Feeling Deaf-eated!!

I was born with a sensorineural loss of hearing in the high frequency. My hearing aids have always been a very small part of who I am, but play a big part in my quality of life. They allow me to clearly communicate and interact with colleagues and clients at work, have conversations with friends, go to gigs, play and listen to the beauty that is live music, hear a joke, and play teams sports. They also enable me to fit into a world that can feel very isolating when you cannot join in and participate. .

My sole hearing aid broken at the beginning of this year (I am supposed to wear two, however one was damaged a long time ago). Due to the expense associated with maintaining and replacing my hearing aids I have managed to live with one up until this point. They had a good round – going the better part of 13 years but both have now been deemed irreparable. I have been reduced to wearing a temporary hearing aid that fluctuates in volume every few minutes. Normal interactions are becoming increasingly difficult, for example, I can be looking at you and hearing every word one moment, then switch to hearing nothing the next when the volume unpredictably drops. This is causing me to miss a lot of conversation content and context, for the first time in my nearly 30 years of life – I feel ‘different’. I feel disabled.

I have found this to be a demoralising experience as I have never viewed my disability as a negative quality. It was always something that made me unique. However, since my hearing aids have been broken my disability is becoming increasingly salient, negatively impacting many facets of my life.

My application for a Fully Funded Hearing Aid Grant was declined as it was deeming that my hearing loss is not severe enough. However, if anyone has hung out with me when I am without my hearing aids… I know they would disagree. ;-)

I have been quoted $10,000 for a ‘decent’ pair, though a ‘good’ pair can be upwards of $30,000. I would be happy with anything that can allow me to feel my sense of ‘normal’ again. This brings me here.

I am humbly asking for a little bit of help, as even an entry level/basic pair at $5000.00 is out of my reach at this point.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my situation, I really appreciate any support. If you are in the position to give a little, please know your donation will not only go to a new set of functioning hearing aids but also a regaining of confidence and quality of life that has been lost so far in 2017.

Cheers,

Annicka