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.

Saturday 27 February 2016

Anosmia Awareness Day (again)

I know it's been a while since I last posted here. I thought I didn't need to. I thought I was kinda getting over the whole anosmia thing. If anyone cares to read my previous entries, you'll know that I used to have such big plans; I wanted to create an actual website, I wanted to create a safe space for young people to be able to share their experiences and provide support for each other. To raise awareness an to educate themselves and others in an environment that was completely theirs. But it became exhausting, there was so much negativity to creating a space with a targeted age group (mostly from the sort of people that proved my point as to why younger people needed specialised support) and so I took a break.

But then this day comes around again, and I find that I'm no longer upset by not having a sense of smell, I'm just angry.

I'm so angry that it gets overlooked on a daily basis. I'm so angry that when I try to tell people how it affects my relationships, I get messages questioning if anything was ever genuine. I'm angry that I'm working at a job where I get asked to taste food in front of people for their own amusement and curiosity, like some sort of freak show.

So today is anosmia awareness day. You're supposed to wear red to show your support of it (I don't know why). But it's a small gesture and even if it's by complete accident, if I see anyone wearing red today I'll feel a little better. Maybe that's the idea? It's like some secret code, letting anosmics know that they're not alone. That they don't have to be angry. That it's getting better.