Deafness at work
Working well in the hearing world
My initiation into hearing loss was sudden and completely unexpected. In October 2005 I had to head home early from a girls’ night out after feeling exceptionally dizzy and rather sick. Blaming it on the wine and feeling a bit of a lightweight I crawled into bed, expecting to feel better – if somewhat hungover – in the morning.
When I woke up I sat up and promptly fell back down again. I realised, too, that I couldn’t hear much. I kept trying to sit up, but my body had a strong inclination to remain flat. So, that’s how I stayed for the day, deciding this was either an extreme version of flu or one hell of a hangover.
No return
But it wasn’t either. Three GP visits and one demand to see an ENT consultant later, I was diagnosed with sudden sensorineural hearing loss in my right ear. In a nutshell the auditory nerve had stopped working. They couldn’t tell me why it had happened, but what they could tell me was that it was permanent.
Cue swearing and shouting (usually at my poor, bewildered husband who was trying to cope with this too). And tears of loss, anger and frustration.
But mainly I sat in shock. It had all happened so quickly. I’d gone from having supersonic hearing (so I’d been told) to being, well, defective. I didn’t like it.
And then the worries started…
Would I wake up one morning and find I couldn’t hear at all?
How was I going to hear the phone, the doorbell, my alarm clock?
Would friends start treating me differently?
And how on earth would I cope at work?
I work in communications, and that means meetings, teleconferences, phone calls and networking. All things that had suddenly become significantly more challenging.
Deaf at work
Since losing my hearing I have been promoted, led a team of 12, been made redundant (twice), worked for myself, met many lovely people, worked with some complete idiots, and learnt a few important lessons.
The first one of these is that I could not have coped at work over the last 10 years and one month (not that I’m counting…) without the advice and support of people who were on the same journey. And I‘m hoping that my experiences of being deaf at work can help others who are on the same path.
So, over the coming months I’m going to be exploring the challenges – and opportunities – that arise from being deaf at work. And I’d love to hear your experiences, whether good or bad.
Let’s see if we can help each other not just to cope with deafness at work, but to flourish!
Lisa Caldwell works freelance as an accredited Phonak Roger Pen trainer with Credo Communications.
You can catch up with her at credocommunications@gmail.com
Hi, My story is that one evening on 28th Dec 1985, I was at home and around 5.30 pm I didn’t feel well. Thinking it was the flu or something like it I went to go upstairs to bed but couldn’t stand up I was oh so sick and kept retching long after my stomach had emptied. I eventually got up to the room with the help of my wife. My head was spinning like a top, but when tried to close them , still being sick , I felt my head going head go into overdrive so I had to lie there just staring at the light as a source of stability, this wasn’t much use as the light was circling also, so I saw one wee black mark .1 mm in size and concentrated on it until the Doctor came and after examination he said I had Meniere’s syndrome and that I would never get rid of it. He prescribed me medication both for the sickness and for the Meniere’s. I took me quite a few weeks to recover but I had recurring episodes for quite a few years. To this day I have them , but not nearly as severe as the first bout of it. I worked at Insurance . driving long distance and then I started my own business cleaning wheelie bins in my own area (dirty wet job , but it paid the bills) I had to surrender my driving licence in 2002 as I was getting strange happenings with my eyes (like looking through a heat haze) and the Dr told me that it was coming from the Meniere’s and warned me about driving. I was able to tell him I already had sent my licence in.. Now, I rely on public transport to get about or on my Daughter if she is free. In 1985 I had Tinnitus in one ear and my hearing was affected in my left ear, I have now got Tinnitus in my right ear. Work wise , I’m retired but had been wood carving in the garage, but I had to stop that owing to losing the power in 3 fingers on my left hand because of a severe accident, so I have now ordered a cold casting kit, hopefully this will keep me going Thank you for reading this
Keep your chin up Joe. It’s sobering how debilitating hearing loss can be, and how much it can affect your life in so many areas. That’s why I feel it’s so important to reach out to others who understand.
Looking forward to reading more ☺ I have a different story in that I have a moderate deafness and had it all my life but I really struggled at work in the end. Like you it was meeting other people who had hearing loss that really helped me and in fact opened my eyes to other opportunities. Seeing and reading about other deaf people who have struggled and overcome obstacles is really inspiring.