you know, sometimes i get a bit offended when i look at the deaf tag
i didn’t get hearing aids until i moved to Sweden in 2011, even though i’ve had a hearing loss of 100 dB on my left side and a loss of 50 dB on my right since 2007 at least… i couldn’t afford hearing aids and my hospital refused…
I can understand your frustration, but at the same time, I think you have to remember that everyone is different and reacts to technology in different ways. Elle got a cochlear implant, and loved it so much she got a second one as well. I got hearing aids 4 years ago, and I hate them. I wear them as little as possible. But MY rejection of hearing aids in no way lessens your own struggle. I lived for 3 years profoundly deaf without hearing aids. I have a 100db loss in each ear. I couldn’t afford hearing aids, so I didn’t get them. I went through the same things you went through. When I finally got them, I they were great for about a week. After that I wanted to claw my ears out. Everything sounded too muddled. It was more distracting than it was helpful. (And to be clear- there is no other hearing loss in my family other than a VERY mild hearing loss in my brother. No one signs. All of my friends at the time were hearing. Most of my friends today are still hearing.)
I’m willing to bet that it wasn’t ONLY the lack of access to hearing aids that made life hard. If you had met other d/Deaf and Hared of hearing people earlier, it probably would have felt less isolating too.
I’m not sure if you mean that when people reject the techology, it stings you, or you mean that when they reject technology regardless of the fact it was easy for them to acquire it stings you.
And sometimes, the technology HAS done nothing for them. I can’t stand my hearing aids, and I honestly believe that they do NOT help me. It doesn’t have anything to DO with Deaf culture or anything. It’s ME, personally, thinking that hearing aids do not help me. They don’t. Everyone is different, and sometimes the technology has done nothing for them.
You aren’t the only one to struggle with getting hearing technology, so you’re not alone. People have their own reactions to it, and they have every right to it. The same as you have every right to own your own frustration about hearing aids and FM systems. Try not to let it get to you. That can be WAY harder to do than say, I know. Been there, done that. Not fun. :/
But you have hearing aids now, and I know you’re learning sign language, and you have found people that can relate! I think all of those things are great! My rejection of technology in no way dampens my joy that it is able to work for you! I know exactly how isolating it can be, and sometimes other people’s attitudes towards you and the things you have to do to cope with hearing loss are the worst part of it. Keep your chin up! You’re doing everything you can, and I am very much hoping that that means life is getting better.
(and good luck with your procedure coming up!) c:
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