There's a lot more to a person than meets the eye.
Be kind to everyone you meet, for everyone is fighting a battle that you know nothing about.
You'll have to call my name a few times to get my attention. I promise I'm not ignoring you.
The truth? The truth is that I'm hard-of-hearing. I probably won't hear you call my name from the distance. I sometimes don't even hear you if you're standing right in front of me.
If you look closely behind my long-layered hair, you'll see a pair of hearing aids in my ears. Without them, the sounds of the world sound extremely different. I misinterpret things that are said to me, and everything is confusing.
I wear my hearing aids because my hearing loss ranges from moderate to moderately severe in my left and right ears, respectively.
For those moments that you have a conversation with me when I'm not wearing my hearing aids, you have to scream and shout at me.
Now you know why in any given conversation I'm constantly using phrases like, "What?" or "Can you repeat that?"
The words of a whisper are a lost cause for me. Please don't whisper in my presence, I won't understand a thing -- I guarantee it.
Feel free to laugh, though. I believe laughter is the best form of medicine. Feel free to laugh at the things I thought you said when you were talking to me.
Sometimes in a conversation, I'll be way off when I interpret things and well, all anyone can do in that situation is just laugh. I laugh at the times that I have to get through life with one hearing aid. Sometimes the battery has just died and I'm unable to change it right away because i don't have batteries on me.
There's been at least two times when my little dog, Betty, chewed my hearing aid earmolds. How she would get them, Well... that's a different story. Looking back on that now, I just can't help but laugh about. it.
I love my hearing aids because:
They're life earmuffs in the middle of December.
When I take them off, everything sounds quiet.
I can sleep through anything. Sleeping is wonderful.
I've been fortunate enough to have a great family who takes the time to repeat things when they're talking to me.
I've been fortunate enough to have befriended those that are in my life who will do the same.
People can tell by my facial expressions when I have absolutely no clue what's going on.
I thank those when they take the time to fill me in on what I've missed and clear up the confusion.
If you're not going to take the time to repeat things for me when I ask you to, we simply just won't talk much.
This is rather harsh, but, if you're not going to repeat the things you've said to me, I'm not going to care about the things you have to say to me.
I don't need your pity when it comes to my hearing loss. I just need you to understand that I will not hear every single word that you say to me. I need you to be kind enough to repeat things for me.
I love when the time comes for me to get new hearing aids. I love making my hearing aids and the earmolds various different colors. For my current hearing aids, (as pictured above) the color of the hearing aid is dark blue, The color of the earmolds is beige.
If I'm going to wear my hearing aids daily, why not take the time to make them as colorful as I want them to be?
My hearing loss won't stop me. Neither will my vision loss. I'll still strive to meet all of the goals that I set for myself.
Everyone you meet has something going on in their lives that you know nothing about.
For me, it's my vision and hearing loss. But, when asked, I'll gladly talk to anyone about it.
