Vlogger Jaime shares her hearing loss journey with us and the different perspectives she has about her hearing loss.
Jaime was born with a severe to profound bilateral hearing loss. She went to public schools and had speech therapy and a hearing advocate.
“The advocacy, mentorship was to help me learn how to advocate for myself as someone with a hearing loss,” Jaime says in her vlog. “Both of those things were very important, helping me being able to survive in a society that’s mostly hearing.”
She views her hearing loss as something that is a part of her and makes her different.
“[Jaime’s hearing loss] is just something that is me and that is a part of who I am. And I do love myself for who I am, even though I might not be happy with having a hearing loss at times.”
She perceives it as sometimes negative and also sometimes positive. This depends on the situation she might be in, but either way, she has accepted her hearing loss as a part of who she is.
Read more: Watch: Life wearing hearing aids, the wedding experience
Jaime is a part of the Phonak hEARos program, which has contributed to her positive perception of her hearing loss.
“Another thing that has really altered my perception of hearing loss is being a part of Phonak and being a Phonak hEARo because it has opened up a lot of doors,” she describes.
Through her role as a Phonak hEARo Jaime has connected with many other deaf and hard of hearing people and has seen other people with hearing loss living different lives throughout the world. Seeing this has helped her explore the way she feels about her hearing loss and have the confidence to speak more about what makes her unique.
“I like being different,” Jaime says.
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