Deaf News – Living with hearing loss
Good morning! We have a sunny morning here in London UK and I hope you’re starting to see spring appear where you are. There’s nothing like a bit of warm sunshine to lift our spirits. It’s time to put your feet up for this week’s read with a cuppa.
I came across a couple of interesting articles this week which I thought I’d share; A quick-start guide to understanding my hearing loss and The dark-and-dirty secret of people with hearing loss.
Did you know you can contact the emergency services without actually speaking to them? You just dial a number. I had no idea this service existed, find out more here.
I have been reading about ‘cures for hearing loss’ for the last 30 years… another one has popped up, regenerating hair cells in the inner ear. I won’t be holding my breath!
My favourite article of the week was a gift from Jon Morrow: 7 life lessons from a guy who can’t move anything but his face.
Bye bye Europe
This has been a crazy political week in the UK and we’re all fed up of hearing about Brexit so I won’t linger on this one for too long! We’re wondering what’s going to happen for deaf people and those of us living with hearing loss as the UK gets ready to replace all the EU laws. What’s going to happen with the access laws we fought so hard for? There was no mention at all of disabled people in the government’s white paper on Brexit.
Marie Rimmer, the New Labour shadow minister for disabled people, is profoundly deaf with a cochlear implant. She revealed the PMQs access nightmare and an ignorance of the social model of disability. She says;
They seem to have very little understanding of disabled people, and the fact that they are human beings.
It’s all very worrying.
Lip reading hits the headlines
Molly Berry, Chair of ATLA, had a grand TV spot on Breakfast TV. She spoke about how machines compare to humans, and explained why lip reading is so difficult. She also gave some tips on lip reading to the viewers.
We agreed with Molly, machine lip readers just can’t cut it. I feel the ways in which success at lip reading for machines and humans have been measured have not taken all factors into account. I was able to get my point of view across on the Daily Politics show – you can read the subtitles here.
In other lip reading news, new lip reading groups have been started in Stratford and Angus.
Lipspeakers reach out
If you’ve wondered how deaf people who lip read can keep up at conferences and when networking, read our blog post about lipspeaking.
The Association of Lipspeakers is the ONLY professional body that represents lipspeakers. They would love to reach out and have more people join them. They still have a few places left on their training course in Manchester, which is starting in a few weeks. If you’re a hearing person and interested in helping people with a hearing loss who lip read, get in touch with Dilys Palin at enquiries@manchesterdeafstudies.org
The Association of Lipspeakers committee currently has two vacancies. Want to get involved?
I was delighted to be elected an ambassador for the Association of Lipspeakers. Come and join ALS on Facebook and get to know others with a hearing loss who can give you tips on coping at events and in the workplace.
The Association of Lipspeakers will be at RNIB London on 13th May, look out for their stand at the ATLA conference – Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults – and see how professional lipspeakers can support people living with a hearing loss to access information.
Managing hearing loss at work and at home
Photo: London Ambulance Service NHS Trust
The terrorist attack in Westminster was truly awful but in true London spirit, Londoners got up and carried on. Richard-Webb Stevens is a motorcycle and helicopter paramedic who happens to be hard of hearing. He was the first emergency responder on the scene.
Initially, I thought I was going to a road traffic collision and my first priority was to assess and triage the patients and report back to our control room.
I started at one end of the bridge and worked my way across, checking all of the patients, some of whom were very badly injured. The public were amazingly helpful and comforted the injured while help was on the way and doctors and nurses ran out to help from the local hospital.
I was very focused on treating patients and it wasn’t until much later that I found out it was a terrorist attack. We train our whole lives for incidents like this and you hope it will never happen, but I consider it a privilege to do this job and play a small part in helping patients.
What a class act. Richard uses Ear Gears to protect his hearing aids and is a shining example of not letting your hearing loss get in the way of the job you want to do.
Incidentally, here are 3 ways to prepare for an emergency as a deaf person.
I had a Skype chat with Gianlucca Trombetta in sunny Bali – HE was there, I wasn’t! – about living with hearing loss. He has some interesting insights into hearing aids and how they could be made to work better. Check out what he says when talking about what jobs you can do with a hearing loss.
His latest video really resonated with me as my ex often said “It’s too hard to live with deafness” – Yes dear, YOU try it! Check it out here: How not to teach your girlfriend about hearing loss.
If you have a hearing loss and you’re interested in volunteering, Carol Carbine shares her expertise.
#TinnitusTuesday
Adam talks about the causes of tinnitus and how to manage tinnitus symptoms.
Follow his weekly guest post on our blog by signing up below, or you can follow his posts on Facebook.
This week, the NHS abandons 18-week waiting lists and further cuts are made to services.
Welsh councils have cut hearing equipment spending by 15% and more hearing aid services are planned to be cut.
Help to stop the cuts to NHS hearing aid services and join Action on Hearing Loss’ campaign.
Living With Hearing Loss Fact of the Week
Deaf people are better drivers than hearing people. We have better peripheral vision and aren’t distracted by loud music or conversations when driving.
Yet 31 countries still don’t allow deaf people to drive!
Our pick of events
Apr 11 London – Portraits in the Great Gallery Wallace Collection talk
Apr 13 London – Electricity: The Spark of Life Wallace Collection talk
Apr 21 London – The Hearing Trumpet PREVIEW, Dirty Market – sadly not captioned. BSL interpreted
Apr 22 Hughenden Manor, High Wycombe – The Great British Dog Walk (Hearing Dogs for Deaf People)
Apr 22 London – Deaf Day, City Lit
Apr 24 London – Roman London Museum of London talk
Apr 27 London – Wonder Women Tech London: Women and Diversity in Tech Conference
Apr 29 Windsor Great Park, Berks – The Great British Dog Walk (Hearing Dogs for Deaf People)
Walks and Talks for Lip Readers
May 21 Oxford – City of Dreaming Spires, Marian Bacon
Jul 16 London – Kensal Rise Cemetery, Kim Dewdney
Sep 17 Bethnal Green – Pugilism, Puppets and a People’s Park, Diane Burstein
Nov 19 London – London at Christmas: Past and Present, Marian Bacon
Full list at Association of Lipspeakers
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