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| What I Don't Like | ||
Something I don’t like about having a hearing loss is having a teaching aide in the classroom. That’s the only thing I don’t like about school, it’s having a teaching aide. Nobody else really has somebody who follows them around and makes sure they hear things and understand what they say. Fourth grade is hard to go through when you have a hearing loss. -Stephanie, 9 Telling New People That I'm Hard of Hearing All the Time Another thing I don’t like with my hearing loss is that I have to go around and when I meet people I have to inform them about it. -Stephanie, 9 It bothers me when the dog barks. -Elise, 8 I would be angry that I had a hard time singing to the radio or going to the movies or hearing in loud, crowded places or on the phone. I used to hate sleepovers where people would whisper in the dark and I remained in the dark. I hate asking for the silly inane parts of conversations and being told “It’s not important.” It was important to me because not hearing those little jokes and such made me feel like I was never in the loop. -Melanie, 23 My brother and other people will say something and I’ll say “What?” and they’ll say “Never mind.” It gets on my nerves when people won’t tell me what they’re saying. -Alicia, 10 I think the hardest challenge for me is that I’m constantly having to educate people. Sometimes it’s tiring and sometimes it’s angering that so many people are so ignorant. Asking me about my speech impediment, pointing to my hearing aids, asking me all kinds of bizarre and sometimes rude questions, making inappropriate jokes, etc. Luckily it doesn’t happen often, but it happens and that’s one time too many. I try to deal with it by realizing that many of these actions come out of ignorance and to a certain degree a lack of sympathy. -Melanie, 23 I think I’ve experienced only a couple of small challenges growing up with a hearing loss. Even today things like answering or talking on the phone makes me nervous because I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to hear everything. -Ashley, 19 I’ve dealt with self-consciousness about wearing hearing aids but I learned that people don’t necessarily view you that differently, most of my friends tell me that they just completely forget that I have any type of hearing loss. -Ashley, 19 Sometimes it’s annoying to have to ask people to repeat what they’re saying and then have them get all frustrated. I really don’t want to let it get to me but it’s something that I realize any person with hearing loss or without hearing loss goes through. Who hasn’t said to someone “What did you just say?” -Ashley, 19 I Don't Take My Hearing for Granted I don’t take my hearing for granted. I know that all deaf people have worked really hard to get where they are and people who hear, no offense, but they take it for granted. -Evan, 11 |
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Hospital Boston Department of Psychiatry. All Rights Reserved. The information on this website should not be taken as medical advice, which can only be given to you by your personal health care professional. Updated: December 23, 2007 |
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