deaf | CI user | AuD | founder: @AudOTB | studying PhD: peds aud, vestib | opinions my own | ASL is amazing! CIs and sign languages are not opposites! 🤟🏻
Jun 14, 2022 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Something I’ve been considering the past two days after replies to my recent threads: often, people learn about a technology that “helps” someone. Then, somehow along the way as they see the technology in use, they start advocating for more people to use it. Is that a problem?
I think being aware of assistive tech is good. There are lots of people who don’t know about various assistive tech that could make their lives easier. I’m always grateful when someone tells me about something new that I haven’t encountered yet.
Jun 13, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
One of the advantages of wearing such colorful hearing tech is that I can contribute to reducing stigma. But there’s a trade off. The disadvantage is that sometimes, people gawk at my head and even take photos. That happened just now while I was in line to buy an iced tea.
At least the woman who did it this time asked first. But it was asked in a way that implied I wasn’t supposed to say no. I asked if she knows someone who uses cochlear implants. Often, that’s why people want a photo. They want to show their DHH child, grandchild, etc.
Jun 13, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Question someone sent to me in a DM: do cochlear implants really sound like the CI simulations on the internet? The short answer is no. CI simulations offer examples of the input CI users get from the device. But the sound quality changes when the brain interprets the input.
Having an example of the input is helpful for understanding that CI users don’t get a high quality signal like hearing people do when they hear. There’s a lot missing that the brain has to work to fill in, and that’s why listening with CIs can get exhausting.
Jun 12, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
New experience for me as a deaf Catholic this afternoon: deacon asked, “Could you access the Mass today?” First time this has happened to me outside of a deaf parish. When I said no, he immediately asked what I need for better access and pulled the priest into the conversation.
And they both listened and offered to work with me on getting my access needs met for Mass. This is my neighborhood parish that I’ve not attended much for all the years I’ve lived here because no interpreter, captioning or other accommodations. Was very pleasantly surprised!
Jun 12, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
This stuff doesn’t surprise me, but I’m reminded of wrong assumptions ppl make about deaf CI users every time I tweet about CIs. Ppl really do think we have to depend on hearing tech to communicate and function. And that having CIs obligates us to use them at all waking moments.
And that taking the CI processors off necessarily means intentionally cutting off the world. And that it means choosing to be disabled, which implies that deaf people with CIs are somehow magically changed to hearing people. Not true, folks.
Jun 12, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Good example of the kind of attitude I was describing in the initial thread. There are still a lot of hearing people who assume that if a deaf person doesn’t have their CI processors on, that puts the burden of communication on the hearing person.
Why do people think hearing is required for us to take on our fair share of the communication burden? I mean, I’m sure there’s some deaf person somewhere who doesn’t do their part. But that’s not what I was promoting in the original thread. Communication is a team effort.
Jun 11, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Just about every time a hearing acquaintance finds out that my spouse is hearing and I don’t use my cochlear implants 24/7, they give a shocked facial expression and ask how that even works: “That means you can’t communicate, right? Doesn’t spouse feel neglected?” Nope. See below
So, first of all: deaf people shouldn’t have to bear daily communication burdens alone. I refuse to bear them alone in my own home. Assuming that my spouse feels neglected when my CIs are off implies that I’m obligated to use them anytime hearing people want me to. I’m not.
Jun 10, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
If you see a deaf or hard of hearing person sitting alone at lunch, inviting them to join your table is a nice gesture. But respect their wishes if they decline. Lunch might be the only moment they get without their hearing devices for the whole day. That quiet time is precious.
If they do join your table, be aware that they might not participate much in the conversation if there are no supports for access. Automated captioning apps can be really helpful in this situation. If the person signs and you know a few signs, using what you know is also helpful.
Jun 8, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I never understand what people mean when they claim that cochlear implant users “function like hearing people.” I’m a CI user and an audiologist, and I’ve yet to meet a CI user who functions exactly like a hearing person. I sure don’t function that way myself.
If “function without accommodations” is what’s meant, then sure: some CI users function without accommodations. But at what cost? I use accommodations every day, and even with them I’m exhausted at the end of the day. It’s worse when I don’t have them.
Dec 12, 2021 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
Long thread. I’m 4 months into my job as an educational audiologist in a public school system. I love it. There are so many things I love about it. It’s not an easy job, though. The day-to-day is much harder than my previous clinical audiologist job. Some thoughts about this…
I’m thinking about my days as an AuD student. Although I had many supportive clinical preceptors, occasionally I had one who would say or imply that because of my deafness, I shouldn’t work in a clinical audiology environment. That I didn’t hear well enough to provide good care.
Dec 4, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Recently, someone apologized for “wasting time” by referring a kid to me when there was a possible hearing-related concern. As it turned out, the kid wasn’t DHH. He was hearing. This is *not* a waste of an audiologist’s time. 1/
If you have a concern about a child and have any reason to suspect that hearing is a contributor, you should refer. If you’re not an audiologist, that’s your role: to refer. Your role is *not* to determine whether the child is DHH. 2/
Oct 28, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Something I wish that people knew: commenting in amazement about a disability-related technology can do harm. Specifically, I’m thinking about instances when a person with a disability is using a piece of tech and tells the amazed commenter about the tech’s limitations.
Example from my life: I was using a speech-to-text transcription app during a medical appointment where the doctor was wearing a mask and no interpreter showed up. I explained the app and the doctor commented on how amazingly accurate it is. I explained that it isn’t perfect…
Oct 28, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
As much as I love being a cochlear implant user, certain aspects of the experience (for me, anyway) are consistently frustrating. Like hearing just well enough for people to think I have normal hearing ability when I really don’t. What do I mean by that? These are a few examples:
Someone mistaking my sound processors for Bluetooth earpieces and scolding me for having my headphones in instead of paying attention, then responding, “But you speak so well!” when I explain that I’m deaf and that the technology I’m using is how I hear.
Sep 19, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Can relate! I’m almost 37, and just last week I received my first ever paycheck large enough that I can buy new things. Things that I’ve long told myself are non-essential, but they aren’t. Things that middle class people pay for without even thinking.
Like a new tire for my car to replace the one that I’ve been refilling at a gas station every 3 days for the past year. And a winter coat. And shoes with no holes. And toothpaste specially formulated for sensitive teeth. And expensive medications and vitamins.
Sep 19, 2021 • 25 tweets • 4 min read
My PSA for the upcoming International Week of Deaf People, and the rest of Deaf Awareness Month:
If you’re hearing, and particularly if you’re an interpreter/work regularly with DHH people, think about how to support *all of us* — not just the default DHH person in your mind.
Not just the ones you assume are “the most oppressed”. Not just the ones your Deaf studies courses told you are most representative of the Deaf experience. All DHH people face oppression that hearing people do not.
Sep 4, 2021 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Re: my most recent “cochlear implants don’t provide perfect hearing” thread: it was suggested to me today that as an audiologist, especially one who uses CIs, I shouldn’t be posting things like this. That these discussions discourage people who would benefit from getting CIs.
Here’s what I have to say to that. First, I understand the concern about discouraging CI candidates. There are many people who could benefit from CIs, would probably *want* to use them if they could, and are afraid that the CIs won’t work and getting them would be a waste.
Sep 2, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
It’s nice to have a job where I can request interpreters and they actually respect me. There’s no, “Do you *really* need this service?” or, “But you hear and don’t have your eyes glued to me 100% of the time!” or, “Don’t you realize there’s a national interpreter shortage?”
I’m so accustomed to explaining myself that on my first day, I started telling my interpreters the whole story: “I have CIs. I don’t hear nearly as well as I speak. I get some info through my mic system, so I won’t be looking at you every moment…”. And you know what happened?
Mar 29, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
New thread. This bit of conversation came up. At times, I’ve seen others say variations of, “Not all deaf people need CIs to be happy. They’re proud of themselves and their culture.” Good as the intentions are behind that statement, I don’t like that framing. Here’s why...
Cochlear implants and Deaf culture aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s not either/or. It’s not that a person has a forced choice between two options: get CIs, *or* be proud of oneself and one’s culture. Some people hold space for both.
Mar 28, 2021 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
Thread. I use two cochlear implants to hear. I’m also an audiologist. I map CIs, including my own. I’ve activated other people’s CIs, seen their initial reactions, and accompanied them on their journeys with adjusting to this technology. Here’s why I can’t stand these videos:
1) Not all of these videos are CI activations. The video of the woman with the tattoos: that’s a middle ear implant activation. MEIs are not for people who are profoundly deaf. They aren’t for the same hearing levels as CIs. But ppl wrongly assume this video is a CI activation.
Sep 15, 2020 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
Thread
3 years ago today, my first cochlear implant was activated. This is what I wish I’d known then.
Context for those who don’t know me: I’m a deaf audiologist who uses 2 CIs. Before that I was a long-term hearing aid user. I communicate in spoken/written English & ASL. 1/
I got both of my CIs *while* I was studying for my AuD. I spent well over half of my AuD program learning how to hear with CIs. I wish I’d known how hard that would be. Completing an AuD program is challenging enough without getting implanted twice along the way. 2/
May 22, 2019 • 18 tweets • 4 min read
I had my last auditory rehab appointment with my SLP today, and I have some thoughts on that. (TL;DR: it was a positive experience, but it came with high demands on my time/energy. I love my CIs, but what I love more is having options for communication in 2 languages.)
I began auditory rehab immediately after my 2nd CI was activated in January. The day after I finished editing and sharing my activation video with commentary in ASL, which was about 3 days post-activation, I had my first session.
