Sharing Your Experience

Tonight, I met a friend of mine for dinner. As I was waiting for her to show up,I enjoyed people-watching and looking around at the various customers in the restaurant. I noticed a middle-aged man, directly in my line of vision, with two hearing aids eating dinner with his wife/girlfriend/lady friend. I spent the next few minutes watching their interaction, noticing the man to be clearly frustrated. He may have also been upset about something else, but was constantly having to ask his dinner guest to repeat herself. When the waiter came to their table, he asked "What?" three or four times, and he was clearly annoyed.

I wanted so badly to go over there and shout "I know how you feel!" and share the possibilities of cochlear implants, but decided against it because:

1. I didn't feel it was my place to say
2. It seemed rude to barge in on his dinner
3. He didn't appear to be in a particularly happy mood
4. I didn't know about his personal views or situation. What if he already knew he didn't qualify, for whatever reason? What if he is against the idea of CI's in general? I didn't want to be one of those people pushing my beliefs onto someone else, I despite it when others do that to me!
5. My friend showed up.

While I am more than happy to share my experiences with people when asked, I guess I feel uncomfortable going up to other people unprompted. I'm sure there are people who would feel rude asking and wish a person they notice with a CI would just go up to them...




What do you think? Do you shout the praises of cochlear implants, or just quietly enjoy them? Have you ever shared your experiences with cochlear implants and offended someone else? (Or helped them?)

Side note: I was able to hear quite well in the restaurant, and don't think I had to ask for any repeats! While I'm the first to admit that CI's are far from perfect, I'm always amazed when I think back to the constant "What?" from my days of hearing aids and compare to how well I am able to hear now.

Dallas Hearing Foundation Fundraiser

Tickets are $25 off today and tomorrow only!

There's also a special deal on raffle tickets with lots of cool prizes. You can still win even if you're unable to attend.

Also be sure to check out the DHF Facebook page to read lots of great patients stories (and maybe even see some familiar faces!)

Search for teenage and adults deaf actors for upcoming TV show

No, this is not turning into a news blog :) I will post an update about myself soon, there just hasn't been much of anything to report. I saw this page on Facebook after a few of my friends "liked" it, and thought some reader might be interested. The plot sounds interesting, and it would be pretty cool if a "typical" speaking, hearing deaf kid was plucked from everyday life into TV fame. Note that they are looking for people who can both sign and speak, and the deadline is October 15th.

From the page:

** REMEMBER:  YOU MUST FILL OUT AND SUBMIT  A "WAIVER" FORM ALONG WITH YOUR VIDEO SUBMISSION. **

WHERE TO GET A COPY OF THE AUDITION SCENES AND WAIVER

You can find a copy of the waiver, together with the audition scenes here:

DAPHNE:  http://www.nowcasting.com/switched/daphne.pdf

** Note:  The character of Daphne will be speaking, signing (ASL) and using sim-com during the show.  The producers would like to see you do all three at some point during your audition.  So, pick some lines from the audition scene where you will speak only, others where you will sim-com and others where you will use ASL only. **

EMMETT:  http://www.nowcasting.com/switched/emmett.pdf

PENN:  http://www.nowcasting.com/switched/penn.pdf


WHAT YOU WILL NEED

You’ll need some sort of digital video recording device.  It can be your iPhone, cell phone, Flip camera, small digital video camera, etc, etc, etc.

BUT KEEP THIS IN MIND:
 -- The accepted formats for uploaded files are:  Quicktime (.mov), Flash (.flv) and MPEG4 (.mp4) ONLY!
 --  You may be able to "convert" your file into one of these formats.  But make sure you can and know how to do so, or find someone who does.
 --  YOUR FILE CANNOT BE OVER 20MB!
 --  Alternatively, you can supply us with a You Tube Video link, which must be set for public viewing.
 --  Do not name your video files with punctuations (for example: * " ' / \ @ &)


FILMING YOUR AUDITION VIDEO

It doesn’t have to be a “big production.”  But, we need to be able to see you – and hear you – clearly on screen.  So make sure you have plenty of light when you record yourself, and make sure the camera is not too far away from you.

Put your camera or phone on a stable surface, like a tripod or table.  Again, make sure there’s plenty of light so we can see you.  And then … perform like the character you want to play!

Remember, be easy and just be yourself.  You have nothing to lose!  Ultimately, what we want to see, is the true essence of who you are.

When you're done, you must do two things

1.  Fill out and return the "waiver form" you found attached to the audition pages.
-  You can fax it to:  323-874-2268
-  Scan and email it to:  switchedpilot@yahoo.com
-  Or include it with your "hard copy" DVD submission in the mail.


2.  Upload your video.  Here's how:


HOW TO UPLOAD YOUR VIDEO

Click on this link to go to the Now Casting website.  You will upload your videos there:

https://www.nowcasting.com/uploadauditions

- When asked for the role code, use  1133bf53
- Click "submit."
- Fill out the required fields and enter only the role you are auditioning for in the "Description" field.  Do not put /&"!'@ in the description or the name of the file.
- Click "choose file" [next to where it says "Audition File" -- underneath where it says "Description"] and pick the file you will be uploading from your computer.
- Click "submit."  The audition will be delivered directly to us.

That's it!  You're done!


SUBMITTING A HARD COPY THROUGH THE MAIL

Please note that the preferred method of sending us your audition videos is THROUGH THE LINK ABOVE.

If you submit your video this way, there is no postage to worry about, we are guaranteed to receive your video and we will see it much faster.

As a last resort, you can also submit a "hard copy" of your audition video, along with the waiver and personal information, IN DVD FORMAT ONLY to:

Deedee Bradley
6767 Forest Lawn Drive, Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90068

Actors should write a short paragraph about themselves and include:
1. Their name
2. Their AGE ( Very important)
3. Where they are currently living.
4. Best way for us to contact them.


DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS

The deadline for submissions is October 15th, 2010.



Now, good luck!  We hope that you are who we’re looking for!"

Here is the plot outline for the show, Switched at Birth which will be on ABC Family and the roles they need to fill:
The show revolves around Daphne, a smart, confident and well-adjusted deaf teenager who has her world turned upside down when she discovers that she was switched at birth with another girl.

DAPHNE - ACTRESS MUST BE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING AND MUST SPEAK WELL, AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE PREFERRED. Age range from 16 to early 20’s to play high school. Actress is to be light-haired or willing to dye hair blond for the role, and if the show moves to series, actress must be willing to relocate to Los Angeles in February.

Smart, confident, and well-adjusted Daphne is stunned to learn that she and Bay Kennish were accidentally switched at birth 15 years ago. Having grown up in a working-class household as the only child of a single mom, she is excited to meet her new parents, and especially thrilled at the idea of having brothers and a dad. But balancing two families is trickier than she expected, particularly because her biological parents have never been around anyone deaf, and are eager for her to enter a mainstream school and a less deaf-centric world.

EMMETT - 16, ACTOR MUST BE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING, MUST BE FLUENT IN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE. Emmett is Daphne's best friend. Raised by deaf parents and educated in a deaf school, Emmett doesn't talk orally, and is more comfortable in a deaf world. Rugged, reserved, a young deaf James Dean.

PENN - late 30’s or 40’s. male, ACTOR MUST BE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING, MUST SPEAK WELL. Penn is Emmett's father and Daphne's mother's best friend. Penn is the one who educated Daphne's mother about the importance of learning sign, schooling Daphne in a deaf world, etc. 


I will admit it does sound a bit "stereotypical deaf", with the importance of sign, Deaf culture etc.. However, its still in its infancy and I highly encourage you to audition ASAP if you're interested! There's no telling how things will turn out!  Here is the Facebook Fan page that includes all of the information I have posted:
http://www.facebook.com/SwitchedSearch

Guest Post by Joey of BTaC

 The following is a guest post by Joey from BigTeethAndClouds.com. If you would like to write a guest post, please contact me with your idea. At this time, I am not interested in guest posts for advertising or those that are specifically about a technology that I do not/have not used. Thank you!

Our house has a nifty feature that wasn’t advertised by any real estate listing.  Twice a summer, there are fireworks we can see from the street right outside our house.  In July, we made our 5-year-old daughter, Julia, take a nap so she could stay up to watch the display.

The neighborhood kids are a nice bunch.  There are four other little girls under age 12 that play with my girl regularly.  They understand about her hearing aids and though they’re not perfect at compensating for her communication needs, they get along really well.  There is one boy, age 6, in the neighborhood.

This boy never comes out to play.  He doesn’t care for the girl dominated street or whatever.  He made a rare appearance on this evening of the fireworks. 

He wasn’t really paying attention to the show, so someone drew his attention to the fact that there was music being played.  It was far distant music that I could hardly hear myself. 

This boy walks up to my daughter, my sweet angel with her hot pink, purple, and white ear molds.  He gets right up to her and asks, “can you HEAR that music?  Can you?  Can you hear it?  It’s like doo, doo do do.”

The whole interaction took just a couple of seconds.  Julia said that she could hear it, which may well have been a lie.  The boy lost interest and went away from her.

I was left with tightness in my chest for the rest of the evening.  I had a whole fantasy sequence where I held that little boy by the shirt and told him that he will never be permitted to speak to my child again.  My palms felt sweaty and my heart was beating too fast.  Where did he get off talking to her like that?

When we were inside and Julia was in bed for the night, my husband and I talked about the incident.  We agreed that he was not being a nice kid.  He probably isn’t a nice boy.

There are a lot of boys and girls in the world that aren’t nice.  Julia will be meeting all sorts of kids this year in kindergarten.  I will be not be there to assess their intentions.  She will be alone.

Though I’m frightened for her, I’m glad too.  I can’t take it.  Julia clearly can.  And really, it’s hers to handle.  So until she comes to me with one of these stories, I really should stop worrying.

 

If only that were my nature.

Alarming rate of teen hearing loss

I figure most of you have heard this by now, but being a teen I think it alarms me that much more to consider the number of friends that I have who will likely require hearing assistance when they are older. So, I'm posting this for those who already haven't already heard...


1 in 5 teens in the US has a slight hearing loss.*

1 in 20 US teens have mild or worsening hearing loss.

This is a 30% increase since the mid '90s.


Links:
Yahoo! Associated Press Article 
USA Today Article

I think the problem is both a lack of education about noise exposure, as well as the all-too-common idea "it won't happen to me." The other day I got into my seventeen year old (hearing) sister's car, and as soon as she turned it on the car was shaking with the radio blasting at full volume. I could feel the beat in my chest, and could hear the low frequency sounds pumping without my implants (I can tell when I'm able to hear something with my residual hearing alone. It "comes through" differently.) I glared at my sister, and she turned off the radio. Lately she's been complaining about hearing a buzzing or ringing in her ear. I went on to tell her that this could damage her hearing, and that this tinnitus could actually be a sign of hair cells in her cochlea being killed off. She was actually surprised, and went on to ask me why *I* get to turn my iPod speakers up so loud. "Well, sis. I don't know if you've noticed yet...but I'm already deaf! I've got nothing left to lose!" (I suppose she doesn't think it's fair). I'm pretty sure as soon as I got out of the car she turned the radio right back on, but who knows. I'm sending her this article.


*"Slight" hearing loss in teens is consider to be a loss of 16-24 dB, and most of these are in only one ear. It is important to realize that many hearing aids (and even cochlear implants) don't always amplify/provide sound down to this level, it is very quiet. With my cochlear implants, the softest sounds I can hear range from 5-20 dB. With my hearing aids, it ranged from 40-80dB hearing loss (or so, this is based off of my memory). However, as these teens with hearing loss grow up and lose hearing from age-based hearing loss, they will need stronger hearing aids earlier, such as in their 40's rather than 50's, 60's, or 70's.

Comfortable Kinds of Hearing Aids

 The following is a guest post from a hearing aid center employee. If you would like to write a guest post, write a comment or send an email to pinklam94 'at' yahoo 'dot'com (replacing at and dot with the respective symbols). I will be back to writing some posts of my own very soon, don't think I've given up on writing!- LAM

Many people will tell you that hearing aids are bulky and uncomfortable. But those people probably have an older model hearing aid or have never worn one.

The stigma of hearing aids no longer exists and there are so many styles of hearing aids today that suit different wearers’ hearing loss needs and cosmetic preferences. Here are some facts about a few hearing aid fit styles to help you determine which one you think is right for you:

Open Fit Behind the Ear – This kind features a receiver that fits into your ear canal with thin tubing that securely connects to a speaker behind your ear. Speakers are lightweight and difficult to see behind the ear, and tubing blends in with your skin tone. Models like these often have the best sound quality and some are even compatible with Bluetooth technology.

Behind the Ear – Cleaning is easy with this model, which has a curved shape that mimics the shape of your ear. It feels as discreet as it looks because it fits so closely behind the ear. But there’s no need to worry over using extra care with this kind of hearing aid because its solid structure makes it especially durable.

Comfort Styles – Function meets fashion with these models that discreetly fit partially into the ear canal without sacrificing high performance. Most are custom so that the in-the-canal part will fit as comfortably as possible.

Cosmetic Styles – These are the smallest and most difficult-to-see hearing aid options out there. They’re best for someone with an active lifestyle that can’t be bothered with a hearing aid that whistles or needs adjustment. Most are custom molded and fit completely in the ear canal, which means that others near you won’t be able to tell that you’re wearing a hearing device.

Visit a hearing aid center if you think you may be experiencing hearing loss and take advantage of a free hearing test to help determine what kind of hearing aid will best suit your needs.

The GED of IEP's- A Guest Post

The following is a guest blog post, as written by "Moxy", a fellow teenage girl with hearing loss. I'm sure she would greatly appreciate any comments! Are you interested in writing a guest blog post? Post a comment or email me with the topic you would like to write about, and I will get back to you. 
 
So, you've accepted that your child has a hearing loss. Your kid is enrolled in school, and there's talk of an IEP. What can I tell you about your IEP? Not a lot that your audiologist, teacher, or teacher of the deaf can't tell you. I'm not an expert on IEPs. I've sat in on my own IEP meeting once, which, in my opinion, was horrible. It was the first one that I was asked to attend, and I basically sat there, missing class, while teachers, my mother, a school psychologist I had never met, a hearing teacher/psychologist I had met once before, informally, sat and spoke about me as if I wasn't there. I, if you can't tell, am not a fan of IEP's.

A quick background, however, so you know where I'm coming from. I'm a hard of hearing high school student. I wear hearing aids and use an FM system in class (for those uninitiated, the FM is a wireless microphone my teacher wears like a lanyard. There are small "boots" on my hearing aids that pick up the signal. This is supposed to give me the effect of the teacher speaking directly next to me), and I enjoy long walks on the beach (Not really, the sand/ocean "white noise"/ocean spray isn't great for hearing equipment).

The IEP is what, essentially, requires that my teachers wear my FM. It also explains where I should sit in the room, what conditions might be adverse to my learning [Read: bad lighting, uncarpeted rooms, large classes, heavy facial hair/accents], and what (if anything) additional I may require [FM use, captioned media, extra time on testing (I don't get that one either)]. "BUT!" I can *almost* hear you saying, "Isn't your IEP a lifesaver? Doesn't it mean you can relax, knowing you'll have unrestricted access to communication and information, just like everything else?! What a breakthrough!?" But the IEP is not this. Often, unless a teacher knows they will be meeting with my Teacher of the Deaf, they don't read my IEP. On the first day of school this year, I had one teacher ask if "the hearing aids are all, or do you have anything else going on?" What?! My TotD-provided printout, carefully hi-lited with the needs specific to each class, determined by a conversation about this very act of explanation... didn't cover this.

However, being a fairly confident teenager in my own right, I laugh it off, say no, briefly explain my FM (I'll already turn it on when I give it to you, if you need to, you can turn it off, here's how, I can also turn it off from my hearing aids, so if you forget it's fine. Just remember to turn it back on, or, if you for some reason take it off, to put it back on, so I don't have to awkwardly/embarrassingly interrupt the class, telling you I've been lost for the last 5 minutes because you forgot), and take a seat. You seem content. You reply, after a minute, to let me know if you can do anything, whatever. It's all good.

Which is why, a week later, when I walk into the class to see the paused opening credits of a movie, I sit down and relax. In my world, everything is captioned. The TV I watch at home has those friendly black lines scrolling at the bottom of the screen. I'm still on auto-pilot, eyes flickering to the bottom of the screen. The film begins rolling, and I hear garbled noises as a heavily accented actor delivers his lines. I look to you, wondering if you've simply forgotten. You see me trying to grab your attention, and apologize, saying there aren't any captions. I nod my head, but inwardly, I'm screaming. "WHAT about the IEP?! What about the Internet, all of those script sites? What about the e-mail address for my Teacher of the Deaf  (TotD) I gave you, on the IEP recommendations sheet, who you're supposed to e-mail if the movie isn't captioned?! Was I speaking English!?" I sit, fuming for a while, trying to pick up random pieces of info. At the end of class, you assign an essay on the movie, due the next day. Ha! I think to myself.

Which is why you're surprised, the next day, when I hand nothing in. At the end of the class I approach you, reiterating everything about necessary captioning. You nod, agree, whatever.

The cycle begins.

Keeping in mind how often movies are watched at my school, this might happen twice a month. When the TotD approaches you, everything's good, I'm a good student, no, my hearing loss doesn't seem to be effecting me at all.

My parents, friends, and TotD know this to be untrue, however. You're simply resistant to my attempts to advocate, so I silently fume in your class during the rest of the semester.

Don't get me wrong, the IEP isn't evil. It can be downright helpful, but not in the ways I think it's meant to be. Something, for example, that isn't on my IEP, is group projects. I hate them. I hate them because I can be control freak-ish (that's me, overcompensating for my hearing loss. If I control the group direction, then I'll know what's going on), which leads to me doing a LOT of work. Which is OK, I will do my best for a good grade. But the IEP seems to signal to you that I'm hard of hearing. So, when I approach you, quietly, during class, and ask that our group be able to work in the hallway because with all the other groups talking, I can't hear the person sitting next to me, you allow us. We'll sit in the hallway and get stuff done. Hey! I can hear! But that IEP, yellow flag that it is, let's me ask this of you. It helps.

I had to ask myself why I wanted to write this a few times, during the process. I don't discourage anyone from getting an IEP, if it is appropriate for them. I just advise you that an IEP isn't a magical band-aid. It doesn't make hearing loss (in this situation) go away. It doesn't take it out of the equation at all. Advocacy is still very important, and if you're a teenager reading this, don't be afraid to shoot off an e-mail to your teacher, saying "Dear Mr. Teachy-mc-teacher, I can't deal when you don't do this and that. If you could do this-and-that, or perhaps hook me up with alternate whatever, I can deal. If you've got questions, feel free to hit me or my TotD up. TTYL, frustrated hoh/d student". If you're a parent of a hoh/d kid, don't be afraid to contact the teacher, and/or the totd. Trust me, your kid will thank you for it later, no matter how embarrassing it is at the time. The embarrassment might also teach some self-advocacy. And finally, if you're a teacher? Listen. It's not all your fault. Being hard of hearing/deaf (hoh/d) student is just half of the game. We need to be able to have open communication to make things work.

Quick MAJOR thank you to your fav blogger PinkLam (or MissPink, as I've seen it ;P) for letting me temporarily hijack her blog for a moment. Note that this post is not a reflection of her, or her opinions. She was kind enough to let me stick my nose in this whole hoh/d blogging :D Keep reading; I will.

Spreading Awareness- That's Just the Way We Hear

Many of you guys have probably heard about Mel Paticoff. She's the creator of HearingExchange Teens on Facebook and the author of Sophie's Tales, a cute little book about Sophie, a dog who has a cochlear implant. She has several family members with hearing loss and is currently studying deaf education. For last year's Better Hearing and Speech Month competition, she created a music video with her family called That's Just the Way We Hear. It was to the tune of the Jonas Brothers' That's Just the Way We Roll, and won first place in the contest! It even has captions, so that all of its viewers can fully enjoy it. Here is the video:



DoSomething.org is holding a Battle of the Bands competition to fight to keep music in schools. For this competition, Mel and the rest of her crew decided to remake the video.  Here is some info about the video included on their Battle of the Bands site:
Why is music education important to you? 
Music education is so important to us because it can make a HUGE difference in the lives of kids with hearing loss. If no one takes the time to introduce them to music, kids with hearing loss might not develop the same appreciation for music as hearing kids do, even with amazing cochlear implant and hearing aid technology. Yet, if they do learn to love music, it could improve their lives in a lot of ways! It will improve their auditory listening skills and social skills in big ways. We feel that this is definitely where music education money should be spent first...
Anything else we should know about your Battle of the Bands video project? We want you to know that our dream is to re-record the video with the Jonas Brothers. They have done a phenomenal job of raising awareness about different causes including diabetes, Down Syndrome, and "going green." We really hope they will consider adding hearing loss awareness to this list! It would be a dream come true to hear "That's Just the Way We Hear" played at one of their concerts, on JONAS, or on the Disney Channel. We also want to remind you to turn on the captioning! Unlike many videos found on YouTube, we took the time to make our video accessible to EVERYONE by adding captioning. Now everyone can understand our message loud and clear! 


And here's the new video (also captioned)...


In order for the people in the video to achieve their goal, we need to vote for their video! It's very simple, just go to http://www.dosomething.org/bands/entry/sophies-tales and scroll to the bottom where it says "Login to rate this video." and click on it. If you don't already have an account,  press "Create New Account" and come up with a user name and password. Once you do so, a confirmation email will be sent to you. After opening the link in the email, you will be able to rate the video at the bottom of the screen. Be sure to give it 10 guitars, and help Mel win the contest!

Support David's Project

Calling all kids, their parents, teens, and adults with hearing loss!

I have a wonderful project to share with you, and it calls for your participation. David Cluff is 16 years old and has bilateral cochlear implants. He is extremely involved in his community, and even started a Cochlear Implant Teen Support Group at his local hospital.  David is also working towards becoming an Eagle Scout, part of which involves doing a big project.

For his project, David has decided to make a website for people of all ages with hearing loss and share their stories. He wants it to be a place where deaf teens can help each other, as well as for people to read the experiences of others with hearing loss. David's blog site can be found here.

There is also a Facebook fan page for the project, which can be found here.

If you would like to participate, go to one or both of the websites mentioned above, and email David at davidcluff2012@gmail.com with your story. I encourage everyone (even the lurkers) to participate!

Thanks guys :)

Use it or Lose it

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I used to be an amazing lipreader.

When I was in elementary school, kids would take turns silently mouthing things to me, and I almost always got it right. My best friend and I were able to have silent conversations across the room. Of course, they were one way conversations, since she could never understand what I said back.

With my hearing aids off, I could communicate with my family pretty well when I could see their mouth.

Ever since I've gone bilateral, my lip/speechreading skills have become absolutely pitiful.

If my sister wants to tell me something while my implants are off, it usually involves exaggeration of lip movements, some fingerspelling, and grand gestures. It becomes a frustrating game of charades.

I still benefit from seeing someone's mouth when they're talking, but without audio cues, it becomes really hard. It also becomes painfully obvious when I need a mapping, since I can't exactly get much out of lip reading.

Guess it goes to show how much less I rely on it.. It's pretty interesting. Anyone else have the same experience?

On a completely unrelated note...

I now have my learner's permit! :)
I took driver's ed over the summer, but I couldn't take my permit test until I turned fifteen. When I finally did, life got in the way, and I just didn't get around to it (until now).

On the last day of winter break, my driver's ed place finally opened (they had been closed for two weeks). My mom dragged me down there, with me complaining the entire ride that I was going to fail the stupid test. Half the people who take it fail on the first try, and I'd barely gotten to study. It didn't help that I hadn't learned a SINGLE thing in Driver's Ed.

After grading my test, the lady told me I scored the highest on the rules portion she's ever seen anyone make since she's worked there. Heh. So much for failing...

The telephone, hearing and exams

*Sorry if you've left me a comment/email/message and I have not responded. I fully intend to, and I know some of these are months old (and some are only a few days old) but I want to respond all at once when I have the time to give full attention to the topic at hand. I appreciate your patience :)*

The reason for the need for the above statement is because I have been studying like crazy for exams. I'm only posting this because I know if I don't do it now, I never will get around to it!

• I'm having one of those hearing "highs". I really hope I'm not completely jinxing myself by saying this, but I 've just been hearing extremely well lately. It's so nice.. This has led to a few "CI moments" and the realization that it's been two and a half years since my first implant was turned on. Where has the time gone?
• On that subject: I've been having some difficulty in one of my classes. It's my gifted and talented class. It's very fast-paced, requires a ton of reading and class discussion, and it's flat out hard. I'd been having an internal battle for weeks and weeks over whether or not to stay in it, since my grades just weren't where I wanted them to be in that class. I made tons of lists and talked to lots of people and I thought I had my mind made up that I was going to change to an easier class next semester. I decided to talk to my teacher (again) as a last resort, and he gave all sorts of tips* on how to study, which included studying with friends. This is something I pretty much never do, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I decided to stay in the class for the time being (it is also one of my favorite classes, just extremely challenging.) So, in preparation for upcoming exams (which started today), I got together and studied with friends practically all day Sunday.
• In the morning,  I got together with just my best friend and we decided to make a study guide of everything we could possibly need to know for the first section of the test. The class is sort of a mixture of 3 different subjects (it's taken over 2 years, so you get 2 different credits), so we made a study guide for the first part. We started off with my friend typing. I soon learned she has some pitiful typing skills ;) and we decided to trade off. I listened to my friend, read the text book, and type simultaneously. In the middle of doing this, I realized I never could have done this a couple of years ago. It didn't even occur to me that I would have trouble hearing what she was saying without staring at her lips, and it was never even an issue. Being bilateral, it was also nice not having to worry which side to sit on or constantly having to turn my neck/head.
• Later on, we decided to meet up with a bigger group of friends and spend three hours discussing everything we knew. We were at a friend's house that was relatively quiet, and I was able to follow most of the conversation. Keep in mind these are my loud, crazy, friends who find it perfectly acceptable for five people to talk at once, which is exactly what happened. While I did occasionally have trouble keeping up, I'd say I understood a good majority of the conversation and was able to stay involved given that there were no other outside noises. Eventually, my friends had trouble understanding what was being said so we had to enforce a rule that onlt one person could talk at a time. That lasted about five minutes!
• Today, my phone was dying so I went and plugged it in. I left the room to go work on one of my exam reviews, when I heard that all too familiar buzzing of my phone. My friend was calling me. Instead of running away (or not hearing it ring in the first place..) I ran to answer it. I was on the phone with my friend for two hours, and we were discussing the information for  (different exam than the one previously stated) our exam tomorrow. I was in the study/office talking on the phone, when my sister and her friend came in and were having issues using our copy machine. They were laughing hysterically, and the machine was beeping like there was no tomorrow. All the while, I maintained and understood the conversation with my friend- how cool is that?! I was not using T-coil, mainly because I didn't want to have to mess with it while on the phone. Halfway through the conversation, I briefly put down my phone to flip throught the textbook, only to realize that the battery was once again dying. I ran to grab the charger (and cursed my luck), and plugged it in. My cell phone charger has an annoyingly short cord, so I had to put it on speaker phone in order to prevent me from having to lean towards the ground for the phone to reach my ear. I made an interesting discovery- I do not hear nearly as well on speakerphone. I don't know if it becomes distorted because it's too loud, or what, but the difference was pretty dramatic.

The pain has returned and is in full force. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried- I am. My doctor is not concerned at all, but part of me is afraid that the implant could be infected or something, and they won't realize it until it's too late. I'm hoping that part of me is just paranoid! We are going to see if we can get insurance coverage for the N5 on my new side ASAP in order to see if that will help with the pain. I really hope so, it's getting pretty uncomfortable. Thankfully, the dizziness has disappeared. And, there's THREE days until my winter break starts. Do I hear cheers and applause?!

*For now, I think I'll stay in the class. This change in my mind has also been helped by an increase in my grades, which never hurts!


Happy Holidays to all!

Teens With Hearing Loss?

Are you a teen with hearing loss? Or the parent of one? Please read this and pass it on! Kristi is a 15 year old girl with cochlear implants, and is out to start an awesome project. I promised I'd help spread the word, and if you have any questions feel free to contact her. While I don't know Kristi personally, she seems like a really cool girl. To read more about her go to the website she gives in her post.

Here is what Kristi has written,
"I have an idea. I want to start a project, a giant one and I can't do it without your help. I want to start a traveling notebook for deaf teenagers all across the world.It will be a place for your heartaches, your fears, your pain, your hopes, dreams, memories and secrets that will be shipped all across America and possibly across seas if anyone afar is interested.And the best part? Everything you write will be completely anonymous. So don’t be afraid to spill your insides out all over the blank pages, because you don’t have to sign it.This will be your outlet.Write it, type it, draw it, glue and paste it on any page, in any order so it is all safe against guessing, and then send it off to the next city, the next state, the next country. Read the secrets of others, leave notes, underline, understand and feel it too.In the end I will receive the notebook and scan the pages for all to see.This is a project for everyone – I want you all to participate!This is still in it’s planning stages as in how the notebook will get to you: whether I send it to you and you send it back for me to send to the next person OR I send it to the first person to send to the next in line. And I’m considering starting a small fund for ‘in case’ emergencies.First I need to see just how many will be interested in joining this project. So please comment and shoot me a quick e-mail at deafteens@hotmail.com.Please help spread the word about this project! The more, the better!For more information: http://deafsecrecy.tumblr.com/ "

(It's formatted a lot differently, but when I copied and pasted it, it got all messed up. Go to her blog to see it for yourself!)

If you're interested, please contact Kristi. I know I will be doing this, and it seems really neat, so I thought I would share!

By the way- I edited my last post. Scroll down to the bottom of it to read my summary on being bilateral!

For those of you that are (or are planning to be) bimodal...

Or binaural, or whatever you want to call it. Simply put, wearing both a hearing aid and a CI.

Even though I'm bilateral now, I thought I'd get the word out in case anyone else had the same problem I once had.

When I still wore a hearing aid in my left ear, but had just gotten a CI in my right, I kept running into a problem. My hearing aid was constantly breaking. Sure, it broke before, but this was a constant. Two days or less after getting it repaired, it would break again! And it wasn't like it used to break, where it would just stop working altogether. It would start sounding like static. When someone spoke, all I heard was static. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I could hear and understand crystal-clear with my hearing aid, but I still had some speech recognition in quiet, and could identify voices. When it was broken, it was really quiet I could not understand anything whatsoever! It would bother me more than it helped.

After about the tenth time of it being sent back and repaired, my HA audiologist wanted me to come in to her office to see if there was "anything we could do."

Huh? It's broken!

So after talking for a while, she looked at me sympathetically and said, "You know, we could do a hearing test, just to be sure. It's only one ear, so it won't take that long."

Ohhh I see how it is! They think it's my hearing! No siree!

"No, I'm not doing a hearing test! It's broken! Listen to it if you don't believe me!"

So she did. She thought it sounded "a little funny", and I'm assuming that for me, being deaf, I just notice it a lot more. If you're listening to my HA turned all the way down so that it's tolerable, you're not going to notice that it's a lot quieter!

So we got it replaced, and once again it broke. It must've broken a minimum of twenty times, when finally my audiologist talked to her husband. He's not an audiologist, just some smart, scientific guy. He said that just like a magnet can ruin speakers, they can probably ruin a hearing aid. So if they're ever close together, the CI magnet is probably breaking the hearing aid.

Like when they're in the Dry and Store. Which I'm to lazy to use every night, so I only use it every other night. And then it's broken the next morning.

dingdingding! Finally, twenty hearing aids later, an answer! We invested in another Dry and Store, and from then on, until my second CI surgery, I stored them separately. And it would only break occasionally, if I accidentally held them in the same hand.

I should add that I used to wear a digital hearing , but was not the newest technology at the time (although it was when we bought it!) It was called an Oticon Adapto Power. It was a nice, compact, little hearing aid that used one tiny size 13 battery. Sorry, rambling on here... Just wishing that my CI processors were that small! Some day.. I have no idea if the same thing applies for other hearing aids, or if the magnets don't do anything to them.

So anyway, lesson learned. Don't store magnets near a hearing aid!

Facing My Fears...

This summer I decided to volunteer at a nearby hospital. They have a teen program that requires a lengthy process of applications, recommendations, an essay, and medical tests. I considered letting them know about my hearing loss, but soon decided not to. My only worry was that I would have to answer phones.

Growing up with hearing aids, I avoided talking on the phone unless absolutely necessary. Whenever I was alerted there was a phone call for me, I would be overcome with a flood of nervousness. For me, talking on the phone usually entailed having it on speakerphone while either my mom or sister would stay close by to clarify anything I misunderstood. Since I misunderstood quite a bit, oftentimes my sister or mom would end up taking over the conversation, and then would go into some long conversation with my friend that was totally unrelated to what they even called to talk to me about. With my implants, I am able to use the phone normally and fairly well, but I usually only talk to close friends and family who:
a) Are fairly patient
b) just call to tell me a story, and spend an hour on the phone without me actually having to give any input
or
c) Tend to keep the conversation brief.

I figured that since we got to tell our top picks of places to volunteer, I would just avoid any that required phone work. Since I'm under sixteen, most of what I do is office work since I can't be a certified sitter or do any interacting with sick patients. When I got my schedule, I was surprised that I only got one of the the three things I requested. I hurriedly looked over them, and relief doesn't even begin to describe how I felt when I realized none of them listed answering phones in the description!

So, my first day was yesterday. At first we were divided into a bunch of groups and had to find a bunch of places in the (MASSIVE) hospital. It took about an hour and a half, and then we were sent off on our own to find our jobs. I arrived at my job and found some people that worked in the department. "Hi, I'm your student volunteer!" I said.
"Well what are you supposed to do?" the lady replied back.
Heh. Wasn't she supposed to tell me that?

After lots of back and forth between the volunteer office and the place where I was supposed to volunteer, I ended up just sitting there for two hours. The person who was supposed to be my supervisor was apparently too busy to show up, and the person in charge of coordinating the volunteers was convinced that she would, but alas! There wasn't really much I could do, and they let me go to lunch early. I got to sit with another girl who also got off early, and she was really nice. And, she showed me where my next assignment was, which took a good fifteen minutes to get to!

So I got there and my supervisor, a nurse, was actually there! She was really friendly, although she seemed to have a lot on her mind. For the first hour she had me doing a lot of things with filing and patient charts. Then I heard her calling my name from her cubicle. I rushed to her service.

"I'm so glad I have you! I have so many things I need to get done! Now I just need you to call a couple of patients...."

I'd tell you what she said next, but I started zoning out and going into a mini-panic as soon I heard the word "call". I could feel my face getting hot and my heart starting to beat faster. She then wrote out a script of what I needed to say and the numbers I needed to call. I slowly walked back into the room I was in, script in my hand.

I sat down in my chair and took a deep breath, I looked at the desk, completely bare except for the phone sitting in the center. I scooted in, sat up straight, and called the number, ready to complete my daunting task.
"I'm sorry the number you have called..." a voice said. I hung up. "This is a sign I shouldn't be calling!" I told myself.

Then I suddenly had a vague recollection of having to dial a 9 before a number outside the hospital. I tried again.

I began tapping my fingers on the desk.

I silently wished to myself,"please don't pick up, please don't pick up, please don--"
"Hello?" a woman's voice answered.
NOOOO!
Things sure weren't going my way!

"Hi, I'm calling from the hospital to say that you need to let your pharmacy know to fax the prescription to 2345678901, attention to Thenurse," I said, reading off of the script.

"okay, and how do-----?"

I gulped. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked.

"How do you------? Is it T-h-a-n-o?"

"Oh! No, it's spelled t-h-e-n-u-r-s-e."

"Okay, thank you!"

Phew. I did it! The rest of the phone calls went better. I had another brief moment of panic when I was asked to call and find out a fax number. I was successful, and was just glad it wasn't an email that I had to write down, letter-by-letter :)


My eight hours soon finished up, and I can't say it wasn't an exciting first day! I'm hoping tomorrow is somewhat less stressful. Maybe I should start using the phone a bit more...

Where It All Began

Hello World!
I think it's only fair I begin my first post with a little background info about myself. So, here goes...

I'm currently fourteen years old and in the eighth grade. I love listening to music, and have been playing the violin for three years. I also enjoy baking, as well as writing. I am obsessed with anything medical, and am determined to be a doctor one day.

When I was three and a half years old, I was diagnosed with a moderate/severe hearing loss after my speech became progressively less clear and I would respond to questions with illogical answers. I was soon fitted with hearing aids and began attending Auditory-Verbal therapy twice a week. I benefited immensely from hearing aids and remained completely oral. I was never much different from any other kid, and have always been mainstreamed (both before and after my hearing loss was diagnosed.)

The cause of my hearing loss is still completely unknown. I've done some genetic testing, which revealed nothing, and there's no history of hearing loss in my family. My hearing always fluctuated slightly, but the audiologist told me it was normal. Then, when I was twelve, about about a quarter of the way through my first year of middle school, that all changed.

At first, I didn't really notice. Sure, I found it nearly impossible to understand my friends at school, but that's only because it's so loud, right? And then I'd be changing in the locker room after gym, only to find out the bell had rung two minutes ago. "Oh, you were just distracted," I'd tell myself. I'd just started to learn how to play the violin, but why couldn't I hear all the notes?!
Then, after going days without hearing the bell ring in a single class, struggling to understand my teachers, and dazing off when my friends spoke to me, because no matter how hard I tried, I just could not understand what they were saying, I knew it was time. Time to schedule another hearing test, that is.