I was born in Wayne, Ohio. My parents didn’t discover I was hard of hearing till I was almost 3 years old. My speech didn’t sound right and it was hard to pronounce my words. I went to a Dr. in Ohio, to seek care, the Dr. assumed I might have a hearing problem but didn’t have the resources or any programs to help me. So my parents moved to a bigger city, Milwaukee, WI.
Milwaukee had a better offer of Doctors and programs for me and my family, however after a brief stint in a neighborhood school, and a Catholic school, my parents was able to find a school that specialized in hearing impaired students and speech pathology. I had to wear a chest hearing aid. It was a transistor that is worn over the chest with shoulder blades. It would sometimes have a problem with static interference, even if the I laughed or smiled. This was back in the 70’s.
After 18 years of Speech pathology, learning sign language, reading lips and wearing hearing aids, I am getting better every day. As of today, I still have problem hearing over the phone. I have to remind those, I’m hearing impaired, can they speak slower or write it down on paper? I work to make myself comfortable in uncomfortable environments. I hope one day that we can make people better communicate with the hearing-challenged, as well as having understanding. I believe to motivate myself.
Thank you~
P.
Luv 2 Hear 