Living with a Voice Disorder: Sue Payne on Spasmodic Dysphonia, the Disability Process, and Finding New Purpose

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 22 of Winning Isn't Easy. In this episode, we'll dive into the complicated topic of "Living with a Voice Disorder: Sue Payne on Spasmodic Dysphonia, the Disability Process, and Finding New Purpose."

Thinking your voice doesn’t matter? Think again. In this powerful episode, disability law expert Nancy L. Cavey sits down with advocate and community leader Sue Payne - a Board Member of Dysphonia International and a force for change in the voice disorder community. Diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia and cervical dystonia in 2017, Sue's life took a turn she never expected. But rather than retreat, she stepped up. With a background in public health, education, and corporate leadership, Sue shares how she navigated the loss of her literal voice - and the identity shifts that came with it. From applying for Long-Term Disability to organizing Walk for Talk events, mentoring others, and pushing for awareness and research, Sue offers a deeply personal look at what it means to turn a medical challenge into a mission. We explore what it’s like to advocate for yourself in a system that doesn’t always understand, how to find community when your voice feels silenced, and what real resilience looks like. Whether you’re living with a chronic condition, facing a disability claim, or just in need of some perspective, Sue’s story is a reminder: losing your voice doesn’t mean losing your power. Let’s dive in.

In this episode, we'll cover the following topics:

One - Sue’s Story and Advocacy Work

Two - Living With Spasmodic Dysphonia and Cervical Dystonia

Three - Long-Term Disability and Life Beyond Work

Whether you're a claimant, or simply seeking valuable insights into the disability claims landscape, this episode provides essential guidance to help you succeed in your journey. Don't miss it.


Listen to Our Sister Podcast:

We have a sister podcast - Winning Isn't Easy: Navigating Your Social Security Disability Claim. Give it a listen: https://wiessdpodcast.buzzsprout.com/


Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

LINK TO ROBBED OF YOUR PEACE OF MIND: https://mailchi.mp/caveylaw/ltd-robbed-of-your-piece-of-mind

LINK TO THE DISABILITY INSURANCE CLAIM SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR PROFESSIONALS: https://mailchi.mp/caveylaw/professionals-guide-to-ltd-benefits

FREE CONSULT LINK: https://caveylaw.com/contact-us/


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Please remember that the content shared is for informational purposes only, and should not replace personalized legal advice or guidance from qualified professionals. 

Transcript

Sue Payne [00:00:00]:
 Foreign.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:00:12]:
 Hey, I'm Nancy Cabey, national ERISA and individual disability attorney. Welcome to Winning isn't Easy. Before we get started, I have to give you that legal disclaimer that the Florida Bar tells me. I have to tell you this podcast is not legal advice. But but nothing will ever prevent me from giving you an easy to understand overview of the disability insurance world, games that disability carriers play and what you need to know to get the disability benefits you deserve. So off we go. I'm really excited about today's podcast. I want to welcome Sue Payne, who is a dedicated advocate, community leader, and proud member of the Board of Directors of Dysphonia International.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:00:53]:
 She lives with spasmodic dysphonia and cervical dystonia that causes problems with her voice, but also with the positioning of her head and neck. Unfortunately, this disorder changed the course of her life in 2017, but she's turned this challenge into a purpose. She's organized Walk for Talk events, mentored others who have voice disorders, and has helped raise awareness and funds for education and research. She's got a background in public health, education and corporate leadership, and she's the perfect person for this. She has deep insight into what it means to lose your voice, literally and figuratively, and how to keep going. Her experience navigating the disability process, dealing with a community of individuals such as herself in a support group setting, and finding purpose through advocacy, I think is very powerful and very inspiring to all of us. And we're going to talk with sue about three things today. First, we want to share Sue's story and her advocacy work.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:01:59]:
 Second, we want to talk more personally about living with spasmodic dysphonia and cervical dystonia. And I want to talk with her about long term disability and life beyond work. But before we get started, let's take a quick break and I'm excited to come back and speak with her in greater detail.
 
 Speaker C [00:02:19]:
 Have you been robbed of your peace of mind by your disability insurance carrier? You owe it to yourself to get a copy of Robbed of your Peace of Mind, which provides you with everything you need to know about the long term disability claims process. Request your free copy of the book@kvlaw.com today.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:02:39]:
 Welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy. Let's start by talking about Sue's story and her advocacy work. Sue, you've had a varied career from public health to working in insurance. What led you specifically to get involved with Dysphonia International?
 
 Sue Payne [00:02:57]:
 Well, to begin with, it was almost by accident, so I didn't really. I wasn't aware of Dystonia International at first, but I was very outgoing, if you will, on some Facebook support groups that I found and I was very open with my voice disorder. And I stumbled across this funny International and went to the website and found some resources and some valuable tools that helped me kind of figure this out because Disappointment International, very compelling to help us understand what SD is and how we can help each other. So once I kind of got involved with it, it just took off from there.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:04:06]:
 So what are some of the tools on the site that you would recommend to others and how did those tools help you?
 
 Sue Payne [00:04:14]:
 Oh, there's so many things. As fact, we have a group of people looking at it to give those initial kind of the top hits, if you will, to newly diagnosed individuals with spasmodic dysphoria. There's also a link there for laryngologists and auto laryngologists who help properly diagnose us because thankfully a lot of physicians and other practices have never heard of dysphonia. So having those. And I think one of the other cool things is there are both educational resources that we can have available and then there's links to who we can contact. For example, if somebody is new here in Florida, they would go to the website and they would put in Florida and let's say or hires that would automatically pick up a. And I would be their initial contact. So and we're able to create that relationship and I can help be there, you know, their, their support, have them resources and you know, be that, that person.
 
 Sue Payne [00:05:57]:
 And a lot of us, the first time we hear somebody that sounds like us is mind blowing. So it's, it's an incredible organization. It's so it's amazing actually.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:06:14]:
 Well, I'm amazed that the organization actually has the one on one contact with an individual like you. In my practice, I deal with folks who have different medical conditions and what's very frustrating for them is to have physicians who either don't understand their disease or kind of dismiss them. And I find that when my clients meet a physician who understands them, they realize that it's not all in their head like everybody was trying to convince them. And more importantly, someone like you who is willing to be with them on that journey that I'm newly diagnosed and what on earth is my path going to be? So that's just really, really awesome.
 
 Sue Payne [00:07:03]:
 Yeah, and there's, we call them area contact leaders and we have them pretty much across the United States and international. So we've got in the uk, Ireland, Pakistan, it's just. It truly is national organization, which has been amazing to be helping that create even that. That part of it.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:07:39]:
 We're active in the MSNPD communities and do a lot of work. Well, events and walks. What was your first Walk for Talk event like and why did it resonate so deeply with you as it resonates with us as we participate in these kinds of events?
 
 Sue Payne [00:07:54]:
 Well, hey, from What I understand, 2020 was kind of a brainstorming idea to come up. Walk for Talk and Covid for us was very, very difficult because not only did we have to mask, but we also sound sick. So people would. I had times where people would hear me at a register, oh, she's. Or turn around a walk away thinking that we had. Or we were infectious or whatever. So the first Walk for Talk was a solo event. But again, in order to help spread awareness and that those relationships and those connections, I put a lot of videos on.
 
 Sue Payne [00:09:05]:
 On Facebook to create awareness and that educational piece. And it was, you know, just a long weekend and my dog and I and. And sometimes I would join us and we would go on walks and I would just talk on it. Some days I would have had twice on the days I would have twice. But that just, you know, creating that. That awareness piece and the outpouring of support, it's incredible. That first year I raised almost $3,500 by myself.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:09:48]:
 Congratulations.
 
 Sue Payne [00:09:50]:
 Thank you. And since. And we've had a walk talk every year, and I'm on the planning committee for it, and we try and create different ideas. And so far in the last five years, I've raised a little over 33,000 hertz, which is incredible. And this is. Funds the majority of our research. So if we don't put ourselves out there, there's no way they're find a cure or even more treatment options.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:10:33]:
 So when is the walk and how do people participate in the walk?
 
 Sue Payne [00:10:40]:
 Contact me.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:10:44]:
 Is there a specific month that you do your walks and.
 
 Sue Payne [00:10:50]:
 Yeah, it's generally the month of October. We say it's. You can have a. Any time it's October. We're just now starting to have a planning meeting. As a matter of fact, in a couple weeks we're gonna start. It's like October 23rd. Like that third.
 
 Sue Payne [00:11:13]:
 Again, I believe October we have from Thursday to Sunday is kind of our focus. And you can do it individually, you can do it as a team. We do a walk in our community. You can go hiking, you can go golfing. There's been boating. It's all sorts of fun. Things and it'll hard to international website as well.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:11:45]:
 Neat. Neat. So as a board member and event organizer, what impact do you think Dysphonia International is making? And you already talked about the walks contributing to money for research and treatment. You've also talked on about that one on one engagement with people who are newly diagnosed. But tell me, what other impact do you think that group is making?
 
 Sue Payne [00:12:10]:
 You know, it's last month we had our international symposium in Phoenix and nothing was more inspiring than being in a group with people that sounded like you. And so I think that those relationships that we create is so powerful and so enlightening and energizing. Now we've been able to create the support groups across the country and international as well. And you know, I could be in Florida and call in to a support group meaning in California. So they're virtual, they're in person and they have a variety of different topics. So that has been again very important for all of us because voice work can be very ice and very lonely.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:13:29]:
 So tell me about the symposium. Is this comprised of doctors and advocates and other members of the Dysphonia community? What goes on at the symposium and why? Why would someone want to attend that?
 
 Sue Payne [00:13:44]:
 Oh, it was incredible this year, like I said Nicks and we had, we have a professional medical advisory board and we had our president of the medical area presenting on the research that's going on as well as what's going on with NIH and how the funding is creating more research. And that's the thing. Also highlight laryngologists that are in that particular area. We have speech language pathologists that will help us learn different tricks or tips in that educational piece.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:14:40]:
 Wow.
 
 Sue Payne [00:14:41]:
 It was an all day event and all the and speech pathologists donated their time to just help us. It's a very unique relationship with a laryngologist, you know, a physician, you pretty much go in, you take care of that issue or that problem and then you leave and schedule other visitors with a geologist. It becomes a relationship because maybe you have success with Botox injections and you have a wedding coming up. Well, you can work with your physician to be able to time your injection so you'll have a great voice a if it works for you. So it's a really unique experience having those relationships.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:15:47]:
 So your advocacy work is amazing. But tell us how has it shaped your identity and your outlook on a daily basis?
 
 Sue Payne [00:15:57]:
 It's really rough go. You know, it's not easy. Things that you take for granted. For example, phone, going through a drive through restaurant. Right. Those things you just really struggle with. So, you know, being an advocate for. For other people helps me just as much as it helps.
 
 Sue Payne [00:16:38]:
 That's cool.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:16:39]:
 That's cool. Well, you're amazing. But let's a quick break and then come back and I want you to talk more about living with spasmodic dysphonia and cervical dystonia.
 
 Sue Payne [00:16:57]:
 Foreign.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:17:05]:
 Welcome back to Winning isn't Easy.
 
 Sue Payne [00:17:08]:
 Sue.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:17:08]:
 Let's talk about living with spasmodic dysphonia and cervical dystonia. What happened to you on July 19, 2017? How did this diagnosis unfold?
 
 Sue Payne [00:17:19]:
 Yeah, again, because of it. There's about 60,000 people in states that have aspine dysphonia. And there is no known reason or cause of sd, and there's no real treatment or sd. Botox helps, but it doesn't treat it for me. I was a team manager at State Farm Insurance, and I was under a lot of stress and pressure and that sort of thing that is pretty common in a corporate world. I was actually getting ready for or vacation. It was my dad's birthday, so they were flying into Atlanta, where I lived. Then my wife and I went down, picked up an airport, came home.
 
 Sue Payne [00:18:32]:
 Kind of felt a little on the weird side, I guess had been kind of feeling not sick, but sick. That next morning I woke up and I didn't have a voice. It sounded funny, just kind of had a scratchy like I had never felt before. I also, you know, Hindsight is always 22 and I can think back. And I had to clear my throat a lot and just kind of that, you know, clearing and kind of a dry throat, if you will. And I used a runner. Oh, I would drink a lot of water. So that wasn't, you know, dehydration and that sort of thing.
 
 Sue Payne [00:19:31]:
 Wasn't a big call. But we took off North Carolina to see my. Another sister and met my other sister there and decided that I needed to be owed to an urgent care because I was still feeling pretty and my throat was better and my voice wasn't better. So went there and they said, oh, you have a strep throat. Yeah. Okay. So got on some antibiotics, you know, did the vacation thing, came back home. I went back to work a couple days.
 
 Sue Payne [00:20:14]:
 And they're like, you, you don't sound right. You need to go home. So what between ent, Just a normal ent, they post with fungal laryngitis, which I had never even heard of that or either. And they sent me to. Gave me more drugs. And they also said, you have some muscle tension dysphonia. I don't know what that is. Sent me to speech therapy.
 
 Sue Payne [00:20:48]:
 So continued to do speech therapy and I just happened to have an amazing speech therapist who said this. Your voice just doesn't sound like just muscle tension dysphoria. And she actually helped me go to my first laryngologist. So I went there and at that point I'd gotten on short term disability. I was on about a month of voice test which was a whole weird. So I went to the first rangologist and they do a scope where they put a flashlight basically down your neck and or through your nose and looks hurts. And he thought he saw spasmodic dysphonia. So he sent me to Vanderbilt.
 
 Sue Payne [00:21:58]:
 Okay, Vanderbilt. And on Dr. Garrett, who's one of the best in the country and went through some more testing and more scopes and more speech therapy. And she is the one who diagnosed with abductor spasmodic dysphonia as well as abductor spasmodic dysphonia. So I am a rare, rare bird. Yes, exactly. A rare bird for sure. I have mixed.
 
 Sue Payne [00:22:38]:
 So there's. There's basically three different kinds of. And I have all three. That's why sometimes you hear a very like tomorrow right here squeezed and that's both going on at the same time.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:22:59]:
 Wow.
 
 Sue Payne [00:23:01]:
 Since that was about a five hour commute, I ended up going to Emory kind of, which is another amazing case. Heck went through many different types of injections and scopes and treatment and it just never worked. So. July 19, 2017 to today, I've had one. Hey, I had a somewhat voice.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:23:40]:
 Wow. And I know you talked about trying different types of treatment, Botox, fillers. Nothing was really successful. So was there anything or things that people that help you stay grounded when that treatment didn't work and you've only had that sort of one day.
 
 Sue Payne [00:23:57]:
 Yeah, yeah. I have an amazing wife who has stayed by my side Again, if I have a doctor's appointment, it's difficult to make those phone calls. So having her help me, my faith has grown immensely. And just the community of the disciplinary international has been so supportive. And I'm also so not only have a weird voice, I also have a spinal fusion. So I went through two spinal fusion surgeries and I'm a breast cancer survivor. So I've gone through the it and ironically dealing with my voice has helped me to be more resilient I ever thought I could be and has helped prepare me to deal with my future.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:25:11]:
 Well, this has been also a Mental health journey for you, right?
 
 Sue Payne [00:25:14]:
 Oh, but incredible. I heard a podcast earlier in the. Talked about your identity, death and, and at first I was kind of put off by that. It's very true. I was a trainer, I was a speaker, I did workshops, I presented and taught all the time. And so that on July 19th. Stop. So it was a matter of am I, what am I? What is my purpose? So I went to counseling and went through grief therapy.
 
 Sue Payne [00:25:57]:
 Because a part of you does die.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:25:59]:
 Die, right?
 
 Sue Payne [00:26:00]:
 Yes. And it goes in stages. So that earning that coping mechanism is. And critical and you know, as life altering breast cancer is life threatening. They're both very difficult to manage. But I think that's kind of helped me keep it in perspective that it's, it's just a real pain in the keister.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:26:37]:
 Well, I know that you said I, I'm not going to let my voice define me. How have you stayed or have you created. Well, I'm gonna, I'm a lawyer and I shouldn't assume facts not in evidence. But you have probably created a new identity for yourself, you know, drawing from your strengths and skills that you had. How have you stayed connected to who you were, if you still are, to who you are now, beyond the diagnosis.
 
 Sue Payne [00:27:12]:
 Right. And it's a great thought provoking question and I guess it's just who I am as a person. I really don't. Another option and.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:27:32]:
 But I'm going to stop you there because you know, you come from an educational background as a trainer and you're dealing now one on one with people who have just been diagnosed or on that journey. So you are in many respects taking the skills and the person that you were and applying it now not only to you, but more importantly, to be of service of others.
 
 Sue Payne [00:27:59]:
 Exactly. So I've just kind of re. Redefined, if you will, my skills. As a matter of fact, at the symposium we're talking about, I did a section on emotional intelligence. Okay. Able to do my training. Love again. So, you know, it's just kind of figuring it out.
 
 Sue Payne [00:28:29]:
 Hey. And you know, in a room full of people who can't talk, they totally understand when I have a break. I also, you know, I, I found a horse rescue that really gave me that sense of giving back and helping. So, you know, you think whether it's your faith, whatever, if you fully believe in that, you'll, you'll be able to keep going. And that's just kind of been my motto, is it's not gonna stop me from thriving.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:29:13]:
 Well, thank you for sharing that amazing insight let's take a break and when we come back, we're going to talk about the not so wonderful world of disability.
 
 Speaker C [00:29:25]:
 Are you a professional with questions about your individual disability policy? You need the Disability Insurance Claim Survival Guide for Professionals. This book gives you a comprehensive understanding of of your disability policy with tips and to dos that will assist you in submitting a winning disability application. This is one you don't want to miss. For the next 24 hours, we are giving away free copies of the Disability Insurance Claim Survival Guide for Professionals.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:29:54]:
 Order yours today@disabilityclaimsforprofessionals.com welcome back to Winning Isn't Easy Sue. Let's talk about long term disability and life beyond work.
 
 Sue Payne [00:30:07]:
 Sure.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:30:08]:
 I'm an ERISA disability insurance attorney representing claimants such as yourself. And one of the things that I always try to talk with my clients about is leaving their role, their identity at work, who they were and adjusting to not being who they were, but to bring the talents and skills that they have to the life that they now have. Obviously leaving your role at State Farm must have been tough. How did you adjust to life? You know, basically not, not working and then having to deal with disability insurance companies to prove up your benefits.
 
 Sue Payne [00:30:53]:
 Right. I think that, well, the counseling for sure was crucial for me with just that whole emotional mental health aspect and then finding the horse rescue and being involved with Disability International was crucialing with going from working to disability was, was tough because I, I had never been even sick so that wasn't ever even in my mind that this would be needed. I was fortunate that offered long term disability as a benefit to us and so by the grace of God, I just happen to check the box to get that benefit and I have talked to other people, you know, that are keen and say do you have disability? Make sure you get that it's a cheap, cheap insurance policy because you never know what, how you're going to wake up. So that was very critical for my financial mental health as well.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:32:30]:
 Right. So what was the process like navigating short and long term disability with an insurance carrier? Of course you've worked with an insurance company, state farms, sense of kind of what it's like. But what was, what was the process like navigating for the short and long term disability claims process?
 
 Sue Payne [00:32:51]:
 Well in, and I was on the auto claim side so the car accidents.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:32:58]:
 Right.
 
 Sue Payne [00:32:59]:
 And the artur disability was relatively easy. A ton of paperwork of course and I had a, a claim manager, I guess technically that would send paperwork to the, my laryngologist all the time and had to check the boxes and have conversations with them. But that even my issue is they would want to be on the phone all the time. It's like you don't understand. But talking on the phone is like that's, that's why I'm having struggles. And then it came into well, what about an ada, Right.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:33:48]:
 Accommodation.
 
 Sue Payne [00:33:50]:
 Yes. What kind of accommodations could we do for you? Well, you know, there are, there are various new jobs that you need that are or that have no communication as a, as a necessary aspect of it. So that even added to it. And it was very scary because I wasn't sure if it was going to be a hard disability at the time. Time I lost place. I was 54, so too young to fully retire.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:34:38]:
 Right.
 
 Sue Payne [00:34:39]:
 A lot of financial opportunity was ahead of me in my career. So once our term disability ran out, I, I don't remember now you probably even can answer how long that was. But then it actually went into long term disability and I still have to qualify every year which it's a whole nother anxiety. And I just got the other day, May 8, actually I got my letter stating that I that required to continue.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:35:24]:
 Disability and so dealing with disability insurance companies every day. What price are you paying for just speaking with me doing this podcast? What's the rest of the day going to be like? What's the tomorrow going to be like? What's the week going to be just for you doing this know 30, 40 minute podcast?
 
 Sue Payne [00:35:50]:
 Well, thank you for asking me that because most people have no idea. So I will likely have headaches for us today because you can kind of see the spasms I go through when I, when I speak. Oh, not only the spasms kind of externally here, but also throughout the back of my head. And that hey, with the cervical dystonia.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:36:24]:
 Which we haven't touched about. So could you talk about the cervical dystonia and independently and then in combination.
 
 Sue Payne [00:36:33]:
 Sure. So the of dystonia is constant as a mean of muscles for me through the front of my neck or side of my neck and then at the base of my skull. So it's. And I had never heard of cervical dystonia before. My laryngologist actually said I think you have cervical dystonia too. So sent me to a functional neurologist for that. Ironically, Botox does help my cervical dystonia, but it's usually it can be very severe. My cervical dyspnea is not very severe.
 
 Sue Payne [00:37:30]:
 My head, it's kind of tilted off to the side so it's a Pulling if some people have jerks back. Some people, their head is truly almost on the side of their shoulder. So it's very physically disabling. So within combination of my voice and the cervical, they both are kind of pulling against each other. So the rest of my day I'll be wiped out because of the amount of energy it takes to speak and to find birds that help articulate the necessary conversation.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:38:28]:
 Good.
 
 Sue Payne [00:38:29]:
 It's funny because I've realized that your brain automatically tries to find words I can say. Oh sometimes are words that I like automatically because I can't hey that very well. So it's a, it's an exhausting subconscious most.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:38:59]:
 And then you also have migraines.
 
 Sue Payne [00:39:01]:
 Yes, yes. I'm fortunate in that I don't have very many. But you can exactly like Botox is successful for me with my, with my cervical and they. So if a person has Botox for their spasmodic dystonia, they get anywhere from 0.5 to maybe 2 milligrams of Botox. And it's not the Botox for wrinkles and that sort of thing. For my neck I get 300 units of Botox. So it's a vast difference because the muscles are so much bigger for cervical dystonia.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:40:01]:
 But even with the Botox you just get temporary relief that doesn't necessarily improve your functionality.
 
 Sue Payne [00:40:09]:
 No, exactly. It only has about three months by the time it kicks in and then it can be anywhere from in reality at about two to two half months of real relief. But in I'll be getting another injection, there's. Oh, so I'll start getting more headaches, I'll start getting more neck pain and just needing relief.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:40:49]:
 But that relief that you get, quote unquote is not enough to allow you to go back to work in any capacity.
 
 Sue Payne [00:40:56]:
 It's just correct temporary and. And because the Botox had help in my voice that has. It doesn't help me work at all. And with the combination and so doing like some tasks are harder for me because of the use of your shoulders and your, and your head like I kind of giggle. I can't really wash windows anymore.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:41:39]:
 Your hair is a problem, right?
 
 Sue Payne [00:41:42]:
 It can be.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:41:45]:
 What advice would you give to someone who's newly diagnosed and, and dealing with that? Neither the diagnosis. But you know that shift to possibly filing for short, long term disability, even Social Security disability.
 
 Sue Payne [00:42:00]:
 Yes. Don't give up. That is the biggest thing. And you know, especially with a security disability. I know I was denied the minute I filed so that you know that air panic comes in. But to be patient. Don't give up to get that support, whether it's your, your spouse or your family or your faith counseling. Because I think there's a lot of value into being able to be your true authentic self with somebody about the fears, with counseling and grieving, whatever that disability is.
 
 Sue Payne [00:42:52]:
 Because it is a loss, whether it's a motor move or your voice or your hearing, it's. It's a loss. I think that coming to realize it's a journey, it's not a destination. It is kind of helps with that process. So the bottom line is you can't give up. Don't give up.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:43:22]:
 Thank you for sharing your amazing journey and story.
 
 Sue Payne [00:43:26]:
 You're welcome.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:43:27]:
 If someone wanted to learn more about the organization, how would they get a hold of Dysautonomia International?
 
 Sue Payne [00:43:36]:
 Sure, it's very easy. It's dysphonia.org and that pops right up to Dysphonia International. And there's a ton of resources. There's information again on what it is, the fact that it's a neurological disorder. There's examples of different how people sound. So yeah, it's a great organization and I'm honored to be a member of it.
 
 Nancy Cavey [00:44:14]:
 Great. Well, I want to thank everyone for tuning into this week's episode of Winning Isn't Easy. If you found this episode helpful, please take a moment to like our page, leave a review, share it, and please subscribe to our podcast. We can't wait to talk with you in our next episode. And and thank you for joining us for another insightful episode of Winning Isn't Easy. Thank you.
 
 Sue Payne [00:44:38]:
 Thank you.