relaxed Chairman, letting everyone have their say, but beneath there was a steely determination to ensure that the decisions reached would be for the maximum benefit of deafened people. My most vivid memories are of the weekends at NADP’s conferences where we could talk endlessly about our problems and aspirations, and Heather would always be there to give sympathetic advice or just to listen. One evening in Durham a party of us was in the hotel restaurant and for some reason the conversation turned to the songs we remembered, and in no time Heather was leading us in a convivial sing-song, all completely out of tune, but still thoroughly enjoying ourselves. I am not sure what impression of deafened people we gave the other diners. If I had to sum Heather up in one word it would be “empathy”. She had the ability to relate to people instantly, and to use her own experiences to give others hope and to lead them to realise what they could still achieve even though they had lost their hearing. And she understood that deafness does not just affect the deaf person but all those around them as well, and through her example she gave them reassurance and restored their confidence. She was unique in her ability to empathise with others and has left an impossible gap to fill. We have lost a shining role model, an inspiring leader and teacher, and a good friend. (For Heather's own account of her deafness, see Heather Jackson in Good Housekeeping) back to top back to home page