Sunday 1 March 2015

Introducing myself.

So, I'm guessing as it is my very first blog post, I shall introduce myself!

I'm 20 years old and I have a severe hearing loss. At the age of 7 years old, I was diagnosed with Bilateral Sensorneural Hearing Loss of a severe nature (which is basically a fancy way of saying, I have permanent hearing loss in both of my ears!) I wear two hearing aids and I am reliant on lip reading.

Blogging to me is important because I really want to raise awareness of life from the perspective of a young individual with a deafness. I am very passionate about raising awareness of my condition and the emotional and social effects it can have on someone. The aim of my blog is to raise awareness of life with a hearing loss and what to expect. Everything in this blog is true and based on my own personal experiences of living with a deafness. There will be good days and bad days, all views are my own and I promise to speak in complete honesty. Bearing in mind I am raising awareness, it is vital that I am honest, because I want you all to understand how difficult life can be, as well as the positive aspects of my life (yes, my life does have good moments too!)

There is a lot of prejudice and misconceptions about people who are hearing impaired like myself. A pet hate of mine is how people assume that you must be old to have hearing aids, or if you have hearing aids at a young age, you must be "mentally impaired" because "hearing aids are for the elderly". I hope to change your perceptions of hearing impaired people through the writings in my blog.

I would consider my deafness to be a 'hidden disability', over the years I have received many comments about my hearing impairment because of my appearance: "I never would have imagined you as a deaf individual, you look like a normal person!" or "you are too pretty to be deaf!" or "How can you be deaf if your speech is perfect?!"

Just remember, the word 'deaf' does not mean a person cannot hear anything, there are varying degrees of deafness: mild, moderate, severe, profound etc.

To clarify, I am dependent on my hearing aids and I cannot hear without them. They are practically my life line! I am reliant on lip reading also. I CAN hear with my hearing aids and my speech is perfectly normal!

I hope you enjoy reading my posts and find this useful in some way?!

Goldy x




No comments:

Post a Comment