Author(s): Kate Armistead

Biography & Memoir

Tales of a Butterfly reflects my personal experiences of being a first-time mother and discovering my child has deafness. Focusing on our journey together with my daughter, it's about not understanding the process of hearing loss, along with the diagnosis and learning what the definition of deafness really is. It's about realising our lives were going to change forever and this was our new normal; but then again, what was normal, as this was our first child. We did not know any different, just that from day one we had emotions, stress and anxieties racing through our minds. I share our experiences with the professionals we had to see regularly for her diagnosis and express the stress we encountered with the isolation struggles we faced by living in the country. I faced new emotional stress with today's society by being a mother of a child with a permanent disability. It discusses how we were viewed in the public eye and how I felt about it, and how I had to change my perspective on life around me to be the mother I am today. But above all it's about learning a new perspective on life with deaf acceptance, and the view from my daughter's eyes and ears. My butterfly girl taught me a new outlook on life learning, and I reflect on how this has changed as she grew older and learned in the environments around her.