AG Bell (2)- Friday Afternoon and Evening

On Friday afternoon, we were given the options to listen to listen to some of the speakers. They gave us a list of sessions that they though might be interesting to teens, and we signed up for the ones we wanted to go to. I went to three and they were all very good. Here is a brief summary of them:

Teen Tales of Hearing Loss
Presenters: Melanie Paticoff, James Barden, and Patrick deHahn
I have blogged about Mel Paticoff before, and was interested in hearing the session that she was leading. It was basically a panel led in a question and answer format, which were both pre-written questions and questions the audience came up with. It was nice to hear other teens perspectives, although I suspect this was more interesting and helpful to the parents of tweens and younger kids who were wanting to know what their children would be going through in the future. They touched on a variety of topics from school (both guys had attended an oral deaf school when they were younger, then transferred to a mainstream school); the decision to get cochlear implant(s) (One had been implanted when he was 5 or so, the other when he was 11/12. The former chose to go bilateral when he was a teenager, but the latter doesn't want to go through surgery again); and explaining hearing loss/devices to your peers. It was all very well done and planned, and I do think everyone got a lot out of it. One person mentioned it would have been nice to get the perspective of a girl teen with hearing loss, and I think that is a good point. From the looks of the program, it sounds like they had planned for another person to be on the panel who was a girl, I assume a conflict came up.

College Life 101
Presenters: Mark Leekoff, Ari Sagiv, Dorie Shapiro, Lindsey Rentmeester
This was another panel, and since I attended the same session at the last convention, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect (although it was all different people). It's fascinating how one person's experience can be vastly different from that of another. Most of the panel from the 2008 convention, if I recall correctly, said that while they didn't outright state their hearing loss when applying for college, they mentioned it in their application essays. One person on the 2010 panel said that they did not want to disclose their hearing loss, a couple of people said they did, and one even went as far as saying that it would be dishonest not to disclose it. I do think he had a point there, and he went on to say that if a college doesn't want you with your hearing loss, you really can't expect them want to give you accommodations. That being said, the panelists still had issues with accommodations even if they did disclose their hearing loss. One girl remarked on the irony of being in an Audiology program, and having the school come to her and question her need for CART and other assistive services for her hearing. I don't think she said the name of the Grad school, but she ultimately made the decision to leave for another school that she felt was a better fit. It also came to light that even with the ADA in place, people won't necessarily follow it. One guy was saying that in an interview (for medical school, I believe) the interviewer actually asked him "I know that many people with hearing loss have multiple other health problems. Do you have any other health issues I should know about?" This, I came to find out, is illegal and a huge red flag. The only thing that you are allowed to be asked in an interview regarding hearing loss or any other disabilities is "Do you have any disability that would interfere with your ability to do this job?" The interviewee does have the option of bringing up and talking about his/her hearing loss as much as desired, but it is not required. I learned a lot from these speakers.


Health Care Professionals: Learn from our Experiences
Presenters: Stacey Carroll, Ph.D., ANP-BC; Christopher Lehfeldt, DDS; and Lindsey Rentmeester, Au.D.;
I was really looking forward to this session, since I had not ever met someone with hearing loss in the medical field.  The panel featured a deaf dentist, nurse, occupational therapist, and audiologist. They also planned on having a deaf physician there, but he ended up having a family emergency and was not able to make it. There was a wide age range, from (these are my estimates) mid 20's to 40's. They all had great stories to tell, and the vast majority of the people that spoke had experienced an overwhelming amount of adversity and doubt when going into the medical field by teachers, bosses, and employees, but were greeted with open arms by patients. I found this to be very interesting, as I would have thought gaining a patient's trust would be the biggest problem.

The occupational therapist told about her first rotation as a student, in which she was placed with a teacher/boss who pretty much from the first day told her he was going to fail her because of her hearing loss. She described her frustration with working with someone determined to fail you, and how discouraged she became, even taking some time off after to decide if it was still something she wanted to do. She ultimately persevered, but this really demonstrated to me how much harder we (people with hearing loss) have to work to prove ourselves.

The nurse spoke about only the students with the 30 best GPA's getting into nursing school. She had an extremely good GPA, and recalled her professor calling her into his office to tell her she wasn't going to go on to nursing school. She was a little bit confused, and asked if she had not been in the top 30. "No, that's not it." the professor had said, "It's just that you're... 'unique.'" She went to the dean of the school (who, by some stroke of luck, happened to have a deaf son) who assured her that he would handle it, and she obviously ended up getting in!

One thing I found really exciting is that they have developed transparent surgical masks (patent pending), and are just waiting on a manufacturer. This is great news, not just for health care professionals with hearing loss, but also for patients with hearing loss. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to remind my dentist or orthodontist to "take off the mask, please" when they are talking to me (this is typically when one or both of my CI's have been knocked off in the chair!) They passed around the mask, now I'm wishing I had taken a picture.  The part that goes around the face/lip area is transparent, but the part that goes under the chin is made of the same material as typical surgical masks, as is the part that hooks around your ears. I really hope they are mass manufactured soon, as there is a huge need and consumer audience.



After a long day of speakers, one of my friends from the past convention, her mom, my mom, and myself rushed to catch the shuttle to go to Downtown Disney. It was really cool, with a bunch of shops and restaurants lining the path. There had been some confusion as to what time the Opening General Session started that evening, and we ended up missing it, so I can't comment on that. We got there right in time for the Exhibition Hall grand opening/reception. This year, they were clever and gave out "game cards" with 9 of the exhibitors names' on them. Each card was different, and the idea was to get stamps from all 9 of the exhibitors on your game card. You then placed the card in a drawing, and were entered to win one of many great prizes (an iPod; all expenses paid for 2 people for the next convention in Scottsdale, AZ; a ton of books from the AG Bell bookstore worth hundreds of dollars, and more).  Of course, in the process, the exhibitors would try to get you interested in their products.  We didn't win, but I still loved the idea.

I explored the exhibit hall with a couple of my friends from the teen program, and they really did have a lot of things in it. There was a lot of free stuff! As always, the 3 CI companies had gigantic areas as opposed to a tiny booth that most other companies had. We received a lot of goodies from Cochlear- from cookies to beach balls to tote bags. We also got our picture taken with Kayci the Cochlear Koala, but we had to leave before it was printed. (if any Cochlear employee still has the pictures and wants to email it to me, please do!)

Orlando/AG Bell (1)- Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

I'm baaack! I thought you guys would like a short summary of each things we did, from a teen attendee perspective.

The convention didn't officially start until Friday, so we spent the first two days there exploring Disney. On Wednesday evening, we went to Magic Kingdom. I'm not a huge fan of rides, so we mostly marveled at the things there were to see. They also had a parade, which was pretty cool.  (I would put some pictures up, but Blogger is frustrating me and not allowing me to do so...)

On Thursday morning we went to EPCOT, which was pretty neat. I went on a couple of rides, but mostly explored the slow-moving futuristic sorts of things. We briefly went to the side with all of the different countries and cultures, but wanted to get back to the hotel soon after. The hotel provides a free shuttle that only came every hour, and we literally ran around the entire park so as not to miss it. We were sticky and sweaty and gross, but we made it! That evening I met up with my four close friends that I made from the last convention (2008, in Milwaukee).  It was amazing to be able to see them again, and we talked for hours and hours. We had planned on watching a movie together, but around 11 we decided that we probably wouldn't have time!

On Friday the teen program began, and I was looking forward to it. At the last convention, I thought the teen program was great, and the people who ran it were really on top of things. I wish I could say the same for this year, but I was honestly a bit disappointed with how they ran everything. My friends and I decided to go to the teen program a little late, since it started early and there was nothing really planned for that day. When I arrived, I was surprised to find the entire room dead silent. There were about twenty teens there, but most of them didn't know each other and the "sitters" simply sat at a table in the corner and spoke to each other. This was a stark contrast to the teen program in Milwaukee, where the sitters did everything they could to get the teens to interact with each other, and we all became friends with each other. This time it took a little while for everyone to warm up to each other, but it happened within a few hours.


Next post- Friday afternoon sessions and activities

Brace Yourself

Tomorrow I leave for Orlando to go to AG Bell's biennial convention.I'm really looking forward to meeting up with old friends, as well as making some new ones.  I haven't heard of many other bloggers/readers coming to the convention (sounds like everyone is still recuperating from the HLAA convention in Milwaukee!), but if you're going to be there then do stop and say hello! My email is on the sidebar if any of you would like to email me about meeting up. I'm going a few days early to explore some of the Disney parks and meet up with some of my friends from the last AGB convention. From the looks of weather.com, it doesn't sound like we'll be outside too much...

At least it's cooler than Texas?

On a completely unrelated note, I no longer wear braces! Getting 4 hours of sleep last night was definitely worth it ! :) Brace yourself.. (oh, I just love puns!)

The picture is small, but no braces whatsoever!

Free Batteries, News

A reader of this blog who I've become pretty good friends with shared some links with me about free hearing aid batteries. I thought I'd pass them along to anyone who may be interested.
*Disclaimer* I have never used, nor do I endorse any of the websites mentioned for free batteries. I advise anyone to take caution when giving out information to an unknown site. If anyone has experiences with these sites (good or bad), please let me know so that I can edit this post appropriately. 

FreeHearingAidBatteries.net
Energizer

If you have other sites where you've gotten free battery samples, feel free to share!

Now there are only three long weeks left until summer! I could say "wow, this year has flown by!" or "I'm going to miss being in school everyday, and getting absolutely no sleep!" , but we all know that would be a lie!

I'm very much looking forward to this summer. I'm volunteering at a local pediatric hospital again, which should, at the very least, keep me busy. I had a bit of an eye opener while working there last year.  I must say, I've come quite a long way in the past year, and am much less anxiety-ridden about using the phone. I'm also attending the AG Bell Convention in Orlando, and am very much looking forward to seeing all of my friends that I haven't seen in two years! I'm not sure what else I'm doing... We may go on a short vacation (but we're staying in the country this year!) I'm taking an online PE class- ha, talk about an oxymoron. Not exactly exciting, but it's one more credit I can get out of the way. I'll also be taking the majority of my driving lessons, so that I'm able to get my license on time, in less than four months! :D

I have a pretty big announcement coming up. It's neither good nor bad, just a change that I have no doubt will surprise quite a few of you. I am waiting to share until I am 100% sure I'm making the right choice, but I've thought long and hard about it, so I think I am. My teenage brain can occasionally be indecisive, so I'd rather wait until all is said and done. I'm hoping that when I choose to announce it that no one jumps to any irrational conclusions :) Hint: The announcement is not about me changing schools. I'm still staying where I currently attend. So, stay tuned!

Countdowns and Ramblings

These are some things that I'm looking forward to for the next month or so...

Thanksgiving Break- 3 days
We're driving up to New Orleans to visit family over Thanksgiving. I'm ready for a much-need break! I'm thankful for a lot too, but that's another post. No, we won't be staying in the same hotel as last time!

Exams- 3 Weeks
err... no comment on this one. Hope I can catch at least a few hours of sleep a night! I am excited by the fact that we only have to go to school for half a day for all of exam week.

Winter Break- 4 weeks
I cannot believe that in a month I will have made it halfway through my first year of high school. (never mind the fact that the second semester is a lot longer..) I really want to do an update on what's going on at school, but so far nothing has really happened. There's been some "evaluations" (it would be a joke to actually call it that) to try to get some technology (any sort of real-time captioning for just a few of my classes) which ended with the verdict that I'm doing just fine. Then there was a meeting, and the verdict somehow changed to "maybe, but you'd have to change schools." This is the LAST thing I want to do, so for now we're planning on trying out something that I'm pretty sure has never been done in the classroom before. Look for an update once it's actually been tried out... whenever that may be.

Visit up North- 4 1/2 weeks
I'm super-excited to say that I'll be flying to IL to visit a friend who I haven't seen in nearly a year and a half. We first met at a convention and have continued to stay in touch starting the second I got to the airport! I'm pretty sure a day doesn't go by that we don't talk to each other. I've mentioned her once or twice, and she sometimes comments on here under "She Loves to Act." We have a lot in common and finally convinced our parents to let us visit each other. I get impatient every time I think about it! I'm also excited to see REAL snow (hopefully!) and see how people celebrate Christmas (I'm pretty sure this will be the first Christmas I don't spend in a movie theater and eat in a Chinese restaurant... If you're Jewish  you know what I'm talking about ;)) I still need to find a coat...

Nucleus System 5- Releases for Freedom recipients in a week and a 1/2
Freedom users and parents of users- will you be upgrading? If so, when? I more than likely will, but just want some other people's input on why they are or aren't planning to upgrade. There is no software (hearing)difference, so there's pretty much no chance of getting insurance coverage. There's a good chance that there will be software upgrades (for the N5) in two or so years, so insurance coverage may eventually be available, but who knows. I really like the fact that it's so much lighter, and I actually prefer the remote- if I'm having trouble changing to FM mode or something with my processor, I'd actually be able to see what I was doing! My second ear was implanted after March 2009, so we'll be getting an extra $1,000 back for that side with the Freedom trade-in if/when I choose to upgrade.

Thoughts?