Hi and thank you for visiting this page, let me tell you about myself and the reason why I am running the London Marathon in 2019 for the Sense Charity.

Let me start with a quote from the Sense charity which simply reads “No one should be isolated, left out or unable to fulfil their potential”.  I agree with statement 100% and here’s my story as to why.

I was born in December 1972 exactly 1 week before Christmas, I couldn't wait any longer and I also didn't want to receive 1 present on Christmas day which was a combined Birthday & Christmas day present (I'm Joking).  So I was born and I had all the normal baby hearing tests and my mom was told I was in good and working order but I was not...

As I started to develop my mom noticed that I had a problem with my speech and that I could not talk properly so I was taken to the doctor who quite simply and basically told my mom to stop being fussy and to stop comparing me to my older sister as all children develop their speech at different speeds throughout their growth.

My parents obviously still concerned about my speech also noticed that when we watched TV together I would edge closer to it so I could hear it.  So once again off we went to the doctor who repeated to my parents that I was fine and everything is going to be ok just give it some time and I will soon catch up.  It was shortly afterwards that I started to develop ear infections which were of the wet kind, so once again off we went to the doctors for a check-up on my ears and the doctor gave my parents some liquid drops for my ears to help clear the continuous ear infections.  These drops would work for only so long and then the infection would return.

My parents finally had a breakthrough with my hearing problems which came in the shape of my form teacher in the Infants school who requested that my parents should call into school so she could have a chat about “Stewart’s behaviour in the Infants School” and then my parents were told that I was having problems hearing in class.  This came as some relief to my parents as all this time the doctor would not refer me and kept telling my parents that I was “OK”!!!.   So with this new knowledge my parents requested if an observation could be done by the teacher in writing so that my mom had further evidence to show the doctor of what she already suspected and that she was not just being a “fussy” mother.

Finally following a consultation with my GP a referral was done I was seen by an Ear Nose and Throat consultant who confirmed that I did have a problem with my ears and due to the continuous ear infections being incorrectly treated by liquid drops instead of a powder formula that my ear drums were now permanently damaged and when they looked at them they basically looked like the moon’s surface (full of holes).

So with this new found knowledge I started to have numerous operations on my ears to help correct this issue but with the damage sustained by the ear drops my hearing never improved and all the operations failed and it was decided that no more could be done and that I was to be given a hearing aid.

I will digress at this point as being young and having a hearing aid at such a young age is quite daunting and comes with a lot of responsibilities and even at the age of 45 I still have my challenges, i.e. never leave the house without a spare battery or two because you never know when the battery is going to run out and always be mindful of any adverse weather conditions as hearing aids are not waterproof.  Also with crowds of people at a music event or just when out on a night out etc.  I have had my hearing aid knocked out of my ear on several occasions when out by people not paying attention to their surroundings.  But being at the Infants school with a device which protrudes from your ear and makes you look an extra from a Star Wars movie can be quite intimidating and daunting for a young child and this is also the case for my class mates which when you think about it at this point in their lives it is relatively unknown to infant children as they may never have been exposed to a hearing aid before especially on one of their class mates.

Sorry now back to my story

The hearing aid gave me new sounds to try and remember and to stop myself from jumping out of my skin every time the grandfather clock went off every hour (This still catches me out today when I visit mom and dad) or the cooker buzzer would go off for dinner and the best new sound at the time was the road traffic (I remember walking back with my mom from the hospital at the time I had my new hearing aid and my mom had to turn the volume down on the device as the traffic on the roads was too loud, heaven knows how it must be for younger children who have never heard such sounds especially with the amount of traffic on the roads).

During the infants school I had no problems with taking part in school productions and activities so I went about my infant life enjoying the days at school and playing and getting involved in activates with my class mates.  I did have one incident at school when I misheard the teacher when we were getting ready for PE and she said to strip off down to your pants and vest, I never heard pants and vest part and stripped off naked and then ran around the class room much to the astonishment and laughter to my school mates.  I recently got back in touch with some old school friends and this one friend still actually remembers that day clearly (I must have scarred the girl for life) and still tells the story to her friends or if we are all out together it always pops up (no pun intended).

The Infants school also arranged for me to have speech therapy for a year which was performed at school during term time which was to help with my developing stutter and it worked, Now don’t get me wrong I still have times during every single day at work or outside of work when words don’t flow from my mouth correctly they either come out too fast and sounds garbled or I sound drunk or If I am standing in a queue waiting to be served I will pre-plan what I’m going to say and when it’s my turn to order my words don’t come out sounding as they have in my head when I have been practising over and over again.  The worst is at breakfast at work and trying to say sausage and mushroom sandwich I can get into a fluster the reason being is there too many S’s so now I have bacon sandwich instead as it’s easier to say J.

“No one should be isolated or left out”

Very true words for someone who has been in the past!!

Everything was fine for the young Stewart Kibble until he went to the Junior School it was then that his confidence started to wain as the headmaster declared to my parents that he didn’t want me at his school and he wanted me to go to a “special” school as all the other children at his school were “normal”.  What is normal anyway?

So, I was isolated during my time at the Juniors school but I never let on to my parents or class mates I would just make excuses as the head master never allowed me to take part in school plays in case I missed my “cue” in the school play and I ruin it for the "normal" children so I would be the child amongst others who painted the play back drops and had to watch the play from afar and away from my class mates and the proud parents watching their son or daughter perform on stage.  I was never allowed to take part in outside activities in case I didn’t hear the other children calling me during rugby or football.  I did participate in sports day’s but only on the one event which was held “inside” which was the high jump.  I did do quite well at this event because I was tall I would just step over the bar and not throw myself over it just in case I knocked my hearing out or worse still I lost it.

The other sporting event I was allowed to do when I didn’t have any ear infections was to swim at school but I had to wear a white swimming hat like the ones the girls would have to wear which also made me look like Benny Hills side kick the little bald man so all the other children would pat the top of my head on the hat to make a slapping noise.

This is the one activity I never understood why I was allowed take part in and why I had to wear a hat?  I mean how this was going to help me, I could not hear very well as it was but let’s stick a hat over his ears so he can’t hear nothing at all and if he hurts himself It will be his fault and he can be removed from school for being “special”.  Probably much to the annoyance of the headmaster nothing ever happened to me and I got away unscathed but due to the continuous ear infections which was due to wearing a hearing aid for long periods of time kept me from taking part in this activity a lot.  So, I left school only ever gaining my green badge (Do you remember them?).

“or unable to fulfil their potential”

Secondary school was ok I did have more operations as the technology improved to try and fix the hearing problem but they never worked and It was finally decided that to leave it as It was.  After all I was coping better than expected my school grades were up to date and taking me out of school all the time due to continuous ear infections and operations would not help with my education requirements.

I will skip over a few years here as nothing else of any importance to my hearing problem came about until one day and once again the sense charity phrase came into play.  So, coming to the end of my education time at the secondary school there was a careers evening so I attended with my parents in the hope of getting some inspiration and guidance as to what to do when I leave school.

At the time I wanted to join the Police but I was politely told that due to my lack of hearing that would be an issue.  So, I went to one of the popular queues and I went over to speak to a mechanic who point blankly told me that I was disabled and we don’t employ those “types” and when I asked why?  The mechanic came up with some lame excuse that I wouldn’t hear potential customers arriving in their cars when they arrived to the garage.

I digress again here as things happen in your child’s life that can influence your child’s future it may just seem like a simple comment to defuse a situation and at the time may seem insignificant but they can have detrimental effects on a way that child see the world in the future.  So here I was yet again being “isolated for being special” during the careers evening at school.

So, I left the school education evening with no idea what to do and feeling a little lower on confidence.  Around the same time the Youth Training scheme was introduced by the government and I joined this “YTS” scheme and got my city and guilds qualification in computers and electronics.  As it happened this time in my life was actually a stepping stone onto my career path today, Because I had problems hearing and sometimes my speech was not as good as it should have been and as well being labelled “special” I wouldn’t be the out spoken child in a group.  So, when Job interviews came up I would freeze and I couldn’t handle being in those one on one situations with complete strangers and the other candidate would get the job.  Even today my friends will say that I am not the out spoken and I can honestly say I do not stand out in a crowd.  So, I struggled to get a job from the YTS scheme until a placement offering came for 2 weeks helping in the accounts department for Dorman Diesels doing data entry during their busy stock take.   Well all I can say is those 2 weeks feel like 28 years now.  The company put me through numerous NVQ's for Business and Finance and also put me through my accountancy training.  

I am happy and proud to say that I am now a CIMA fully qualified management accountant and have been working within the CAT business for over 28 years (This is still the same company I was supposed to be there for 2 weeks (albeit being taken over through the years and now finally owned by Caterpillar).  I also have a lovely supportive wife and 2 wonderful children and a pooch (If I don’t mention the pooch my daughter will tell me off!!) as well some amazing friends who have remained in my life since I was young as well secondary school friends and work colleagues and more recently the running club I am associated with I wished I had joined them sooner.

I also now wear a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid and this piece of equipment has changed my life completely.  I was 1 of 3 in the UK to have this device fitted in 1999 and even to this day they are not still very well known.   This device does protrude from the side of head and I when my hair is short I do look like an extra from Star Wars which is quite apt as the new triology is being released J.

So that is my story I and I think you can say I turned out not bad for someone who was isolated and labelled “special” and “disabled”.

So please if would like to help reach my 2019 London Marathon target for the Sense Charity it would be gratefully received and your money will help people young and old overcome some of the challenges they face in life just to exist in a “normal” world which we all know this world is not normal and if it were it would be boring.

Please feel free to share and comment on this blog and help me achieve my target and some…

Below are two links to separate just giving and virgin money fund raising pages both of them are in relation to my chosen charity Sense.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stewart-kibble1

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/STEWARTKIBBLE

Thank you

Stewart Kibble

             The Sense charity is over 60 years old.

Information and Advice centres can help the find the right support for you and your family. We are here to offer you free and impartial information about living with complex disabilities, including deafblindness. 

Helps people to build connections and develop skills at their sense centres

Gives children summer holidays and days out packed with fun and laughter