Black Isle Choir Inaugural Performance

My daughter, 15, has been unable to attend school for the last 2.5 years. She is autistic and found school overwhelming, despite being very bright. She now learns from home with the support of her school but has struggled to socialise with others and finds social situations very difficult and stressful.

When I joined the Black Isle People’s Show Choir, she surprised me by asking to come along. Prior to the first session she was extremely stressed but managed to come along and, while she didn’t sing much, she asked to come along again. And again, and again. Slowly she started to sing along. We are in different sections of the choir and while she usually sits with someone she knows, there have been weeks where she has sat next to strangers and managed to have short conversations.

The culmination of this was a performance to 150 people just before Christmas. Not only was she very visible (rather than hiding away behind someone), she looked up and sang out and was (her very emotional dad told me) smiling and clearly enjoying herself. The choir leader told me that she “looked just like everyone else”. This might seem like a small thing but is, to me, extraordinary after the past few years.

Being in the choir has granted my daughter a confidence in social situations that had long since eluded her. It has given her something to look forward to each week and allowed her to sing as part of a group. She is so happy and proud of herself. The very format of a choir allows her to feel part of something social without, by the nature of rehearsals, having to spend huge amounts of time in conversation. It has also allowed us to do something that we both love together and in a stress free environment. It would not be an exaggeration to say that my daughter joining the choir has given me hope that she will be able to enjoy life far more in the future. I couldn’t be more grateful for the lifeline that it has thrown to us both.