Coping With Disability: Inspirational Stories of 5 Athletes Who Beat Hearing Loss

No one should ever use any kind of disability as an excuse not to pursue their dreams. Granted that life for the disabled is filled with hurdles, but there are stories from all over the world of successful people living with disability that have soared to great heights. These are the inspirational stories of 5 athletes that have left an indelible mark in the Olympic Games, and have gone on to beat hearing loss, with and without the help of hearing aids. 

Name: Tamika Catchings

Country: USA

Sport: Basketball

Tamika had a difficult child hood on account of her hearing deficiency in both ears. This later left her with speech problems, causing other children to tease her to the point of her throwing away her hearing aid. To teach her a lesson, her parents refused to get her a replacement. Tamika has not let her challenges affect her drive and desire to achieve greatness. She got MVP in 2011 in the WNBA, as well as going on to bag three consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

Name: Tony Ally

Country: GB

Sport: Diving

Since early youth, Tony Ally has been afflicted with a genetic hearing loss, but has never let it come between him and pursuing his passion. At 16, Tony found an outlet in sport, specifically diving, and has not looked back since. In 1999, he won the European Championship, and has taken part in a total of 4 Olympic Games in 1988, 996, 2000 and 2004. 

Name: Terrence Parkin

Country: South Africa

Sport: Swimming

No one expected Terrence to bag the silver medal in the 2000 Sidney Olympics in the 200 meter breast stroke. Hearing loss has not affected his drive and passion for swimming. Terrance relies on strobe light signals to indicate when to start swimming, and communicates with his coach through sign language. 

Name: Frank Bartolillo

Country: Australia

Sport: Fencing

Bartolillo competed in the 2004 Olympics in Athens as the top Australian fencer in the individual foil event. To him, being deaf is an actual advantage, as he says that it actually helps him to concentrate better. Bartolillo has fully embraced his condition, and actually uses it to his advantage.

Name: David Smith

Country: USA

Sport: Volleyball

David made his major international sporting debut in the London Olympics in 2012. In a sport that requires communication between teammates, David is still a strong player and a major contributor to his team’s success. He was diagnosed with an 80%-90% hearing loss, but this has not stopped him from following his dream to be a pro volleyball player. Since the age of 3, David has been wearing hearing aids. The volleyball player relies on lip-reading to communicate with his team. According to him, hearing loss has contributed to him becoming a great athlete.

These are just 5 athletes with hearing loss that have made it big on the world sporting circuit. There are many more athletes with and without hearing aids that are dominating a field that has often be viewed as a preserve of ‘normal’ people. Whether you are relying on a Siemens hearing aid for example or dealing with hearing loss, there really is no excuse not to pursue your dream in athletics and any other filed for that matter. It really is an issue of mind over matter as these athletes have shown.

About the author:

Ernest Poh founded The Hearing Centre Pte Ltd. The Hearing Centre is your one-stop centre for complete hearing aids and hearing conservation services. Ernest has been fitting hearing devices since 2004. Visit his website at http://thehearingcentre.sg to learn more about the different types of hearing aids and the possible causes of hearing loss.

Read More

Overcoming the Stigma Associated with Hearing Loss

People who suffer from hearing loss have to bear the stigma of being called deaf. Adapting to a life with hearing loss gets more difficult when such a stigma gets in the way of the efforts to adapt to such a lifestyle. Statistics reveal that people generally wait for seven years before they get a hearing aid on noticing signs of loss of hearing. It generally happens that old people lose power of hearing but it is not very uncommon to find even children and young people with hearing loss.

The origin of the stigma:

Hearing loss has long been known as an ailment and has been more often translated into a disability as children with hearing loss are generally slow learners. According to a survey, people were found to treat the deaf with fear, distaste, scorn and pity. The fact remains that hearing loss can affect anyone at any time in life. This issue can also be very damaging for a person’s self-esteem because of the stigma associated with such a disability. An affected person might start distancing himself or herself from family and may even be looked at by others with revulsion.

Addressing the stigma:

To triumph over the social stigma associated with hearing loss, you must be a self-believer. Do not hesitate to tell others about the condition. If you hide this fact, you risk others misunderstanding you as they might think you are ignoring or not paying attention to their conversation. 

Here are a few tips that will hold you in good stead in overcoming the stigma of hearing loss:

1. Be open about the condition. The first step is to inform your near and dear ones about your condition. Tell them about the challenges that such a situation poses and also ask them to come along with you to an audiologist to better understand hearing loss.

2. Ask your friends for support. Ask them to assist you by suiting their ways to your condition. For example get a quiet corner table in a public place rather than a noisy centre one. Ask them to always look at you while addressing you to enable you a better interpretation using their facial expressions and gestures.

3. Use a hearing aid. The general impression about hearing aids is fast disappearing as hearing aids are becoming smaller day by day. Hearing aids these days are very capable of returning you to your pre-hearing loss days and enable you enjoy life to the fullest. They also have features to diminish the background noise and let you hear the primary sound. Hearing aids these days have been so miniaturized that they can virtually go unnoticed.

With increasing awareness among the masses about the condition of hearing loss and its occurrence beginning to be more and more common, the stigma associated with it is reducing gradually. It is quite natural that a visit to an audiologist can be scary for many, but it is one decision that will definitely step up the quality of your life with hearing loss. It is better to address the situation by visiting an audiologist than bearing it or knowingly ignoring it, thereby falling prey to the stigma associated with it later.

About the author:

Ernest Poh is the founder of The Hearing Centre Pte Ltd. The Hearing Centre is your one-stop centre for complete hearing aids and hearing conservation services. Ernest has been fitting hearing devices since 2004. Visit www.thehearingcentre.sg to learn more about the different types of hearing aids and the possible causes of hearing loss.

Read More