 One day, when revising some theory questions with my driving instructor, she asked me a very simple question. 'What do you do if you smell burning from inside your car?' I had to stop and think. Unfortunately for me, I would have no way of telling if my car was burning or – just as terrifyingly – if gas was leaking into my house, because I was born with congenital anosmia. For 20 years I have not been able to smell but until the age of 16, my diagnosis had proven no real challenge to me – that is, until I started to take driving lessons. I had always found that my condition was something quite interesting, but growing up many people didn't believe me when I said that I didn't know what something smelled like. They thought I was lying or just seeking attention. As the condition is so rare, I can see why friends and family thought that I was making this up. But it's true: I was born without an olfactory bulb. This is the nerve cell that transports aromas through to your brain. Studies conducted indicate that 1 in 10,000 people are born with congenital anosmia, proving itself to be a rather uncommon hidden disability. The organisation Fifth Sense have established that many people born with congenital anosmia only realise they have the condition when they start school and are no longer reliant on their families all the time. For me this was definitely the case – in fact, it was only when I got to high school that I realised. As hard as it is to believe, I can't remember the moment when I clocked this discrepancy, but when I mentioned my concerns to my parents, they were as eager as I was to uncover what the problem was. None of us could work out why I couldn't smell anything. At the age of 14, I got checked at Alder Hey Children's hospital in Liverpool. I was told that I was in fact 'anosmic' and that I have never smelt or will be able to smell anything throughout the rest of my life. You may th){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
One day, when revising some theory questions with my driving instructor, she asked me a very simple question.
‘What do you do if you smell burning from inside your car?’
I had to stop and think. Unfortunately for me, I would have no way of telling if my car was burning or – just as terrifyingly – if gas was leaking into my house, because I was born with congenital anosmia.
For 20 years I have not been able to smell but until the age of 16, my diagnosis had proven no real challenge to me – that is, until I started to take driving lessons.