Dear Elizabeth
Thank you for the parcel of goodies received this morning which I sat down and read from cover to cover. Very encouraging to people newly introduced
to having to wear 2 hearing aids.
I wear two hearing aids and have short hair, but find nothing to hide about the aids. I have worn sight aids since I was 11 and find nothing shameful about that, and nothing to be embarrassed about either.
I grew up in a family with
a wonderful mother, who lost her ability to hear when I was born 90 years ago. The family moved to Christchurch so Mum could attend the "School for the Deaf" in that city, having to make time, with two young children. Not easy. Eventually, mother of six she reared us all,
in total silence herself.
When I was 24 years old, having lived in that awful wet/cold Auckland climate, I developed the usual sinus problem and' Severe laryngitis, spent weeks without a voice and lost 50% hearing on one ear and 35% on the other.
The ENT specialist's
remedy was to get out of Auckland back to the frosts; w~k by the sea every day; swim only in salt water which I did for 2 years, and went back to the same ENT man in Auckland who declared me healed.
I had worked in a large company whose senior clerk was deaf and referred
to as "Deafie" by all staff - bar one -
and I called him "Sir". Deafie riled me as you can understand.
Imagine a household with 7 out of 8 lip reading? Mother developed other awarenesses too and we couldn't get away with much. We lip read without thinking about it.
As an elderly - very elderly - woman living alone
I found my lip read~ng was getting more and more use. Even my Doctor had to be told I couldn't hear him speak clearly, I saw him. The upshot, I have two hearing aids, procured last month. A whole new world has opened for me. About ten years ago I bought a battery operated wall clock
and I have now found it ticks which I didn't know before; I have had to turn my TV sound down; ask my woman friend to speak more quietly; I hear my metal gate opening etc etc.
As well, nobody calls anybody "Deafie" A lot of people have worked hard over the years to ensure
that a breakdown in sound function is no different from a breakdown in any other breakdown in human function.
Its the little things we did as young people that helped our mother, like stamp your foot to attract her attention, touch her arm; tap the table at meal times; nod
your head! shake your head; at night switch the light on or off when entering a room so you don't scare her to death with a strange fingure turning up in the room; make sure you tell about when to be expected home; or wave goodbye when you leave; You do them mechanically.
You may
use any of this info you like if it helps anybody.
When mum died a small part of her meagre estate went to the Palmerston North Hard of Hearing League to buy a machine to help some children with their school learning. She would have liked that.
Sincerely
REATHA McINNES
