Christmas Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant Decorating...

I've created a sneak-a-peak video of some of the fantastic designs that parents and teens have come up with this Christmas!

Check them out in the video below :)

For more pictures, or to find out how to join in with our jazzing up craze visit our Facebook Group - http://www.facebook.com/groups/pimpmyhearingaidsandcochlearimplants/

We now have nearly 500 members and literally hundred of photos a long with lots if different ways and ideas to make your aids or CIs more colourful and unique!

Pondering Noises...

Sometimes things happen in the world around you that make you sit down and reevaluate your own life as such.I've certainly had one of those days today and they're the times when you realise that just perhaps you aren't as comfortable with your own deafness, your own identity as you thought you were. The days when everything just feels a bit of a struggle, and you're not a hundred percent sure whether its really worth working everyday to overcome the barriers that you face.

Of course with my positive role model hat on I know that confidence to shout out and feel at ease with your own deafness is important for your own well-being (and everyone around you's!) but there are some days when you feel like going oh f*** it and putting on your "I don't speak hearing person" tshirt.

I've lived with the fact that my hearing loss is progressive for a few years now, most of the time I don't really give much thought to it. I've learned to get over the panic that happens every time your audiogram shows another 10dB gone... But however comfortable, however much of an incredible role model people might believe me to be I'm just a teenager really, and I have days when the idea of losing my hearing scares me to death.

I might say I hate my hearing aids, that I'd rather go without them, I might throw them away when I'm mad or sad or just plain confused. But if you told me that I would wake up tomorrow morning and they wouldn't be there if I wanted them I have no idea how I would cope. What about music? What about the world around me?

Maybe I'm melodramatic, I know some people who would say I am. But maybe I'm just tired of pretending I'm "cool" with being deaf when actually it makes me cry every time I really sit down and think about it.

I wonder how many other deaf teenagers, either deaf from birth but maybe more specifically those with late onset or progressive loss feel the way I do.

I guess the difficulty with being a late onset progressive deafie is I feel like I somehow missed out on the childhood lectures on how to cope in a world that doesn't seem to see passed the word deaf to actually understand that it means you can't actually hear. I'm a little sick of being told that "your speech is so good that of course I forgot that doesn't mean you understand me like I understand you". I find myself wishing that my speech was a little worse, a little more obvious. Just so people would have a little reminder every time they spoke to me.

So yeah, I guess all this pondering is what happens when your lecturers play 3 DVDs in one day - none of which are subtitled. When you're already exhausted from lipreading conversations in a noisy background just to appear as "normal" as possible then that's a killer right there.

But then what is "normal"? Certainly my social work lecturers wouldn't agree with that particular sentence.

So deaf kids out there... Embrace "abnormality" and rock on.

A&E and Me - PDDCS Website

So I have a new column now as well as this blog! I've been asked to write for the Peterborough District Deaf Kids Society website and I'm loving it...

I even have my own banner at the top of the column!! :)

Here's my first post courtesy of... http://www.pddcs.co.uk/2012/12/deaflifeaandeandme.html

So, last week I was asked to start writing this column and while I was thinking about what to write, an issue that has probably affected every deaf child, teenager and adult popped into my head.

This week I took a trip to A&E and it struck me once again just how un-deaf aware a number of doctors and nurses are. I mean, of course, you occasionally meet the odd person, like the paramedic I met whose wife was deaf or the nurse who had a profoundly deaf nephew, but by and large medical staff seem to have absolutely no idea what I mean when I say 'I’m deaf.'

It’s not just A&E staff either. I've had the GP who walks around the room while talking to you and even the ENT consultant who talks at you whilst looking in your ears. The story my mum always tells is when I had a chest x-ray and the radiographer asked me to take out my hearing aids and then said 'I’m going into the back room now, but when I shout I need you to breathe in for me.' I’m afraid I just looked at him with confusion.

But for me that’s not even the worst part. As a Deaf teenager, I’m fiercely independent. If I want to communicate with someone, I will, even if it means a long frustrating half hour writing everything down on a piece of paper. So what annoys me more than anything is when medical staff talk to the person next to you as if you’re not there. 'Is she allergic to anything?' or 'What’s her pain threshold?' I thought that going to the hospital with a friend rather than my parents would stop this from happening but it made no difference…

Are deaf people really so difficult to communicate with that it’s just not worth the effort? I know that Deaf Direct in Worcestershire have taken on board the issues that deaf patients are experiencing every time they go to the GP or hospital and have recently been running some deaf awareness training in local hospitals. Hopefully this will make a difference and change the way doctors and nurses treat deaf patients. Maybe this deaf awareness training is something that could be done nationally by agencies such as NDCS or Remark?

In terms of advice on how to deal with these un-deaf aware medical staff, I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask! But when I have it sorted I’ll let you know. For now I guess these are a few pointers that might help:

• Make sure that doctors and nurses know you are deaf, it’s annoying but staff don’t seem to share that kind of information between them.
• If a doctor or nurse doesn't communicate well with you try and give them some handy tips. I know this is hard and feels embarrassing at times but the next deaf person they meet will be so thankful you did it!
• Don’t be afraid to shout up if you haven’t heard. It’s your care and you have the right to understand everything that’s happening to you. Similarly if you want or need an interpreter then make sure you get one, it’s important to understand everything and that will make you feel more confident.