Service Club
Presentation
back
to narrative
Good afternoon.
I am here to talk to you
about the largest disability in this country: LOSS OF HEARING.
Before I do let me give you a
little background on how I became involved in helping others with
hearing loss.
My own hearing loss was
sudden and dramatic. In January 2000, I contracted Meningitis and was in
a coma for 7 days. I wasn't supposed to live, the doctors saved my life
by giving me antibiotics; this is the cause of my hearing loss. After I
woke from the coma I couldn't walk, feed myself, see or remember
anything, not even my grandchildren's names. The doctors say I was a
very lucky person; they thought I might not make it.
I believe I was very blessed.
It was not my time. My sister said because there were so many people
praying for me God said "So many prayers, I guess I'll send her
back."
Everything has come back
sufficient enough for me to live a very full life, except a severe
hearing loss.
Before I became hard of
hearing I was just like you, I didn't know any of the facts about hard
of hearing people.
Early after losing my hearing
I joined a nation wide organization called SHHH - Self Help for the Hard
of Hearing and it has been a factor in my recovery to a productive life.
It is headquartered in
Bethesda, Maryland. They have a board of trustees and a head office back
there. We have 250 chapters across the country with a board of directors
here in California. We have 30 chapters in California.
It is the largest self help
group for hard of hearing people in the United States. That is what it
is, a self help group - it is made up of only people that are hard of
hearing, friends and family of hard of hearing people. They help
themselves and then in turn help others.
Now what I have learned.
First please if you don't
remember anything I tell you this morning please remember this. Loss of
hearing is not a senior's disease. Over 60% of the people that have a
hearing loss are under 54 years of age. With the music that the kids are
listening to today at the volumes they are using, this number will grow.
Loss of hearing and partial
loss of hearing could be the largest disability in the United States.
There are 47 to 52 million people in the United States with disabilities
and over 28 million people of those suffer hearing loss.
It truly is the silent
disability.
Losing part of your hearing
has a direct effect on the quality of your life. And the lives of those
that play a part in your life --family, friends, co-workers etc.
I found that SHHH and the use
of assistive listening devices (or ALDs as they are called) can improve
the quality of life for people with a hearing loss.
Let me tell you a few brief
stories of how dramatic the change can be when people help themselves.
Last month I met with two
women that wanted their mother to see what I had learned in my years of
using assistive devices.
These ladies had not had a
meaningful spoken conversation with their mom in many years. They could
only communicate with her by writing everything down. By the way the
three of them lived together
She could not hear them and
had no way of being involved in their conversations or any other
conversations.
I showed the mother how to
use a simple device that is sold at Radio Shack for $39.
The results were
instantaneous and very dramatic. She could hear them and they could talk
to their mom again.
The tears flowed - the joy
was immediate.
The second is through the use
of an array, the black necklace I am wearing. This is an assistive
device. It is a simple system that houses microphones that
"talk" to my hearing aid. My girlfriend says "Everyone
will think I have terrible taste in jewelry." What do you think?
The maker of the array is Dr.
Bernard Widrow, who is a brilliant man, professor of engineering at
Stanford.
Dr. Widrow took this device
to Texas to meet with a number of parents of little children with
profound hearing loss.
These children had never
heard the correct pronunciation of their parent's speech.
They had no way of hearing
words, as they SHOULD sound.
Their speaking ability was
that of those people who do not know what sounds are and they have had
no reference from which to draw.
I am sure you have heard this
type of speech.
Within a few hours of wearing
the array and hearing the CORRECT tones and speech patterns, these
little children were talking with their parents and their parents could
talk TO AND
UNDERSTAND their children.
Can you picture that room?
Can you imagine the emotions in that room on that day? You can bet that
everyone there will remember that day for the rest of their lives.
I can't tell that story
without getting goose bumps.
The third is a local
businesswoman who has had a severe loss of hearing for over twenty-five
years, and it was getting worse. Because her business was conducted over
the telephone, she was beginning to believe that she was going to have
to close up her office. She could not continue to use the equipment she
had and did not know options were available to her.
I met with her and showed her
the free equipment available through the telephone company, and now she
has a renewed vigor in her business and her personal life. All because
she became aware of what was available.
The last is an all too common
occurrence, a man in Redwood City had a stroke; the results left him
with a profound hearing loss. His ability to communicate was almost
gone. He slipped into a depression, as would most of us if we were to
have a sudden and very dramatic disability thrust upon us. With a few
simple, inexpensive devices, that all together cost less than $300, Al
is a productive human being again. He and his family are enjoying life
again. These devices helped him talk to his wife, family and friends at
home and away from home, watch and hear clearly the TV, talk to his
family on the phone and hear them distinctly, and hear when he goes to a
restaurant. All things he couldn't do with just his hearing aids.
I cannot imagine how I would
feel if I could not hear my husband, my family, my 5 grandchildren and
friends; I believe it is difficult, if not impossible, for a hearing
person to feel or conceive that experience.
Doctors and audiologists play
a large part in helping restore what hearing they can. Assistive
Listening Devices (ALDs) and self help groups like SHHH offer a great
deal to help people regain that feeling of "Self Worth".
Please let me explain that
doctors and audiologists do not have the time to explain and demonstrate
the additional options that are available. My husband Jack and I spend a
lot of time each year researching and checking the various ALDs that are
available.
Staying home and not being
involved in my family or community was not an option that we would
accept.
In attending national SHHH
conventions we met with the suppliers of all the various ALDs. Through
trial and error we found what was best for me and many of the members of
our SHHH chapter.
SHHH Peninsula began an
outreach program to help those people that have not heard of all the
options that are available. In order to accomplish the goals that we
have set, it became apparent to us that we needed to have a central
place that is accessible to everyone, a place where people can come, try
out all the various pieces of equipment and see what works best for
them.
The Redwood City Library has
made a room available to us.
We have assembled a list of equipment we will purchase.
We have contacted the suppliers.
We have received a grant to purchase the devices.
We have volunteers to staff the room.
I was fortunate enough to
attend an SHHH National week-end training on Hearing Assistive
Technology (HAT). This way I in turn can train the volunteers in use of
the devices.
We are "Set To Go"
Now I know that you may ask
"What can we do to help!!!!!"
The help we need from you and
your organization is to do whatever you can, tell people you know that
help is available, refer people to SHHH-Peninsula (brochures are right
here), in general be our ears in the community
No pun intended. Oh, yes I
guess there was.
If you know anyone who has
had a hearing loss, do them a favor and tell them about SHHH. Have them
call me, take one of my cards, take a brochure with you.
The change in their lives can
be as dramatic as those people I told you about or any of the hundreds
of people I have met in the past three years.
Remember, our chapter takes
care of the whole Bay Area, not just Redwood City.
I believe that we should
leave this world a little bit better that when we were born into it.
There are so many things we
can do to help the people who don't have what we have and we don't have
to have the government do it. People can do it for themselves. All they
need to know is how.
So if any of you don't feel
like you are the happiest you could be just try helping someone else
once a day or more. After all that is the reason I think we have all
been put on this earth.
With God's help and the help
of my family, friends and a whole lot of good people like you, we are
doing just that.
Helping others who truly need
the help is the highest calling. That is why I think I am truly a
blessed person and I was allowed to live 5 years ago.
Thank you very much
back
to narrative
