Guest post by Natasha Dale
After struggling with
Selective Mutism for many years, I finally found the courage to film and post a
video of my story (see below)
What is Selective
Mutism? – Selective Mutism is a severe anxiety disorder where the sufferer
displays persistent failure to speak in certain situations. I do feel that the
label ‘Selective Mutism’ isn’t very accurate, as for me and many others it
isn’t purely about the inability to speak in certain situations, it’s the
inability to use many aspects of communication.
Selective Mutism took
control of my life for many years and resulted in me feeling extremely trapped,
unhappy and guilty. During this period of my life I could only wish to be able
to sing happy birthday to my parents, to give eye contact to those I cared
about, to eat in public and enjoy social family gatherings, to walk to a nearby
shop independently, to clap and congratulate people who deserved it, to be able
to cough when I desperately needed to, to cry when in pain, to laugh when
happy, to be able to ask to go to the toilet, to answer the register, to say
thank you when I was given help, to tell someone if I felt unwell, to make
friendships and to live my life as myself; instead of a tiny bit of myself with
a huge amount of the disorder that is Selective Mutism.
I began my journey
into recovery at the age of 18 when I joined an agricultural college and worked
alongside animals. Here I was given 1:1 support every second I was on the
college grounds. This intense support along with being around animals, seeing a
counsellor once a fortnight and of course the constant support from my family,
allowed me to begin to recover.
It is now my passion to help those with
additional needs and my ultimate goal is to be able to work with people
struggling with Selective Mutism. I am not fully recovered yet, but I am so
very close. I am happy to be able to use my experience with the disorder to
raise awareness and to help others going through what I did for all of those
years.
