"My eldest son was born deaf" — Tsikhanouskaya spoke about her child's illness

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya wrote a column about invisible work, in which she revealed that her eldest son Karney was born deaf. 

The politician recounts that Karney's surgery was performed late. And she dedicated the following 10 years exclusively to him.

"I remember that feeling of hopelessness, when you ask yourself a thousand questions: why did this happen to us, I don't know how to do anything, we will never recover, he will never speak. But every day I worked with him and with a specialist, understanding that this was now my job and I was giving it everything I had."

Tsikhanouskaya says she was with her son at every stage — examinations, surgeries, rehabilitation. And in the evenings she worked with him personally.

"Rehabilitation means endless sessions: five days a week, two hours at a time with a speech therapist and a special needs teacher — I was there with him. But my work didn't end there: I would come home and continue working on sounds, words — eliciting sounds, sound imitation, words, sentences and so on."

Now, the politician writes, people who see her son can barely imagine how much effort and work lies behind his endless storytelling.

"I sacrificed a lot: I was unable to pursue a career or work, I devoted all my time to my child. When he got better, I thought that I could finally start living."

But then 2020 happened. And a new stage of invisible work began.

"From the outside it may look impressive: meetings, trips, flags, photographs, presidents, conferences, speeches and so on. But for even a minimal result or success, you hold hundreds of meetings, repeat the same things hundreds of times, just to make something happen."