Edinburgh woman and her hearing dog tackle February challenge to boost awareness of charity's vital work
A profoundly deaf Edinburgh woman, Alison Hendry, is taking part in the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People February fundraiser, the 28 Challenge.
Throughout the month, Alison and her hearing dog Gerry will embark on walks around the city, each route designed to form the number of the day, raising funds and awareness for the charity’s important work.
“Creating the routes has been quite tricky”, explained Alison. “We’re into double digits now, so we’re having to split our walks into two separate routes to accommodate both numbers. I’m also trying to avoid repeating routes, which isn’t easy when most days have either a number ‘one’ or a ‘two’ in them!
“On the plus side, it’s taken us further afield from where we would usually walk, so we’ve discovered parts of Edinburgh we didn’t know existed!”
Alison, 35, who works at the University of Edinburgh as a Student Advisor, was partnered with hearing dog Gerry, a black Labrador, in 2022. As well as making a huge difference to her confidence, he’s also made her invisible disability - her deafness – more visible.
“At work, before I had Gerry, whenever I met someone new, I’d have to explain that I was deaf and ask them to face me. Now, people notice Gerry’s Hearing Dogs jacket and know to get my attention before speaking to me.
Before being partnered with Gerry, Alison moving from Glasgow to Edinburgh to be closer to her work and recalled that although she enjoyed the independence of living on her own, she also found it quite isolating.
“When I took off my cochlear implant, I couldn’t hear anything and the thought of not hearing the smoke alarm made me anxious”, she explained.
“Since having Gerry, I’ve had peace of mind. He’s proved time and again that he’ll tell me if there’s a fire. Earlier this year, I was at a hotel when the fire alarm went off. Gerry immediately nudged me and dropped to the floor to show the danger signal.
Gerry has also been trained to wake Alison up for work in the morning as she doesn’t hear her alarm clock. “He just nudges me gently to say, ‘Time to get up!’.”
“Gerry’s brought so much to my life – peace of mind that he’ll alert me to fire alarms, independence and the confidence to do things on my own, and so much more. I can’t put into words the joy he’s brought into our lives. I can’t imagine life without him now.”
“By taking part in the challenge, I wanted to give back to the charity and help them train more dogs like Gerry to help other people in need. “I just want to make sure no deaf person feels isolated or disconnected from society just because they have hearing loss.”