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Jolene Butson-2 Ears To Teach

  • My hearing loss story

      8 October 2014

    EHi, Ifm Jolene Butson. Ifm a classroom teacher and ICT Team Leader at Churton Park School. Ifve been a highly regarded primary school teacher for 11 years. For me teaching is more than just a career - Ifm passionate about teaching, making a difference and developing New Zealandfs next generation to be proud, confident and productive contributors to our nationfs future. I am also profoundly deaf and received my first Cochlear Implant in December 2012. This is my story. I was born with excellent hearing and had excellent screenings throughout my primary school years. I know and remember how wonderful my hearing was as a child as I have vivid memories of the family lolly jar! I had a major sweet tooth as a kid and adored lollies. Family members would carefully take the lolly jar down out of the pantry being extra careful to not make a sound. I would hear this jar sometimes even up on the next level and come racing to the kitchen to ensure I didnft miss out on a lolly. I first began to notice something wasnft quite right at about 18 years of age. I was suffering from Tinnitus (though I didnft know what it was at the time) and my family had noticed I was missing some things. I got a referral to Hutt Hospital and was informed that I had a very minor loss which was resulting in some Tinnitus and I could get hearing aids if I wanted but they didnft feel there was a need. Fast forward 4 years and I was working in my first classroom as a Primary School teacher after completing training at Wellington College of Education. In your first 2 years teaching you have provisional registration and a colleague in your school is responsible for guiding and mentoring you. It was whilst being observing by my tutor teacher that my hearing loss was picked up and I was referred for testing. The tests identified that I had a hearing loss. It was cookie bite shape with little loss in the high and low pitches but just into the severe loss section in the mid pitches where most speech sounds are formed. I was provided with my first pair of hearing aides and left to get on with things. At that time I was living in Auckland where I knew nobody and doing my best to survive my first year teaching in a challenging environment. It was very overwhelming time coming to terms with this change in identity. The next 5 years were a mine field of frustration, confusion and growing isolation as my loss became more and more severe. Use of the telephone was the first to go. Issues with hearing aids were learnt from the hard way when things would go wrong and the instruction manual would be of no use. Nobody provided any information unless you specifically asked for it and if something did go wrong that you couldnft figure out it was at least a week, possibly several to get into see someone if you had an urgent issue. Hearing equipment was unreliable and broke easily. Things would be working well for a couple of days and then for no apparent reason stop. Television became harder and harder to watch. I was referred to the Southern Cochlear implant programme. I was tested but did not meet the criteria for an implant. They found that with better hearing aides I would continue to function well and they would monitor me and I would become a candidate as soon as I met the criteria. At this time I changed audiologists. I was made fully informed of information related to my loss and hearing in general. Options were discussed and I was able to trial several types of hearing aides to see which suited me best. Most excitedly I was also shown the world of assistive technology beyond hearing aides. Gadgets for the telephone, television and my classroom opened up options for me. I became proactive about finding supports that would help me to continue teaching and experiencing life the way I wanted to and tried to make the best of what hearing I had left . My loss stabilised at this time and I spent several years happily getting by with my situation and gradually coming to terms with the fact that I had a disability,even from time to time admitting that I was deaf. Then the stabilisation ended and life was thrown into disarray once more. Everything become challenging again and even my assistive technology could bring me little relief. It started with avoiding making phone calls, more pardons than I once needed and developed into isolating myself from loud environments, always missing the punch line on jokes, people getting sick of repeating themselves and ending things with comments of ""never mind"" or ""it's not important"" not watching tv or going to the movies and most depressing a slow loss of self, from the confident individual I am to a nervous, hesitant, reclusive version of myself. Working in the loud classroom environment took every ounce of energy I had.I would often find myself heading to bed at 7pm exhausted only to wake up at 6:30am still exhausted. I remember a particularly long day travelling to visit a school in Palmerston North with awesome ICT teaching. I travelled by vehicle with 3 colleagues talking the whole way there and back about what was happening, work, and afterwards what we had seen, as well as taking in new and unfamiliar voices on the tour. I was so exhausted that when I dropped the other teachers off and stopped for gas I totally forgot to pay and nearly fell asleep on the way home. Looking back now I can't imagine how I did it, but when it is your life you just do. Stressed and near breakdown I got in touch with the cochlear implant centre to request another test to check eligibility. Thankfully as I was being tracked from my previous visit I got an appointment promptly. I was informed that I was indeed a candidate for an implant and began my wait.Just when I thought I would have to step down from teaching I received my date for surgery. Having never had an operation before, to say I was nervous was an understatement! Many people approached me commenting on how I could be so calm about this operation when it sounds so major. My reply was always, I really had no choice,what was my alternative....give up teaching and never hear anything...bring it on, my wait was finally over. The operation was a huge success.My life is totally different to how it was before. The tiredness and stress I felt are now things of the past. I am told that I have made a really remarkable recovery. My hearing test come out at nearly 100% in quiet environments and I am able to make phone calls without any assistive technology. In quiet environments I can hear really well. I can hear all the sounds I remember hearing and the ease in which I can hear them has yet to cease to amaze me. Loud environments however are another matter. I am currently fundraising for my second implant. As a primary school teacher directionality of hearing and hearing in noise are an important part of working in a classroom. I am a successful, skilled and dedicated teacher, I love what I do and believe that I make a difference for those around me. Quitting and changing to a quieter profession is not an option for me. I was born to teach and knew this is what I wanted to do from an early age...teaching and working with children is not just a job it is a part of who I am. I am a successful teacher who is deaf, I am successful in spite of my disabilityc.though I wonder through better hearing in noisy environments what I will be able to do. I would like to hear someone at the back of the mat without needing a pardon or a please speak louder. I also aspire to hear the conversations that the kids don't want me to hear. I want to pass on my knowledge of teaching, digital technologies and modern teaching practice to other teachers in conferences and webinars without worrying that I will make a fool of myself by not hearing the questions I am asked. Most of all I want to have the ability to do what is best for my learners at all times and in all settings without having to make adaptations to suit myself and my disability and have the confidence to know that no matter how my teaching environment changes I am up for the challenge! Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you can support my cause.

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  • Update for 10/08/2013

      10 August 2013

    Enter details of your update here Hi, Thank you so much to the people who have donated or shared the story of my cause so far. This week has been a busy one. Setting up the page, promoting and first 3 donations which mean we are now moderated, searchable and approved to go.

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