2018 UPDATE: This has been staying in my drafts since 2015 and it’s time to publish it! The date will be listed as 2015. The post was created back during the first days of my cochlear implant activation. I’m considering creating another blog where I talk about my perspective being partially hard-of-hearing and also gay. I would share a variety of things on that blog. The purpose of the blog would be to remind readers how much more similar we are than different.
Hi everyone,
I have been lucky to have been receiving not only auditory retraining for my hybrid CI, but also tools to better advocate for myself.
I was just thinking that I should state to the caller on my cell phone voicemail to please slowly state their name, telephone number, and message as I am hard of hearing!
Now that makes me feel more in charge of my hearing loss! Receiving auditory therapy has included advocation and so that has prompted my own ideas, so why not state this with my voicemail?
I’m tired of the fast-paced talkers leaving messages ;-).
As you may or may not know, I’m on the educational path to becoming a licensed psychotherapist. My goal is to eventually work in private practice.
A few people have suggested that carving out a niche of clients who are hard-of-hearing who don’t fit into the deaf community and struggle with fitting into the hearing community with hearing loss would be a great fit for me. This is my journey as well and thus I would be able to relate to others who share this experience.
By no means would I limit my practice to certain clients, but certainly being a therapist with this specialization would be gratifying and so important as there aren’t a lot of psychotherapists who can help in this way. It would be amazing to be able to introduce myself at HLAA meetings and be an advocate in that way. Plus, I could make suggestions during a session, if people are demonstrating or mentioning difficulty with a part of their hearing instrument or program to visit their audiologist. — There are a lot of people who unfortunately avoid discussing issues with their audiologist. The intentions are good – to not bother the audiologist, but that’s what the audiologist is there for, to help out and solve issues. I have a wonderful audiologist at House Clinic that could definitely help many people.
What’s great about all this thinking is I’m feeling more empowered in my life as opposed to in the past.
Cheers,
Patrick
