Something funny happened to me last year. Shortly after I lost my mother, I lost my hearing. One morning I heard something click in my head and I couldn’t hear very well. It was a traumatic experience, one which I find difficult to tell. I feel much like a war veteran, reluctant to share. To make a long story short, I ended up with total loss, unable to hear my own footsteps, the dishwasher, the furnace, the neighbour’s snowblower, blowing right next to our house.

I have been very fortunate. I have gained back alot of my hearing. I can function very well with hearing aids. It took awhile. It took a lot of faith. Some days I did wondered how I was to live in such a state. I always had believed there’s a silver lining to every cloud. It took awhile to find it with this. All the energy was sucked out of me trying to hear. My head was so empty. I felt cognitively impaired and lost my confidence. But now my strength is back and my head is not so empty. It is working better. Most of the pistons are firing correctly.

I have always been curious about everything. I google everything. I’ve learned alot about hearing and not hearing, hearing aids and coclear inplants. With knowledge, I know I have options and how I can help myself. Technology is wonderful but what if there are hiccoughs? What if…What if…There are so many what ifs in my mind now. They led me to think of learning asl, American sign language. Learning another language would be good for my brain, help fill the empty spaces and spark new neurons. It is actually very fun, good exercise for my fingers/hands and I get to make lots of expressions with my face. I learned of Bill Vicars through the deaf and hard of hearing group of Facebook. He has lots of videos on YouTube. They have no sound. What a surprise, eh?

I found this wonderful Ted talk about the enchanting music of sign language presented by Christene Sun Kim. It shows that life can be beautiful after deaf. She is an artist and has been profoundly deaf since birth.