Communication Strategies For A Person with a Hearing Loss

I want to share this handout I received years ago on Communication Strategies. Maybe this will help you.

Communication Strategies for a person with a hearing loss

- be sure your hearing aid is working properly ( and has a fresh batteries).

- TELL PEOPLE YOU HAVE A HEARING LOSS* this is one that I find with great difficulty to do still till this day. Its hard I don't know why I know I am not the only person that has this problem but I know there are plenty of us that cant just OPEN UP and tell people I HAVE A HEARING LOSS! I am beginning to realize we need to ADVOCATE FOR OURSELVES and its so IMPORTANT it really is because then the other person will never know and then we will be lost etc. So make sure you tell the person from now on that you have a hearing loss. Don't be ashamed and DONT SAY YOUR SORRY LIKE I USED TO DO! Its a very bad habit of mine.

- Sit or stand where you can easily see the faces of all the speakers. For example: When I go out to eat I make sure I sit at a ROUND TABLE so this way if four of us are out I can see ALL four of them. So I don't have to keep turning my head and miss something! IT WORKS GREAT.

- Request that one person speak at a time.

- In a group, sit or stand near the person with whom you most want to speak.

- Move away from noise, background music and other conversations.

-Ask people to FACE YOU when THEY SPEAK* to move their hands away from their mouths, NOT to exaggerate speech, NOT to speak while chewing, and to SLOW DOWN**. Of course ask people to REPEAT if necessary.

- try to be well rested.

- Be aware that how you are feeling ( fatigues, distracted, worried etc.) because this can interfere with your ability to UNDERSTAND the speaker.



Remember: " YOU MUST ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF" thanks to my last speaker from the HLAA meeting. That night I came home I said to myself " he's right" about what he said. It has helped me already. Today I was on the phone for a bill, I told the person " I am deaf can you please speak up" IT DID WORK!!! I have always always to be honest been afraid of this. Finally I am starting to "let go" of that FEAR.

Hope you find this helpful. Feel free to leave comments!!I would love to hear from you.

Have a goodnight I will return tomorrow.


Smile-Hugs,
Danielle

Im A Cochlear Implant Candidate!

I am a Candidate for a Cochlear Implant!! I am so excited. The next step is going back to see a demo of all the CI'S that are out there and talk to a surgeon. I already know which one I want but this is a standard process. I am so excited that I will be able to hear again.

My audiologist called me earlier in the week and told me that she had a brand new connect-line kit for me and that the old one was defective. When I set it up, All of a sudden I hear the same exact noise that was going on with the first connect-line device. Then I go to put the wire into my ipod and streamer and it was making an awful sound. Basically the same problem I had with the last 4 wires.

Hope you all have a wonderful day.


Smiles-Hugs
Danielle

Hearing loss hits 1 in 5 U.S. teens

Hope you all are enjoying your summer. I cant believe its the end of the summer already. Time flies. Here is a great article I wanted to share with you.


Hearing loss hits 1 in 5 U.S. teens




Smile-Hugs,

Danielle

BACK TO SCHOOL CHECK LIST

To all Parents who have Deaf/Hard of Hearing Kiddo's. All the Kids are going back to go school. I came across some great helpful documents that can be printed out. I hope you find this helpful.

IEP CHECK LIST - We cannot remember everything. Here is a wonderful checklist from hands and voices. You can print this out and just take it with you to the IEP meeting. There are so many great accommodations on this sheet that I couldnt remember!


Communication Plan for child who is Deaf/Hard of Hearing

Preschool/Kindergarten Placement Checklist

Preschool Evaluation Chart for your children's Needs

Deaf Child Bill of Rights

All these documents are from Hands&Voices which is a non profit organization that supports children who have a hearing loss.


Smile-Hugs

Silence is Golden

Today I went to the Dr.'s and I explained to her I am deaf and wears a hearing aid but sometimes I don't catch everything you are saying. So she said "I love sign language" I took ASL up in high school years ago. I was signing as I was talking which is a bad habit of mine. I was thrilled she knew how to sign a little. At one point I took off my hearing aid so she can massage my neck so I said " I wont hear you at all because you will be behind me and I wont be able to lip read what your saying". After the massage was done I put my hearing aid back in and she goes " It must be nice to be in silence you can always turn off when you want to". The massage lady made me realize that is the reason why I like being deaf sometimes. This is just my opinion. I told her it is nice to just have quietness. The world out there is so NOISY and I never really realized that until a few months ago. For me sometimes when I need just to relax I have to take out my aid because I cant function with a lot of sounds its a lot for my ear( Recruitment. I like the fact that I can just switch off whenever I want to.

Do you find yourself just taking off your hearing aids for some quietness???



Smile-Hugs,

Danielle

Know your RIGHTS as a Deaf/ Hard of Hearing Person

I hope you all are enjoying your summer and staying cool! It is so hot here in NY. Time sure does fly by quickly I cannot believe summer is almost over. My best friend who is profoundly deaf ask me for help. She wants to volunteer somewhere and they wont provide an interpreter for her. I was furious when she told me this. I contacted the American's Disability Act to ask what OUR RIGHTS ARE.
Truthfully, I dont even know my rights as a deaf person. So in a way im glad that I called because I wouldn't of known all this information. I want you all to know that its very important to know your rights. You have a right to! For example: You need to know what your rights are when you go into a HOSPITAL, Looking for a Job etc. I was able to contact a few interpreters that I am friends with to try and get her a student volunteer interpreter so I am waiting to hear from that person. She needs an interpreter she does not wear aids or a CI because she cannot benefit from them. She relies on interpreter's and lip reading. She plans on going for this interview Sept 2nd. Im just shocked that they didnt want to provide an interpreter they told her in an email " call the state to see if they will provide one for you". I couldn't believe they would take the time to write something like that back to her!

I decided to write a blog about this because its important! Here a few great websites that can help you know what your rights are. Remember if you end up not getting hired because you are deaf/hard of hearing you can complain!!! I hope these websites help you and if you are still having trouble figuring what your rights are you can call ADA and they will be happy to send you information via mail.

EEOC WEBSITE Questions and Answers about Deaf/Hard of Hearing in the Workplace

JOB APPLICANTS

Manage Volunteers


Before I give you the link once you are on the website, scroll all the way down... Instead of having ADA send this via mail you can actually print the PDF format at home. Its very easy to do just click on the link you want and hit print! This is a very helpful website.

ADA Business Brief Documents




Smile-Hugs,
Danielle

Misunderstanding

Yesterday I went to the Dr's. Its a new Dr. This was only my 2nd week. So anyway he has an accent and is very hard to understand even with my one aid in. So as he was putting the needles in for the acupuncture, I thought he said " Do you want water?" turns out he saids " Do you want more." I become very frustrated lately when I misunderstand noone know this though. So then finally I asked my mom to get me water meanwhile I didnt want more needles in my leg because I was just trying it out. I ended up saying "yes". Then another new dr who happens to be spanish was there she was TALKING to me from behind me and I had no IDEA. That the chryopractor was like Danielle the dr is asking you questions and I said " WHAT DR." He was so nice enough to repeat what she was saying because I didnt even know she was talking or what she was saying. I had no idea. Finally the last question she comes to me and I explained I am deaf. She smiles walks away and still is talking to me the chyropractor finally explained that on the front PAGE it saids A sticker that I put on myself states: PATIENT IS DEAF and I explained that I read Lips! I wanted to share this with you because I know IM NOT THE ONLY PERSON that deals with this.


Smiles!