Listening with my eyes

Its blog time again!!!!! thought I would make a little blog about my new hearing aids the Unitron Moxi 6. I have been dispensed 2 hearing aids and I wont lie, when I was told that my left ear was also deteriorating I was gutted, that sick deep feeling in my stomach is hard to explain, I was so upset.
I then saw my hearing loss as an obstacle.......for about 2 seconds...... No way was I going to let this come between me and life.

The Moxi 6 is a great hearing aid, it has 6 programs, although I haven't had any set yet, its very discrete and very comfortable, so comfortable that sometimes I don't know I have it in, that might not always be a good thing I have a fear of jumping the shower or falling to sleep and breaking them. They come in many colours I was advised to pick the same colour as my hair ( I guess its to camouflage them) so I had the dark brown colour. I'm not bothered about hiding my hearing aids, that would be like trying to hide my hearing loss and I wont do that.
I hear pretty good when I have my aids in although I do find busy places difficult, but I know it will get easier, I'm still having to visit my Audiologist for fine tuning. My left hearing aid has not been programmed yet there was no rush as my hearing loss is mild in the left ear, hopefully that will be done on my next appointment on Thursday...she is also going to show me how to change the filters.

What is it like hearing for the first time through hearing aids...WOW.....the first thing I heard was my audiologist tapping on her keyboard I could hear every little key being tapped, she looked up at me and she knew I could hear, a little tear in my eye but we both smiled.
Birds singing
Traffic approaching
Voices from other rooms
And mens voices, I really struggled with mens voices
I could hear them all and now I find myself listening intensively to find new sounds :)

My biggest fear was my hearing loss interfering in my career. I'm a Forensic Artist and soon to be Personal Fitness Trainer and Figure Competitor....I need to be able to function, talk to people and communicate effectively...I may have lost my hearing but but I haven't lost my abilities and passion for life. I decided to start learning sign language both BSL and ASL, also lip reading.....Yes folks I'm ready for the world as a deaf person.... I will not forfeit my careers.... Sign language and lip reading is a big part of my life now and will be glad to offer these services later on.
As for Figure competing, I know of only one competitor Lori Hilary but that doesn't mean to say there are not others out there.
I can only say life is going to be interesting from this point on...sure I will be a victim of ignorance somewhere down the way but I choose to be happy so I wont let that bother me at all. I don't want to be treated differently, all I ask is you look at me when speaking to me and speak clearly...there wont be any need to shout.

I have learned a lot about the deaf culture... reading blogs,watching videos on YouTube, some made me laugh some made me cry...tears of happiness are the best watch these little guys hearing for the first time after cochlear implants

 

These kids are awesome!!!!

I am sure I will have many more blogs about my hearing loss, the people I meet and my adventures in a hearing world, to be honest its kinda exciting, Im learning a new language, meeting new people and showing the world being different is not a problem.

There is one thing that my hearing loss has forced me to do and that is maximise my own potential and I will keep doing that on a daily basis. :)

Peace Out People
Have a great day and remember deaf doesn't have to be ugly, it can be sexy...Jae

Embracing my deafness

The world is scary when you first have an hearing aid, I prefer to call it my bionic ear :), every little sound scares the hell of you. The most scary is being outside, there so many noises coming at you all at once, in fact at first it was quite intimidating but then I ask myself geezzz how did I get on so long without one, why did I restrict myself from a better quality of life. Its nice not having to ask people to repeat themselves or pretend to hear what they said. Society has gone on about how deaf people face such ignorance and here is me being ignorant to the hearing people. I decided to embrace my disability, but not really sure I should call it that, I don't see this as a disability at all, in fact I love this new world I can hear, and if it wasn't for seeing the deaf aid in my ear no one would know I was hard of hearing. I love this new part of me.

I embrace my deafness and this new language I am learning, sign language is so much fun to learn, I have surprised myself how far I have come within a few weeks although my finger spelling is not quite up to speed  and the dexterity in my fingers is not that great with some of the letters of the alphabet I really have a hard time with the letter Y. Of course I have met some new friends who are also deaf or hard of hearing they have been great with helping me with this. I am kinda hoping some of my friends will take a little course in sign language but only if they want too.

I cant say it hasnt changed my life because it has, but it is defiantly not in a negative or bad way, what is quite comical though is people thinking they have to shout even though you are wearing a hearing aid, its so funny when I give them a little smile and say you don't have to shout LOL, although I would appreciate it if you look at me when talking to me, it does make it difficult to catch what you say if you are turned away from me. That is my only hearing challenge at the moment

The pros, at least I have mute button for when the world is getting on my nerves LOL but I do miss not being able to hear music like I once did, I can hear it, but its just not the same. I have not always been hard of hearing so I can compare, some sounds I miss like not being able hear the birds singing as well as I used to...............oh and hey you should hear thunder through an hearing aid.....WOW

So this isn't a big blog, but a few people has asked me about this so here I am, I love my deafness, besides I make this look sexy LOL

Take it easy out there folks, peace out and for all the deaf  people PEACE OUT :)