I found out this morning that I passed the course.
So now I’m pleased to be able to help others who have issues or concerns about hearing loss via this blog and a planned, future book.
It’s an important subject, because the number of people with hearing loss is expected to rise dramatically for the coming years.
But what’s even more interesting and wonderful, is that there’s been a great increase in technology and help, for those with hearing loss.
In fact, life has never been better than now.
Why? Well, for starters, we have videophones now. If you have a documented hearing loss, you can get a videophone for free. Along with that, you can get video relay services, where you can have a conversation with a relay operator, who in turn, will relay your comments to anyone you desire to speak with in live mode. Some of them even can throw up numbers and words on the screen, if you can’t understand something. Zooming is even possible to see lips up close, if you depend on lipreading.
And if you want to see your DHH friends, no problem. You generally can converse with them for free and see them as well. I will cover this subject more in detail later on.
There are lots of companies where you can order hearing loss related devices, such as vibrating watches, flashing signals, amplified phones, etc. It’s a booming industry.
You can even request a hearing dog, usually given to you for free.
There are lot of exciting opportunities for DHH (deaf/hard of hearing) people. There are cruises, travel clubs, educational opportunities for DHH people using notetakers, live-time captioned movies and lectures. There are clubs, parties, advocacy groups for all kinds of DHH related issues. You can literally pick and choose what DHH lifestyle you want to live.
But the most important thing of all is to join a group, or club, that is composed of people who have hearing loss. What they can give you is support, understanding, information, and lots of laughs.
I’ll be covering all sorts of DHH related subjects for the next several months.
Oh yeah, life is good for us DHH people.
