Whilst I am excited to be receiving my upgrades in october, after waiting 5 years, I am faced with a dilemma: do I have one or two upgrades?
Friday, 31 August 2012
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Me,Cochlear Implants and the deaf community
Cochlear Implants; does that make me deaf?
Cochlear implants spark a lot of controversy within the deaf community; some accept them, some don't and some are unsure. Some people believe that if your born deaf, then you should stay deaf, that you shouldn't have any hearing devices. Some believe that if your given the opportunity to hear, why not take it? Some feel that it takes one's deaf identity away from them.
I for one am mixed about cochlear implants, I love them because it means I can hear,speak, I can integrate with the hearing community. But I feel they take away my sense of deaf identity, that I belong in neither the hearing or deaf world, that I live in an 'in-between' world. I feel bad to call myself deaf, because I go to mainstream school,have hearing friends and live in a hearing family.
Some views shared in the deaf community::
' I really like them, I'm having my second one next year! If I didn't have them I would've been a BSL user and I would've had to communicate with my family using BSL. But now I have one I wish I knew more BSL and the frustrating thing is that I always have to avoid things.' Ellen (teen user of CI'S)
'I think CI's are amazing, they illustrate how wonderful the human brains are at adapting by turning electrical impulses into sound which we can interpret, they are one of the most amazing medical advances to date. They're not successful for everyone and aren't a 'magic fix' for deafness. They can restore hearing to a large degree if successful but CI users should still be proud of their deaf identity ' Eloise (teen user of Hearing aids)
' I highly recommend them, my son has two implants, he never used to make a sound previous to having them, but he can now successfully say clear sentences.' Amanda (Parent's perspective)
'My daughter has the best of both worlds: signing, speaking and listening to music. We don't take her implant for granted and are in awe of it.' Carol (Parents perspective)
'I think CI's are one of the major reasons of why deaf culture and language are diminishing, whilst we are seeing more deaf schools close. I feel that children should have the option to choose whether they want to have an implant. If parents choose when their child is young, then the child has little scope to look into further options later on in life, it's difficult for a child so young to comprehend the process and what it all means. I fear for our deaf community, deaf culture and language.' Ni (Deaf teen-hearing aid user)
So to conclude CI's may impact on deaf culture, language and education. But they improve an individuals life for the better, in most cases. However CI's are not suitable for everyone and not everyone agrees with them but we're all unique and we all have different needs. CI's don't make you 'hearing' they just give you the opportunity to experience the sense of hearing. Lots of people feel the same as I do, its possible to be part of both worlds. I love my CI's, they have changed my life and they have opened up so many opportunities for me.I do however wish that I carried on signing throughout, embracing my deaf culture.
Cochlear implants spark a lot of controversy within the deaf community; some accept them, some don't and some are unsure. Some people believe that if your born deaf, then you should stay deaf, that you shouldn't have any hearing devices. Some believe that if your given the opportunity to hear, why not take it? Some feel that it takes one's deaf identity away from them.
I for one am mixed about cochlear implants, I love them because it means I can hear,speak, I can integrate with the hearing community. But I feel they take away my sense of deaf identity, that I belong in neither the hearing or deaf world, that I live in an 'in-between' world. I feel bad to call myself deaf, because I go to mainstream school,have hearing friends and live in a hearing family.
Some views shared in the deaf community::
' I really like them, I'm having my second one next year! If I didn't have them I would've been a BSL user and I would've had to communicate with my family using BSL. But now I have one I wish I knew more BSL and the frustrating thing is that I always have to avoid things.' Ellen (teen user of CI'S)
'I think CI's are amazing, they illustrate how wonderful the human brains are at adapting by turning electrical impulses into sound which we can interpret, they are one of the most amazing medical advances to date. They're not successful for everyone and aren't a 'magic fix' for deafness. They can restore hearing to a large degree if successful but CI users should still be proud of their deaf identity ' Eloise (teen user of Hearing aids)
' I highly recommend them, my son has two implants, he never used to make a sound previous to having them, but he can now successfully say clear sentences.' Amanda (Parent's perspective)
'My daughter has the best of both worlds: signing, speaking and listening to music. We don't take her implant for granted and are in awe of it.' Carol (Parents perspective)
'I think CI's are one of the major reasons of why deaf culture and language are diminishing, whilst we are seeing more deaf schools close. I feel that children should have the option to choose whether they want to have an implant. If parents choose when their child is young, then the child has little scope to look into further options later on in life, it's difficult for a child so young to comprehend the process and what it all means. I fear for our deaf community, deaf culture and language.' Ni (Deaf teen-hearing aid user)
So to conclude CI's may impact on deaf culture, language and education. But they improve an individuals life for the better, in most cases. However CI's are not suitable for everyone and not everyone agrees with them but we're all unique and we all have different needs. CI's don't make you 'hearing' they just give you the opportunity to experience the sense of hearing. Lots of people feel the same as I do, its possible to be part of both worlds. I love my CI's, they have changed my life and they have opened up so many opportunities for me.I do however wish that I carried on signing throughout, embracing my deaf culture.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
NDCS Young Leaders Camp 2012
On Monday 6th August I set off feeling excited but slightly apprehensive of the week ahead-I was off to York on a NDCS Young leaders camp. Would I like the people? Would I make new friends?
When I arrived I signed in, handed in my money and phone. Then I was shown to my accomodation by a volunteer. It was lush! Mind you thats to be expected when your staying in a private school (Queen Ethelburga's College) for the week
It was time, time to meet everyone. I remember feeling so shy and thinking: have I made the right choice coming here? I saw people signing and talking around me. We all introduced ourselves and met the staff&volunteers. Then we had an Icebreaker, and that sure broke the ice: we all got talking and started to get to know each other. I knew then that I was going to love this week.
So what did we do this week? Signsong workshops, watching performances of both Handprint theatre and Signsong performer Rebecca Withey, leading workshops and creating portfolios. All of this leads to all of us gaining an Bronze Arts award. I'm proud of what I've acheived this week, I hope these residentials will help me to become more confident.
We had lots of free time and also did evening activites. One of my favourite memories of the week was when we played Do or Die and at the end we soaked the two superior people; they got DRENCHED, but it was worth it to see the look on their faces! But what did I love the most? I loved making new deaf friends, developing new sign language skills and just immersing myself into my deaf culture, which I rarely get to do as I live in the hearing world. I have learnt new things and I have had the time of my life this week. I'll never forget it and will keep in touch with all of my new found friends. We all didn't want to say goodbye and wanted it to last for longer!
We plan on doing a big reunion sometime and hope to go to the next young leaders camp next summer! But we can't wait that long to meet up again, so after one day of being home we are already talking about when we next going to meet up!
I just want to thank all the best group of staff, volunteers and young people of the residential for the BEST week ever!:D
When I arrived I signed in, handed in my money and phone. Then I was shown to my accomodation by a volunteer. It was lush! Mind you thats to be expected when your staying in a private school (Queen Ethelburga's College) for the week
It was time, time to meet everyone. I remember feeling so shy and thinking: have I made the right choice coming here? I saw people signing and talking around me. We all introduced ourselves and met the staff&volunteers. Then we had an Icebreaker, and that sure broke the ice: we all got talking and started to get to know each other. I knew then that I was going to love this week.
So what did we do this week? Signsong workshops, watching performances of both Handprint theatre and Signsong performer Rebecca Withey, leading workshops and creating portfolios. All of this leads to all of us gaining an Bronze Arts award. I'm proud of what I've acheived this week, I hope these residentials will help me to become more confident.
We had lots of free time and also did evening activites. One of my favourite memories of the week was when we played Do or Die and at the end we soaked the two superior people; they got DRENCHED, but it was worth it to see the look on their faces! But what did I love the most? I loved making new deaf friends, developing new sign language skills and just immersing myself into my deaf culture, which I rarely get to do as I live in the hearing world. I have learnt new things and I have had the time of my life this week. I'll never forget it and will keep in touch with all of my new found friends. We all didn't want to say goodbye and wanted it to last for longer!
We plan on doing a big reunion sometime and hope to go to the next young leaders camp next summer! But we can't wait that long to meet up again, so after one day of being home we are already talking about when we next going to meet up!
I just want to thank all the best group of staff, volunteers and young people of the residential for the BEST week ever!:D
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Deafness-What does it mean?
After doing some research into a well-known deaf model:Fletch@, reading about Louis Tomlinson's new found "deafness" and simply talking to deaf friends I started to wonder what are the connotations of the word "deafness", what does it really mean?
Well, deafness goes across a wide spectrum: from mild to profound and within that spectrum are many different levels, and every individual's needs regarding deafness is unique. Some people choose to use BSL, some choose to speak and some choose to use a combination of both. There are hearing aid users, cochlear implant users, BAHA users and some who choose not to wear anything. Unfortunately Cochlear Implant's do spark a bit of controversy within the deaf community, but I'll leave that for another post! As you can tell, the deaf community is diverse, so being deaf doesn't always necessarily mean that you cant hear-full stop.
So why do we have to tick the disabled box on forms, just because we're deaf-we can still do everything that hearing people do so why should we let our deafness get in the way. We're not disabled, we're able to do anything. I personally think that deafness is separate to disability, we should be allowed to say that we're "deaf" and not "disabled" when applying for jobs,for uni etc. Another label we have to put up with; Special needs. Many people associate special needs with being stupid, that they can't do anything. Well I for one know that's not true because I volunteer with them, I have a family member who has Down's Syndrome and they're a pleasure to be with. But why should people associate deaf people with the word stupid? This relates back to the old saying 'deaf and dumb', many deaf people are on par with hearing peers,some above average and yes some are below the national average but that's not because they're dumb, it's because they haven't been provided with the necessary amount of support to enable them to achieve their potential. And yes we may need to have support and resources in an educational and work environment, and we may use a different language. But Special needs?! What happened to being "deaf"?
To end on a positive note I'm proud to deaf, proud to be a part of the deaf community, proud to say to people "I'm deaf."
Well, deafness goes across a wide spectrum: from mild to profound and within that spectrum are many different levels, and every individual's needs regarding deafness is unique. Some people choose to use BSL, some choose to speak and some choose to use a combination of both. There are hearing aid users, cochlear implant users, BAHA users and some who choose not to wear anything. Unfortunately Cochlear Implant's do spark a bit of controversy within the deaf community, but I'll leave that for another post! As you can tell, the deaf community is diverse, so being deaf doesn't always necessarily mean that you cant hear-full stop.
So why do we have to tick the disabled box on forms, just because we're deaf-we can still do everything that hearing people do so why should we let our deafness get in the way. We're not disabled, we're able to do anything. I personally think that deafness is separate to disability, we should be allowed to say that we're "deaf" and not "disabled" when applying for jobs,for uni etc. Another label we have to put up with; Special needs. Many people associate special needs with being stupid, that they can't do anything. Well I for one know that's not true because I volunteer with them, I have a family member who has Down's Syndrome and they're a pleasure to be with. But why should people associate deaf people with the word stupid? This relates back to the old saying 'deaf and dumb', many deaf people are on par with hearing peers,some above average and yes some are below the national average but that's not because they're dumb, it's because they haven't been provided with the necessary amount of support to enable them to achieve their potential. And yes we may need to have support and resources in an educational and work environment, and we may use a different language. But Special needs?! What happened to being "deaf"?
To end on a positive note I'm proud to deaf, proud to be a part of the deaf community, proud to say to people "I'm deaf."
Sunday, 29 July 2012
My deaf journey
So as you've probably gathered by the title my name is Kathryn. I'm 16 and profoundly deaf-have been since birth. I came into this world with no hearing, no idea what sound was.
I tried hearing aids for about 6 months but it was pretty obvious that they were useless in my case as I didn't respond to anyone or anything. It was like living in my own little bubble, oblivious to the world around me.
Not being able to communicate with me frustrated my parents, so my mum enrolled at our local college to learn level 1 BSL, meaning that it opened up a whole new world for me and my family, the world of communication. Me being able to tell them when I wanted a drink or if i wanted to cuddle my teddy! I also had a sign language tutor come round to my house and she'd do all sorts of things with me; puzzles,reading books... When I watch videos of those tutorials I realise what a fluent signer I was when I was little. It makes me smile when I see how my eyes just lit up when I knew I'd got the right sign,knowing that I could do anything! I could sign: animals, simple everyday words, colours, numbers, the alphabet, my name and many more!
So I continued to sign throughout my toddler years...but my mum and dad often thought, is this it? Is this the life my daughters going to lead, a world of silence and being heavily reliant on sign language? Will my daughter ever hear? This is what their ultimate goal was to at least give me the chance to be able to hear so they explored many avenues and options, they eventually came across Cochlear Implant's. I had scans, hearing tests and my parents had many discussions with my audiology team to see if I was a suitable candidate and thankfully in the end it turned out I was!
In August '98, at the age of 2, I had the operation and a couple of weeks later I had the switch on. This was it, the moment we'd all been waiting for, was my life about to change? They turned it on, and I turned around frantically and looked at my mum, constantly blinking. I only cried once when they did a really loud sound and I rushed to hug my mum;confused at what was happening, I had heard my first sounds! My mum was laughing and crying;most probably an emotional wreck- my parents were so relieved that I finally had the opportunity to hear! what chokes me now, is that the first time I ever heard my parents was then at the age of 2.
I slowly became more confident with my implant, and my speech slowly began to develop but at the age of 4 I was still a fluent signer, so in reception I had TA who knew Sign Language to maximise my understanding. However by the end of reception I was still behind my peers in terms of speech, understanding and academically so I repeated reception.
From there on in, I just became more confident and eventually I no longer signed and was completely oral, every day I surprised myself & my parents with every little achievement!
So at the beginning of year 6 I began to consider having a second implant, because I felt that it would benefit me in everyday life and also help me to cope with the environment at secondary school. After much deliberation I had it, the date was set for the op; 21st Jan 2008. As the day dawned I became more excited but nervous at the same time! The operation went fine and I was up at ten at night playing with cards with a boy opposite me, so all was okay. The following day, after a sleepless night due to the heavy bandage on my head, I was discharged and thank goodness the bandage was taken off!
4th Feb; switch on. Was I happy or disappointed? I hated it, it just sounded alien and it didn't sound natural but I needed to try and at least persevere.
July 2012: I'm now about to enter year 11 in September and about to do my final year at secondary school! Unfortunately, I have struggled with my second implant and still find it difficult to wear it consistently but I've tried but I'm still going to keep trying and not give up because after years of waiting I'm getting the Nucleus 5 upgrade! I am proud to be part of the deaf community and the hearing community. The only regrets I have are: not continuing to sign throughout my childhood and not taking to my second implant as well as I could've done.
I want to take this opportunity to thank my family and CI team for giving the gift to be able to hear!
I tried hearing aids for about 6 months but it was pretty obvious that they were useless in my case as I didn't respond to anyone or anything. It was like living in my own little bubble, oblivious to the world around me.
Not being able to communicate with me frustrated my parents, so my mum enrolled at our local college to learn level 1 BSL, meaning that it opened up a whole new world for me and my family, the world of communication. Me being able to tell them when I wanted a drink or if i wanted to cuddle my teddy! I also had a sign language tutor come round to my house and she'd do all sorts of things with me; puzzles,reading books... When I watch videos of those tutorials I realise what a fluent signer I was when I was little. It makes me smile when I see how my eyes just lit up when I knew I'd got the right sign,knowing that I could do anything! I could sign: animals, simple everyday words, colours, numbers, the alphabet, my name and many more!
So I continued to sign throughout my toddler years...but my mum and dad often thought, is this it? Is this the life my daughters going to lead, a world of silence and being heavily reliant on sign language? Will my daughter ever hear? This is what their ultimate goal was to at least give me the chance to be able to hear so they explored many avenues and options, they eventually came across Cochlear Implant's. I had scans, hearing tests and my parents had many discussions with my audiology team to see if I was a suitable candidate and thankfully in the end it turned out I was!
In August '98, at the age of 2, I had the operation and a couple of weeks later I had the switch on. This was it, the moment we'd all been waiting for, was my life about to change? They turned it on, and I turned around frantically and looked at my mum, constantly blinking. I only cried once when they did a really loud sound and I rushed to hug my mum;confused at what was happening, I had heard my first sounds! My mum was laughing and crying;most probably an emotional wreck- my parents were so relieved that I finally had the opportunity to hear! what chokes me now, is that the first time I ever heard my parents was then at the age of 2.
I slowly became more confident with my implant, and my speech slowly began to develop but at the age of 4 I was still a fluent signer, so in reception I had TA who knew Sign Language to maximise my understanding. However by the end of reception I was still behind my peers in terms of speech, understanding and academically so I repeated reception.
From there on in, I just became more confident and eventually I no longer signed and was completely oral, every day I surprised myself & my parents with every little achievement!
So at the beginning of year 6 I began to consider having a second implant, because I felt that it would benefit me in everyday life and also help me to cope with the environment at secondary school. After much deliberation I had it, the date was set for the op; 21st Jan 2008. As the day dawned I became more excited but nervous at the same time! The operation went fine and I was up at ten at night playing with cards with a boy opposite me, so all was okay. The following day, after a sleepless night due to the heavy bandage on my head, I was discharged and thank goodness the bandage was taken off!
4th Feb; switch on. Was I happy or disappointed? I hated it, it just sounded alien and it didn't sound natural but I needed to try and at least persevere.
July 2012: I'm now about to enter year 11 in September and about to do my final year at secondary school! Unfortunately, I have struggled with my second implant and still find it difficult to wear it consistently but I've tried but I'm still going to keep trying and not give up because after years of waiting I'm getting the Nucleus 5 upgrade! I am proud to be part of the deaf community and the hearing community. The only regrets I have are: not continuing to sign throughout my childhood and not taking to my second implant as well as I could've done.
I want to take this opportunity to thank my family and CI team for giving the gift to be able to hear!
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