When asked to tell the story about my hearing journey, I think about how people often say: “She did those things –despite- her hearing loss”. I prefer saying: “I did these things with hearing loss”. It’s a part of who I am. I think that if I could take a magic pill to get rid of my deafness, I would not take it: it’ll change me to the root of my essence.
I was born hearing and became profoundly deaf at 1,5 years old. I wore a single hearing aid since then (the other side was completely deaf); thanks to this and speech therapy, I learned to talk. Thanks to my love for reading I got an excellent language proficiency in my mother tongue (Italian).
I went from kindergarten to University to my first little job with my hearing aid; then a good doctor convinced me I could improve my hearing and my lifestyle with a cochlear implant and so I got my first one in June 2019. It wasn’t an easy recovery, but it was absolutely worth it. I’ve decided to get the second one in September 2020 and I managed to recover enough hearing in an ear that never heard a peep.
I am now enjoying life as a bilaterally bionic girl and I love it. I try and be a hearing loss advocate mostly for those that, like me, struggle to identify themselves as hearing or deaf people. We’re neither, and we’re both. Or, as I like to say, “hearing by day, deaf by night”. We have our unique identity and we have to be proud of it.
by Chiara of the.undeaf
Born and raised in Italy since 1993. I graduated in Classical Literature and specialized in teaching Italian as a foreign language.
Chiara is now an Italian teacher to foreign people.