Please meet the lovely Callie – a wonderful friend of Amy Morton’s, Callie was actually the first person Amy had ever met with a similar hearing loss to herself – and they’ve been friends ever since!
Callie is our amazing joint voluntary administrator for the Living with Hearing Loss Facebook support group, and we’re so lucky to have her as part of the team!
In Callie’s own words here’s a little about her experience of living with moderate to severe deafness …
About Me
Hi, my name is Callie. I am 31 years old, and although I was born and raised in Worcester, I currently reside in Edinburgh, Scotland. I was born with moderate-to-severe hearing loss, and I am now the proud wearer of two pink hearing aids.
I have always been passionate about sports, namely canoeing. I was fortunate to have the privilege of representing England in canoe slalom and Team GB in canoe sprint. After retiring, I have always sought the next challenge; currently, I am training for the Edinburgh Marathon on May 25, which is quite an alteration from my previous athletic experiences and disciplines. Nevertheless, I am beginning to enjoy the challenges that come with the training process thus far. Furthermore, it has been an excellent goal-setter and a milestone to push me out of my comfort zone. I am more excited about the achievement of completing my first full marathon.
Life with Hearing Loss and Integration
Although living with hearing loss has its ups and downs and daily challenges, I have had the opportunity to meet some incredible people and have unique experiences due to my hearing loss.
From the outset and throughout my childhood, I was fortunate to attend summer camps for children with hearing loss, where I experienced many activities like rock climbing, sailing, and canoeing. These experiences shaped my love for water and water sports, subsequently leading me to compete at a highly competitive level of canoeing.
However, throughout my childhood and to this present moment, life with hearing loss can be exhausting. I find it difficult at times to properly integrate myself within the ‘hearing community’, which can significantly impact my energy levels or leave me feeling relatively isolated. However, I have an excellent support network, as both my dad and older sister have the same hearing loss. This support from my family, and the support available to children and families at the time, encouraged me to engage and feel connected to the deaf community ever more. However, as I navigate my adult life, I have somewhat lost that deep connection, which I hope to reinvigorate by connecting with organisations such as Living With Hearing Loss.
British Sign Language (BSL) is not my primary means of communication, which has made it even more challenging to stay closely involved and integrate. I believe a big reason is that the support to maintain that connection with the deaf community during your late teens and 20s is not as easily accessible. While there is a lot of support for the younger generation and their parents, once you get older, there appears to be a gap in continued support. Simply put, I no longer feel as connected to the community these days as I once was.
British Sign Language
Although I have some BSL knowledge that adequately allows me to hold conversations, I do not hold a BSL qualification, nor am I as advanced as I wish. I am very eager to develop my BSL, and I hope to complete my BSL Level 1 this year to improve my skills further and allow me to advance to Level 2 in due course.
Guidance and Advice
When facing challenges with hearing loss, it’s important to communicate openly. Society, friends, and family often want to help, but not everyone knows how to or wants to communicate openly. I wholly believe that a good starting point is to educate and help others understand your specific struggles. Although not everyone may understand, if people are aware of the challenges of hearing loss, it becomes easier to work together and raise awareness, which can make a vast difference.
For those who support loved ones with hearing loss, I would stress the importance of striving for patience. The support network must understand things such as asking for information or repeating sentences. The worst response to receive is “it doesn’t matter.” Communication, integration, and being part of the conversation, joke, or social situation always matter to a person with hearing loss; it is vitally important to ensure the inclusiveness and value of such moments to someone with hearing loss.
Change
Within society, I would love to see the culture toward hearing loss or deafness become more profound and knowledgeable – almost ‘deaf-aware’. It would be fantastic if schools taught deaf awareness to create a more inclusive and understanding environment. Yet it blows my mind to think that hearing loss still feels like a misunderstood disability. For example, specific TV programs still lack subtitles, yet such a simple solution and resolve could make a profound impact on someone’s quality of life.
Society could make minor changes to improve the quality of life for those with hearing loss – the importance of facing us when we speak, and not being offended or impatient when we do not understand something the first or second time. Remember, we are not ignoring you, nor are we ignorant.
We genuinely desire to be heard and integrated!
Thank you so much Callie for Introducing yourself! Please come and join us on our Facebook support group !! Everyone is welcome ! JOIN HERE !
