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HI. I decided to make these videos because I've experience things in my life that I thought I might be
able to help people who are experiencing the same thing. See I've had hearing problems all my life. It's
been kind of a roller coaster, my hearing has. I figured I'd first make this video to introduce myself.
Tell you a little about my background on the issue of hearing impairment. So you know that the videos
I make in the future are coming form real experiences. I found out I had hearing impairment in about
the first grade. Back then they didn't really have the technology to really screen the hearing of toddlers and infants.
So they didn't find out about my hearing problem until about kindergarten. When I wasn't speaking correctly
and I wasn't hearing sound.So they decided to have it tested. They found out I had fluids in my ears.
It's very common. So in the first grade I had times in my ears. A very common procedure. Everybody thought
my hearing was great and do did I. I have little memories of it. Like I was in the hospital afterwords
and somebody dropped something and I jumped from a sound for the first time in my life. So ah, everybody
thought my hearing was great until about the fourth grade. They gave a hearing test at school. You know
when they put the headphones on you and you raise your hand. I was confident. I was still experiencing
sounds. I'd only been hearing for a few years. But my hearing was so bad that I had the headphones on
and I couldn't hear sounds that the kids in line could hear. So I got my first hearing aids in the fourth
grade. I always had hearing aids from then up to about high school age. When my hearing would get worse
I'd get a new hearing aid. I had good timing for my hearing loss because it was during the same time
that hearing aid technology started to improve. So every few years I'd get a new hearing aid as my hearing
got worse. I'd get a more powerful hearing aid. Then when I was about 17 years old my hearing dropped
so much that hearing aids didn't even help me anymore. So, I stopped wearing them. All I could hear
then was like a car horn. I couldn't hear voices very well. Not enough to understand them. It effect my
school of course. I got really bored with school. By the time I was about 20 - 21 I was pretty much deaf.
I could hear voices if was very loud and very deep I couldn't understand what they where saying. I couldn't
use the phone. By the time I was about 23 I was completely deaf. I could hear anything but maybe a jet engine if I was
really close to it. So I spent the next about 17 years of my life completely deaf. I couldn't hear
a thing. Then a couple of years ago. I had the flu. I went to the doctors office and on a whim I just brought
it up. I said, "What about those Cochlear Implants? Can I look inot that and see if they'll work for
me?" I looked into it. I went in and got tested. About a year later I had the surgery done. About 6 months
later I got the Cochlear Implant. So basically I'm hearing now for the first time in about 17 years.
I've been deaf close to 20 as far as understanding speech but completely deaf about 17 years. It's been
an emazing experience. I'm still experiencing new sounds all the time. So I decided why don't I use my
experience to help other people. Because I learned a lot of things about how to deal with communicating
with people when you're deaf. and Hard of Hearing. I know a lot of people out there are going through
that. Maybe you or someone you know does. That effects everybody in your life. When someone you know
or are close to looses their hearing. You've gotta learn to communicate with them. And a lot of things
are gonna happen with the person. They'll have to adjust to it. They'll get depressed. Finally, hopefully
they'll comes to terms with their deafness and learn to deal with it. But I know there are a lot of
ways to ease communication between people. If you're hearing and your friend of loved one is deaf or
very Hard of hearing. There are ways to make communication easier. A lot of people say Sign Language.
Oh, that would be great if all your friends and family knew sign language. But that's usually not the
case when someone looses their hearing. Later in life. They didn't grow up with it. So that's what I'm
going to talk about with these videos. I'm going to share my experiences. My tips. I'll carry my phone
around with me. If I'm in place where I see an example that might cause a problem for someone with hearing
impairment. I might just pull out my video, my camera, and shoot a video right there. So I can just share
a little tip I might be able to share with everybody. So that's what this is all about. I'll be posting
more videos as they come to mind. I'm sure I'll be posting another one as soon as I get done with this
one. So if you're interested in communicating with a person with hearing impairment or you have hearing
impairment. Or someone close to you does. Please subscribe and I hope some of these videos helps someone.
Take care.