My yoga practice often translates directly to my life with hearing loss—especially when it is challenging. In a recent yoga class, as the teacher provided different modification options for a difficult pose she said, “When you have greater awareness, you have more options.” And something clicked. Whether it is yoga or hearing loss (or anything else), greater awareness breeds a wider range of options for success. This realization inspired my latest article for FindHearing on HHTM. See the excerpt below or read the full article here.
Greater Self-Awareness Helps Boost Success
The more we understand about our own hearing loss, the better able we are to ask for the specific assistance that we need. People are not mind readers which means self-identifying as having hearing loss is often not enough to create good communication.
It is up to us to understand the technologies and other accommodations that work best for us, so we can ask for them.
How do we develop this knowledge?
Hearing care professionals provide some of it, but often the day-to-day, nitty-gritty details of living with hearing loss come from other sources. Trial and error is a terrific teacher. As are hearing loss peers who have likely experienced the same challenges.
Find hearing loss peers on social media (my FaceBook group is LivingWithHearingLoss) or through support networks like Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA). Books and films about hearing loss can also bring new insights.
Bottom line: the more you know, the more options you will have for communicating successfully.
General Awareness Creates Better Accessibility
The same holds true for the population at large.
The more check-out clerks and waiters and flight attendants understand about the needs of people with hearing loss, the more readily they can serve our needs. Ditto for our colleagues at work and our friends and family. The more they know, the better they can not only meet our needs, but anticipate them. And the easier it will be for them to do so.
For more discussion, continue reading on HHTM.
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Shari your columns have helped be so much over the last 20 years. Thank you. And even though I have learned to be an advocate for my own severe hearing loss…i still enjoy rereading the information to renew my efforts to communicate with others.
I am so glad you are a terrific advocate for yourself! Thank you for your kind words.
Although people with hearing loss need to integrate with people who hear, I think it would be great if there were exercise classes such as yoga for people with hearing loss as well as other activities such as travel, tours, etc.
I think there are some, but they are few and far between. Perhaps it is up to us to organize some in our local areas. Thank you for sharing this idea!
I forwarded your last column (with comments) about access and the lack of it at the movies to my contact at Classic Cinemas in IL. Turns out access was on the agenda for a huge managers meeting, so good timing!
Wonderful! I hope there will be good results as well! Thank you for forwarding the information.