Young Adults and Challenges of Living with Hearing Loss
- Part One
By Cheryl Heppner
July 2009
Editor: It's that time of year again! The start of Hearing Loss
Convention Season! As is normally the case, HLAA kicks off the activity in
June. Char and I didn't attend this year, but super reporters
extraordinaire Cheryl Heppner and Bonnie O'Leary from NVRC will be
providing detailed coverage of the activities.
More coverage of this great convention is at: http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/hlorg/shhh/cn/2009/2009.htm
This is part one of two parts.
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The Panel
Christopher T. Sutton, Director of Development and Education at Hearing
Loss Association of America (HLAA), moderated a panel of young adults who
shared their experiences and challenges with the audience. Chris, who has
been hard of hearing all his life, began working at HLAA as employee four
years ago after he graduated from Gallaudet University.
Jennifer Cheng is with the Public Health Service, a federal agency
where employees wear a uniform but will hire people with hearing loss. She
uses the Federal Relay Service and other resources in her work. Jennifer
finds that most of her needs are met if she is open and not shy about
telling people what those needs are. In her personal life she is a
competitive road cyclist, which has required her to spend a lot of time on
advocacy to explain her unique needs. As an example, she can't hear even
with hearing aids as other cyclists do because of the noise from wind
resistance. Jennifer has progressive hearing loss and has worn a hearing
aid since she was diagnosed at age 17.
Patrick Holkins grew up hard of hearing after having meningitis at age
4. He didn't define himself as being hard of hearing and was in denial. It
was not until he began to work with the Hearing Loss Association of
America national office that he learned to accept his hearing loss and
become a self-advocate. He is now involved with the HLAA chapter in Boston
and encourages others to be involved.
Shannon Smith is the director of technology and training for the New
Mexico Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She lost her hearing
at age 20 from Meniere's Disease. She wrestled with becoming a person who
could no longer be at a Happy Hour and talk to a guy across the room.
Zac La Fratta is from Colorado and has just moved to Washington, DC
where he has enrolled at Gallaudet University to get a degree in
audiology. Zac's hearing loss occurred when he was 8 months old and had
meningitis. He grew up without using hearing aids or being part of the
deaf community and wanted very much to fit in with hearing peers. After
graduating from college, he worked in the Information Technology field and
then found he couldn't advance in his career. He came to recognize that he
needed to accept and embrace who he is. Zac also realized nobody would
look out for him and that they couldn't and didn't understand what he
needed. He got his first hearing aid at the age of 28. His advocacy began
when he got involved in working for theater access in Denver. He has found
it important to try and make a difference.
Zac's hope was that this workshop would encourage people to step up.
"We are all more powerful together," he said.
Dealing with Public Acceptance and Accommodation
When you are younger and have a hearing loss, it is hard for people to
understand your needs, one panelist said.
For a long time Patrick Holkins didn't tell his friends about his
hearing loss. He was afraid that it would create a distance between
himself and his friends and cause him to lose these friends. Over time he
found that self-advocacy was important. He'd go to a restaurant, look at
the setup, and tell his friends "it's better if I sit in this seat."
"You are the only one who knows what you need," Patrick said. He
believes that taking charge this way helped him grow and build confidence.
He also feels it's important not to take things too seriously at the
inevitable times when you misunderstand a speaker.
Patrick finds that hearing loss is a daily struggle and you must
constantly be sure that people understand your needs. "It's day in and day
out," he said.
Jennifer Cheng has found that when she self advocates, the people she's
educated become advocates too. Those advocates come in unexpected places.
Jennifer now serves as a mentor to a nine year-old who couldn't seem to
understand why it was important that Jenifer see her face when she talked.
The breakthrough came when her little sister helped explain in simple
terms to her mentee.
For Zac La Fratta, the foundation for public acceptance of you Is how
you accept yourself. If you are comfortable with who you are, people will
see it and respond to it. If you do not, you unconsciously put up a wall.
"Be resilient and consistent - at work, with friends and with family," Zac
advised.
Zac found that at work he was hiding his hearing loss and people
started to not include him in things. He recommended that when educating
others about your needs you also tell them how an action will benefit you.
"Oh this will make my life so much easier because...." Is an example of a
good way to start.
Often if you request an accommodation in advance, people will provide
as much as they can, Chris Sutton noted. This led to a discussion of the
pros and cons of advance notice vs. waiting to inform about your needs
when you arrive.
One of the individuals in the audience suggested that when in a
situation where you have a hard time hearing, you should speak up right
away and tell people how they can help you. Be really specific, e.g. "I
need to see your face."
Here's part two!
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(c)2009 by Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Persons (NVRC), 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130, Fairfax, VA 22030;
www.nvrc.org. 703-352-9055 V, 703-352-9056 TTY, 703-352-9058 Fax. You do
not need permission to share this information, but please be sure to
credit NVRC.
