Kathleen Fortun

Something Better Than Silence Kathleen Fortun

This is the story of one woman's struggle to come to terms with her deafness. Deafened in childhood as a result of T. B. Meningitis, it tells the difficulties of growing up in a silent world and of being sent away to an Institution for the Deaf & Dumb. The harsh life in the Institution and the homesickness that followed is honestly described along with her missing out on family life. After leaving the Institution and returning home to more sorrow she tells of her working life and the hardships and difficulties she encountered in society, her marriage and the birth of her sons. Then came a chance meeting with one of her son's tutors at Southampton University that led to a Cochlear Implant. Today Kathleen is retired and lives on her own in Jersey, Channel Islands.