Hear My Story
Probably my earliest memory is the bomb explosion that destroyed my home in London in World War II and may have been the trigger for destroying my hearing.
It didn’t happen immediately, but by my mid-teens, I had developed a fluctuating, downward-spiraling hearing loss. At school and university, I struggled every month when the hearing faded. Friends helped with class notes, and one suggested a hearing aid. That frightened me; it sounded like the knell of doom. I went ahead, but in the mid-1950s in England the hearing aid industry wasn’t exactly booming. I got a CROS-aid that I didn’t understand and hardly used.
In the mid-1960s, by now married, living in New York where my husband worked for the United Nations, and the mother of two small children, I was becoming ever deafer. I didn’t know anyone who had a hearing loss. I felt very much alone and there seemed no help for me anywhere. I managed to earn a library degree, (research librarians didn’t need to meet people much). I wrote books and edited them commercially (solitary occupations not requiring ears). My family was living with someone whose hearing had almost vanished. I was in despair.
Sheer, wonderful luck in the late 1970s in the shape of a randomly read magazine article, brought me first to the Speak-Up Institute, then to SHHH, lifelines I grabbed with both hands. I finally met people who knew how to help themselves and others in this situation. They told me about the League.
At last I found professional help for every aspect of hearing loss - and terrific moral support. I was fitted with hearing aids, my League audiologist taught me how to use them, and this made a huge impact on my life. I worked as the League Librarian for eight years and loved it, helping the helpers in a small way and at last able to reach out to others with the same difficulties as myself.
Eventually, my League audiologist pressed me to get a cochlear implant, cheerfully losing a hearing aid client to give me a chance for better hearing. This is how the League works: for the best interests of those who need it. I will always be grateful.
By Adult League Client
When my progressive hearing loss worsened to deafness at age 3 1/2, my life changed forever. I always made the best of things though, so I was just grateful there was technology to help me back to hearing. There have always been ups and downs and struggles through the years, but as I approached preteen years, things became much more stressful and frustrating. So many fragile and tangling wires, batteries to be changed – always something to deal with on top of normal changes that we middle schoolers have to deal with! I felt so alone with my inner frustrations – no one could relate to these changes.
All that changed when I went to a meeting for hearing impaired kids and their parents at the League for the Hard of Hearing. I came in thinking, “what if other kids think I’m weird or I’m unusual?” I know I shouldn’t have been thinking about that, for the whole point of this meeting was to meet other kids just like me, talk about things that we have in common, what we do about them, and things that can make our lives better. But I couldn’t help it. I felt nervous.
When I came in and saw the other kids, I saw that they all had various aided hearing, too. I felt like gleefully running all around the room and shouting, “Hey! You’re all just like me!” I felt like I wanted to blurt out all my troubles and how difficult life has become because of my hearing loss. And that’s just what I did! Since there were only 8 kids at the meeting, I very easily met them. The first two girls I met were Veronica and Liz. We talked and talked and could have gone on for hours. We became so close, so quickly! I wished the meeting would never end! I had never been so happy in my whole life.
What made it even better was hearing from the older kids. It was a big weight lifted when I heard they shared the same challenges and that they’d gotten through. I learned how important it is to be my own advocate!
Before I knew it, the meeting had to end. All the kids, including me, were very sad the meeting was over. I felt like apple pie separated from vanilla ice cream. But I thought of one thing that made me feel better. The League will do it again next year, and when they do, I think every deaf child in the world should pack to go to New York City to the meeting, because it really helps kids relieve their stress, frustration, and fears. They’ll make new friends who can relate to their lives, too!
By League Client, Age 12
When I first found out about my daughter’s hearing loss I was lost. All I could think was I would never hear my daughter call me Mommy. At her test I was told it was moderately severe to severe. I didn’t know what that meant. I thought hearing was all or nothing, kind of like a light switch. I never knew a child with a hearing loss. I didn’t know a thing. All I knew was that I was deeply sad and very scared. Then I made a call to the League. I spoke to a lovely woman who arranged for my daughter’s appointment with an audiologist. At my appointment, I was told the woman who had answered the phone had the same hearing loss as my daughter. While I was shocked to hear that, I think it might have been the first time I breathed in days. The audiologist then spent a lot of time with our family and presented the various options to us. She helped to guide us through this new world we entered. She introduced us to another family where I saw another hearing impaired child singing with Barney on TV. She fit my daughter with hearing aids and the rest is history. She celebrated with me her first words and has watched her grow. My daughter is now 9 and in Fourth Grade. She has more then succeeded both academically and socially. There is no greater joy than to make her take off her IPOD to answer the phone.
By mother of League Client, Age 9
