One in every 113 people globally is an asylum seeker or a refugee, according to the United Nations. Those who flee conflicts in their home countries often face hardships and dangers as they search for a safer place. Once they escape, they confront a sometimes even more difficult challenge to re-settle; a process all made more difficult for refugees with hearing loss. 

The “invisible disability” is not usually thought of as a priority for refugees. Safety, food and serious health challenges often come first. 

But earlier this year, a team from a Chicago-based nonprofit, Deaf Planet Soul, declared hearing health a top concern among Syrian refugees, as they traveled to Lebanon – a county where an estimated 2.2 million Syrian refugees seek asylum – to provide audiological services to those in need.

James Knott, otherwise known as @daddyknott on social media, is the father to one-year-old Nelson, who is deaf. As a dad of a deaf child, James has been active in documenting his son’s hearing loss journey through his Instagram and YouTube channel.

I recently had a chance to talk to James about what it is like to be Nelson’s father. 

This is his story:

Model and advocate Nyle DiMarco is standing up for the deaf community, after two celebrities pretended to use sign language on a late-night TV show. 

The incident occurred Friday during “The Tonight Show,” when Jamie Foxx used pretend sign language with host Jimmy Fallon.

Finding the best way to communicate is an important part of better hearing and speech. Whether it is sign language, cued speech, oral communication or a mixture, communication is key for living with hearing loss.

My hearing loss was first diagnosed when I was five-years-old, so I was already behind in many areas involving speech. However, because I have a mild-to-moderate hearing loss, my family and I decided oral communication was the best communication choice for me.

Fortunately, I had a two speech language pathologists to help me get back on track. I know that without my speech language pathologists I wouldn’t have the oral communication skills I have today.

Here are four ways my speech language pathologists helped me as a child with hearing loss:

All my life I have been interested in different cultures and languages.

This stemmed from my passion to travel. When I go to a new place I am fascinated by the way people communicate. Despite my interest in languages, I have always  faced a fear of learning languages. When I took classes in school it was difficult for me to keep up with the curriculum and I couldn’t rely on other methods I use to listen in class such as lip-reading. The experience lowered my confidence and instilled a fear in me of learning a new language.

I didn’t want to give up, so after I graduated university I signed up for a French class. I chose a class that was specifically for continuing education meaning that it didn’t count as a credit or a grade. This took a lot of pressure off, but I was still terribly nervous! I have been in the class for five months now and it can be really challenging, but I still love it.

I feel much more confident now and even though it takes me longer to learn than the others in my class, I am still learning a ton.

Here are three tips for learning a new language if  you are hard of hearing:

As a young adult, I’m constantly using my phone and computer to communicate and stay connected with the world, so of course I expect my hearing aids to be compatible with my technology.

Not too long ago I received new Audéo B-R hearing aids, and the transition to new hearing aids has been great. Each day I am grateful for all that they do. However, one of my main concerns when getting new hearing aids was how they would work with all the technology I use on a daily basis.

I’ve found one great solution with the Phonak ComPilot Air.

When a person has a hearing loss, they require support from those around them. The support role often falls on family members and this role can make a huge impact on the life of a hard of hearing person.

Being supported by someone who understands how to communicate with you, can accommodate their lifestyle to keep you involved with conversations and will stand by you throughout your hearing journey can mean the world to someone who is hard of hearing. That’s not to say, those are the only ways a person can be supportive, it is just a few of endless ways.

This Mother’s Day we asked mothers what the most rewarding part of raising a hard of hearing child is. 

Recently, I got a new pair of hearing aids. Phonak Audéo B-R hearing aids to be exact.

This was extremely exciting for me because the hearing aids I were wearing, were five-years-old and starting to become outdated. I didn’t have any major problems with these hearing aids, but I faced the issue where I felt that the sound I heard from them was too loud. I had my audiologists lower the gain, but I still felt like sounds were just amplified and unclear. Due to this I usually wore my hearing aids only when I felt like I had to. After a long day of school or work, I couldn’t wait for the moment to take my hearing aids off.

This all changed with my new hearing aids. 

American actor Chris Pratt posted an Instagram video on Thursday, advocating for closed captions to be an option for all Instagram videos.

The video was a part of an apology post to those he offended when he posted a previous video asking his followers to turn up the volume and not just read the subtitles.