Samantha Baines — New British Tinnitus Association (BTA) Ambassador

[Starthrower]

Lastly, I wish you would encourage Samantha Baines to do a podcast with Tinnitus Talk. We are all obviously curious about how she sees her role as ambassador and how she plans to raise awareness and make people feel less alone.

Yes.

When I first entered the tinnitus world there was no laughter about it at all. And finding others joking about it made me retreat further into darkness. This was back in 2002. There was no joke to be found living my life curled up in a ball in a closet.

I wondered how people could joke and laugh.

It didn't really give me hope back then.

Fast forward from 2002 to the present day my struggles did not fit into a joke or comedy routine. Yes my life is successful but not in spite of tinnitus but because of tinnitus.

It was said on the BTA site that she is an example of a person with hearing loss and tinnitus being a successful career person. It did not hold her back.

There must be more to her story.

 

[Agatha]

Apparently Samantha Baines is unable to learn from constructive criticism. What a waste of time she is for the BTA.

 

[TuxedoCat]

Interesting, since no one is criticizing her, simply asking her to be more sensitive to those who struggle. This could have gone a whole different way if Samantha Baines had simply listened and addressed the concerns being raised. Instead she's manipulated the situation back to "me" land, happiest when the attention is on her. And, there will be those that flock to her, the poor oppressed her. It's all rather predictable.

I don't consider tinnitus to be a laughing matter and never will. I didn't need tinnitus to have a successful career or life. Tinnitus is a soul sapping neurological condition that needs to be scientifically understood and treated. And pardon me, if I continue to support and work towards that, the best way I can.

One thing I've learned during my 65 years here on this earth is that jerks, assholes and counterproductive people come in all shapes and sizes, genders and colors. It's not a woman vs man thing.

Honestly, right now I have NO desire to listen to Samantha Baines on a podcast.

In my opinion, the worst thing that anyone can do is give Samantha Baines attention. Good or bad, she will manipulate to put attention back on herself.

If you want to give her attention, then by all means you can play that game. Like I said I have better things to do. You know Kevin O'Leary on Shark Tank? She's dead to me. That.

Look, Allan and I posted on her FB page. She took both down and accused Allan of mansplaining and now we are trolls. She can't handle comments from 2 people? That's amazing. It takes a lot more skill in life to accomplish things. It's not a sign of weakness to look at the comments and ask yourself- what is the essence of the comment? what's being said here? let me assume, until I learn otherwise, that these comments were made with the best of intentions and then, address the concerns. And guess what? The situation goes away. But you see Samantha Baines doesn't want it to go away. It like a thread, she'll pull it until everything unravels and you're left with nothing.

Remember, she doesn't see her role as finding a cure. By extension I take that to mean no raising awareness for the need for effective treatments and no fundraising.

Again, this is just my opinion. You are entitled to yours, without prejudice.

Take care, this is my last post on the subject.

TC

 

[Starthrower]

This entire thing with the "Ambassador" representing the BTA is dead wrong. I will leave the name omitted because I had never even heard of that person before this.

This makes me lose hope that tinnitus will be taken seriously.

So I am over and out on this subject.

 

[Hazel]

This discussion seems to have gotten quite heated, and we had to delete some posts. While we stand for free speech all the way, this applies to expressing opinions on ideas and policies, not direct personal attacks.

Regardless of your opinion on any person or organisation, I'm sure you are all capable of staying civil and having a rational discussion. Please try to keep any aggressive comments in check.

On a personal note, it makes me slightly queasy seeing how nasty some of you can get. If we want to be a patient community that has a real impact we should be able express our views in a constructive manner, and stay open to other people's views – if we can't do that, no one will take us seriously.

 

[david c]

On her Facebook page the BTA says she is "not speaking on behalf of the tinnitus community" - which is mystifying as it is precisely what one would have thought a "tinnitus ambassador" would be doing - speaking up on behalf of the tinnitus community.

Although I don't for a moment condone any verbal abuse she may have received, the fact is that the posts which @TuxedoCat and @Allan1967 wrote on her Facebook page were polite and asked reasonable questions. Rather than engaging with these posts she chose to delete them and depict herself as a victim. I think we really have to question how much of a positive impact she will make as a tinnitus ambassador, as she seems to have certainly made quite a negative impact.

 

[TuxedoCat]

On her Facebook page the BTA says she is "not speaking on behalf of the tinnitus community" - which is mystifying as it is precisely what one would have thought a "tinnitus ambassador" would be doing - speaking up on behalf of the tinnitus community.

Actually her role as ambassador could be to speak up on behalf of BTA, to spread the word about what BTA have to offer to the tinnitus community. But who knows, it's not like this was discussed with us, unless I've missed something.

Anyway, I would let that situation be for now, but watch it closely. Getting anywhere near a dialog with Samantha Baines seems impossible. If she makes jokes about tinnitus in poor taste, it may be BTA's Trustees that need to be set straight.

TC

 

[david c]

I think we all ought to get this issue into some proportion:

1. There were a couple of comments on this thread which were out of order and were rightly reported and deleted.
2. The great majority of comments were completely non-abusive and were simply criticising the BTA's choice as tinnitus ambassador of someone who had made comments trivialising the impact of tinnitus.
3. I have no problem at all with someone such as Susanna Reid speaking out about their tinnitus. But as a community I don't feel that we should be desperate for the approbation of minor celebrities or to believe that it is only through their efforts that the profile of tinnitus will be raised.
4. The reality is that the majority of funding for tinnitus research comes from legacy bequests from mainly elderly people. The idea that this group is going to be largely swayed by what some social media celebrity influencer has tweeted or instagrammed is simply implausible.

 

[PrimateSummer]

cracking jokes about tinnitus,

Making jokes about something that is hard for you, helps some people to deal with their situation.

I do the same thing a lot.

Everyone has their own way of expressing themselves, maybe this is hers. And if she is still raising awareness of tinnitus then even better.

That's just my opinion though.

 

[ajc]

Action on Hearing Loss joins in on the Samantha Baines bandwagon...

 

[Allan1967]

Making jokes about something that is hard for you, helps some people to deal with their situation.

I do the same thing a lot.

Everyone has their own way of expressing themselves, maybe this is hers. And if she is still raising awareness of tinnitus then even better.

That's just my opinion though.

But you understand the basic concept that thousands are suffering and the last thing they need is someone on Sky News pulling funnies about it?

 

[JohnAdams]

Action on Hearing Loss joins in on the Samantha Baines bandwagon...

Action on Hearing Loss!

 

[Autumnly]

"I got trolled because I went on Sky News and I talked about my tinnitus and I did two jokes – one that I thought I had a spider living in my head. And the other joke was I have two types of tinnitus because it was 'buy one get one free' and I love a bargain. It's important to talk about it and raise awareness. I got trolled because of those jokes. People thought I was making light of it. I have always written comedy, I'm a really open person. I always write comedy about my life. I'm helping me and, hopefully, others cope with the situation." source

I don't think she knows what trolling is. Someone criticizing you for how you represent the whole tinnitus spectrum is not trolling. Sure, some people could have worded their criticism more kindly but she really doesn't seem to understand that severe sufferers have been misrepresented time and time again.

 

[Daniel Lion]

Action on Hearing Loss!

View attachment 27697

"How loud tinnitus is, or what it sounds like, doesn't seem to make a difference to whether it troubles people or not"

Scary... I guess that negates the 20 percent of tinnitus sufferers who contemplate suicide daily.

Excuse me, I am going to get a lobotomy now.

 

[Autumnly]

"How loud tinnitus is, or what it sounds like, doesn't seem to make a difference to whether it troubles people or not"

Scary... I guess that negates the 20 percent of tinnitus sufferers who contemplate suicide daily.

Excuse me, I am going to get a lobotomy now.

They have now removed that line (on their homepage, at least)!

 

[Paulmanlike]

If there was an ambassador for tinnitus, I would like to see Chris Martin or WILL.I.AM.

It could be worse though, I remember reading Phillip Schlofield had tinnitus, and after a little bit of digging, it was extremely small scale. I would hate for somebody like him to represent our cause.

I also remember reading Jeremy Kyle has OCD - another condition that it is making light off. All because he "licks his phone".

I have both conditions and can tell you with certainty it's a hard life where I have contemplated suicide. But having "invisible" conditions people tend to think it's not a big deal.

 

[annV]

If there was an ambassador for tinnitus, I would like to see Chris Martin

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/video-chris-martin-coldplay-on-his-tinnitus.13249/

Chris Martin endorses Ginkgo Biloba and he doesn't seem to think of tinnitus as a serious condition. I wouldn't want Mr. Martin representing the condition.

 

[Paulmanlike]

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/video-chris-martin-coldplay-on-his-tinnitus.13249/

Chris Martin endorses Ginkgo Biloba and he doesn't seem to think of tinnitus as a serious condition. I wouldn't want Mr. Martin representing the condition.

I got the impression from interviews he suffers from it and if you wear a masker - you're obviously bothered by tinnitus. He also puts ear muffs on his daughter at his gigs so she doesn't wind up having it too.

As for the Ginkgo, if he swears by it he probably may not even know that the evidence base is next to nothing for it. I would imagine that even celebrities with tinnitus know about as much about it as the next person. Active members here will probably know more than most and more than even the average GP. I regularly get asked if I'm a medical professional when I talk about tinnitus. Well I got asked once by a doctor about a year ago but you catch my drift. Haha.

 

[Paulmanlike]

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/video-chris-martin-coldplay-on-his-tinnitus.13249/

Chris Martin endorses Ginkgo Biloba and he doesn't seem to think of tinnitus as a serious condition. I wouldn't want Mr. Martin representing the condition.

What about Mr Liam Gallagher? We can all be proper Rock N Roll stars with our tinnitus.

 

[Fabrikat]

Any member of Gaby Olthuis's family, mother, husband or child, would be an excellent spokesperson on behalf of the tinnitus community.

 

[JohnAdams]

LOL whatever happened with this train wreck?

 

[GSC]

I feel like Chris Martin suffers deeper than he lets on; to me, he just gets emotional in some areas when he's speaking on it. Like he so badly doesn't want it to affect him. I read the other day in chat, that Louis Tomlinson of former boy group One Direction has hearing loss and tinnitus. I wonder why they never tried to rope him in when he is like... well, was - a super mega star.

 

[Candy]

Can Tinnitus Hub find an ambassador? Any celebs here?