In May 2008, I woke up following surgery to discover that I was deaf. No one could figure out the cause so, after months of deafness, I got a cochlear implant.
While being truly grateful for its blessings, it has its limitations. My artificial hearing was not sophisticated enough to filter out background noise. I learned that I could not go to church, a meeting, a public gathering– observing through a cone of silence a world of which I was no longer a part.
My partner Sheryl was in seminary when I became deaf, but she had been an electrical engineer. Her desire to help led to her to investigate “hearing loop” technology. A hearing loop is a wire circling a room connected to the sound system. The loop transmits sound magnetically to a hearing aid’s T-coil, which filters out the ambient noise that makes it difficult or impossible to hear clearly. We began with installing a loop in the student chapel, and slowly my world began to expand.
My job as “loop evangelist” is changing hearts and minds to raise awareness of hearing loss (close to 20% of the population has hearing loss). I recently learned about a disability training that was being offered and (correctly) assumed that it would not include hearing loss. This led to a correspondence with the director about this glaring omission. She “got” it and took steps to make her agency responsive to hearing loss issues, including staff education and looping their offices.
In a letter I received, she said: “Your conversations with me led us to getting these hearing loops. Your advocacy and education, pointing out how hearing access is often overlooked, even by disability advocates, really hit home.”
We are busier than ever with advocacy/education (just did our first presentation at the annual national Hearing Loss Association of America in St. Louis, on a workshop I developed to teach both those with hearing loss and their allies to advocate.) I was recently appointed by the governor of Iowa to the state Commission on Deaf Services. It has been a “long, long way to Tipperary” for Sheryl and me, through Kalamazoo, Salina, Kearney and many more towns and states where our ministry has led. Our goal is to “loop” the world, so be prepared, our journey may lead to your town. You may be “hearing” from us soon.