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Of noise pollution and disease
• THERE is something remarkable about Camden Council officials ridiculing someone with Meniere’s disease (Discrimination claim by vertigo sufferer… October 9) at the same time that we see a joint attack on the pursuit of knowledge, learning and the happiness of being able to read in peace and quiet in a library, not to mention schoolchildren needing somewhere to do their homework.
And this from Mike Clarke, the new Camden libraries chief, Sue McKenzie, president of the Association of London Chief Librarians, and culture secretary Andy Burnham who thinks that such pursuits are “decades out of date”.
There is in this a savage mockery of the most basic facts of medical science and physiology, such as the function of human hearing and the brain, not to mention the actual disease of the ear.
Meniere’s disease, for instance, is linked with oedema of the labyrinth of the inner ear, and among the many unpredictable symptoms is a severe kind of nauseating spinning vertigo, which feels a bit like being violently sea-sick with everything going round in circles, sometimes followed by the patient falling to the ground. And now we have the council telling such patients they should go and work on Hampstead roof tops.
Before you go and work on roof tops, I’d suggest you first look up the Meniere’s Society (telephone 0845 120 2975 www.menieres. org.uk). I would also recommend the British Tinnitus Association on 01142509933.
You could also try UK Noise Association. British Peace and Quiet Campaigners are also collaborating with their American counterparts, NoiseOFF, the Citizens’ Coalition Against Noise Pollution at www.noiseOFF.org
Lastly, you could try a book called The Quiet Pint, published by Pipedown, a guide to pubs with no piped music. They might now need to publish a guide to quiet libraries.
ANNE - LISE GOTZSCHE
Harben Road, NW6
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