Anosmia

THIS BLOG IS ABOUT LIFE AS AN ANOSMIC - SOMEONE WITHOUT A SENSE OF SMELL. I AM A 22 YEAR OLD MA STUDENT IN LONDON AND HAVEN'T HAD A WHIFF OF ANYTHING IN ABOUT 15 YEARS. I AM WRITING THIS TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THIS INVISIBLE DISABILITY AND WILL UPDATE EVERY TIME THERE'S SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT.

Tuesday 30 September 2014

The Great British Scent Off

I am a HUGE fan of The Great British Bake Off. I seriously don't think I could ever possibly love a show more than I do this one. For those of my readers who live outside the UK, it's a competitive baking programme, set in a tent in the countryside with lots of pastel colours and bunting and we all take it very seriously as a nation. So seriously in fact, that when it looked like one of the contestants Baked Alaska pudding was sabotaged by someone else taking it out the freezer, there was a national outcry. Twitter went crazy, hashtags were trending demanding justice for the bloke who had been sent home because he threw his melted creation in the bin because he didn't want to bring it before the judges in its puddled state.

(I have an anosmic point I swear)

Then it turned out that the woman whom we had all seen take his creation out of the freezer to make room for her own, had dropped out of the show due to illness. So that was what justice felt like! This WI witch had got all that she deserved was the popular opinion, and did this mean that we could bring the poor other bloke back? I'm not going to lie, I had a small moment of glee, but we all love the underdog, don't we? Then I discovered what her illness actually was. She'd fallen over in a restaurant and hit her head and lost her sense of taste and smell. 

(I told you)

Now, as upset as I was about Baked Alaska-gate, I would never wish anosmia upon anyone ever. Especially someone whose love of baking was enough to get them onto a televised national competition. To then not be able to smell or taste your creations, must be absolute devastating. For my part, I became anosmic when I was far too young to be able to operate an oven and I've grown up with it. But to have been able to smell and taste perfectly fine all of your life, and then to have it taken away from you in some out of the blue accident... I cannot even begin to imagine. However, I also saw that there was some upside to this scenario. The Great British Bake Off is broadcast on prime time television, on the BBC. Surely they would have to announce why a contestant had suddenly left and what had happened to her and how awful it was and what it was called and it would raise awareness what an impact anosmia has one people? Surely?

No.

I was furious. They simply said it was due to illness, and on the spin off show a few days later where the poor woman was invited for an interview, again, nothing. I had sent emails and tweets to the programme, the producers, the BBC, asking them - no begging them - to mention anosmia and how awful it was and they just... nothing. If she had gone blind or deaf or been horribly burnt, then it would have made the headlines, it would have made national news and people would be talking about it all over the country. But if you lose your sense of smell, you get a small article written about you on their website and it's not even spoken about to your face. And the poor dear looked terrified, you could obviously tell that something awful had happened to her.  This is a horrific case and point about how bad the awareness of this disability is and it just makes me so angry.

If anyone is interested, here is the article: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/aug/28/diana-beard-quit-bake-off-smell-taste

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