Mighty Member since November 2016
Jennifer has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). Jennifer was born in South Africa in the late sixties, into the worlds of apartheid, feminism, and strict religion, to parents struggling to find their own place in the world and to make a difference. Lost in their battle to be different, better, "cleverer" than those before them or around them, and her mother’s fight to break moulds, little Jenny fell between the cracks. Born a girl instead of a boy, bubbly instead of serious, fun and talented instead of academic, everything about her was “wrong". Neglect doesn’t always look like dirty or starved or diseased or beaten. Neglect is chronic and often invisible. In a small bubble entirely cut off from the rest of the world, scrawny little Jenny's voice, squashed by her parent’s need to find their own, is swiftly silenced, again and again. However, her shine refused to die and survived within her as a spark, a fighting spirit, and a sense of hope that defies logic. It took her five decades, six countries, multiple diagnoses, and ultimately a physical and emotional collapse for little Jenny to successfully find her voice, to thrive, to get the medical and psychological care she needed, and to begin the journey to a place of sanity and peace. Her story is one of crushing loneliness and isolation, but more than that, it's ultimately a story of resilience, hope, and redemption in ways that she could never have imagined. Jennifer, diagnosed at 48 with EDS, is a mentor, counsellor, artist, and now a successful author, writes for various blogs, and other public spaces on neglect, emotional abuse, anxiety, disability and chronic illness. You can find her on most social media platforms under @JPeaSmith. Jennifer is the author of "The Lion and the Peacock” and the first in her epic story “My Africa My Home - The Fault in the Family Memoir Book One”. From Jennifer: Jennifer is my name, Peacock-Smith is my pen name as well as a very special family name (you'll have to read the book to find out where it comes from but that's not out as yet, it's coming though!) If you’d like to receive the first chapter of My Africa My Home – The Fault in the Family Memoirs Book 1 (for free, in your mailbox), then sign on for my “big news only” (I promise I won’t spam you! I only send them when something important is happening) then clicker here on the Newsletter link: http://eepurl.com/cvljU9