Rosemary Sutcliffe
Contributing author
Mother of Susie


Our daughter Susie was born in 1982 and at three months had meningitis, which left her profoundly deaf and brain-damaged but with normal vision…She does however have learning difficulties and problems with communication and episodes of disturbed behaviour. She was at school until she was 17, at which stage she had to
leave very suddenly, because of her challenging behaviour with which the staff could not cope. 

There followed a chaotic and distressing period during which she was placed in a unit with patients suffering from longterm mental and learning difficulties, most of whom were very old, and seemingly heavily sedated. We were lucky enough to meet a Psychiatrist, a Psychiatric Nurse and a social worker who all agreed that she was in the wrong place. The social worker studied all the options and discovered Sense. This was 11 years ago. 

Susie arrived at Sense distressed and explosively angry, but within weeks, she started to improve. She was now in a signing environment with well trained staff, in appropriate surroundings and the difference was amazing. She had a structured, busy timetable to introduce her to activities such as swimming, riding, rock climbing, and even carpentry to name a few; some have bee more congenial to her than others, but the staff at Sense are constantly experimenting with new ways to allow her to develop. As a result she has gradually changed over the 11 years so that with this stable lifestyle and excellent support, she is happier and much more settled. She still needs a great deal of skilled support because her behaviour in public can be erratic, and she is still prone to sudden angry outbursts. The staff at Sense are selected and trained to allow a disabled person to live as full a life as possible – which in our experience is very rare, even in the caring professions. They are also unfailingly welcoming to ourselves and to other members of Susie’s family. You can well understand how grateful we are to Sense which has transformed our daughter’s life. Long may they continue.