Speak Up Librarian Shop

Sarah from Speak Up Librarian has started a new venture, I include the link here but it’s also under shopping on the right hand side and it looks good.

http://www.printfection.com/speakuplibrarian

Good luck Sarah, and all the best with your new venture.

Deafinitely girly

A blog that was brought to my attention a few months ago that I’d like to share with you

http://www.deafinitelygirly.com/

Great news I think!

See this link regarding The Development of Subtitles in the Cinema that funnyoldlife has discovered on I look so I can hear blog for more details. http://funnyoldlife.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/the-development-of-subtitles-in-cinemas/ I think this is great news.

Here’s also a link to Your Local Cinema too http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/

Here’s a new blog

Here’s a new blog called Liffey’s blog thats just started up and running. Liffy is a Hearing Dog. You can follow her adventures at http://lyntoo.wordpress.com I will also put this with my other blogs, so you will find this link there also.

National Tinnitus Week

The British Tinnitus Association is holding National Tinnitus Week from 9th to 15th February 2009. See their website for further details, which I’ve included in the link on my blog to their site under ‘Other sites of interest’.

I’ve suffered tinnitus in my right since 2002, after I was diagnosed with deafness which is always there. I manage to forget its there most of the time except for a few occasions its bothered me. My tinnitus is a whistle, which if it gets worse that it bothers me it will go loud, so loud I feel I have to talk over it, although I don’t. The longer this goes on for I start to feel tired and can’t concentrate.

Tinnitus does get worse if your stressed, so it can be a vicious circle because the tinnitus is annoying and your’re stressed by it, but co you are stressed the tinnitus is still bad. Cd’s can help to relax you as so you take your mind of it. Yoga is good too as I’ve done this before. Now I just do some relaxation, or Me Day that I’m doing every Friday. (see earlier post for that, to understand what I’m on about). Everyone is different, so you will find your own thing to help you manage your tinnitus. Its first time I’ve actually visited this site, and I’ve found it very informative.

Bluetooth neckloop

This is what I use at the moment with my mobile phone, so I can follow conversations better, which I use my loop setting on my hearing aid with this.  Although as I’ve said in earlier posts it only tends to be with people I know now, because I still struggle even with people I know and it varies from day to day, but with anyone else after finding I don’t manage, I’ve gave up on that. But I wouldn’t be without this. This is available from the RNID Solutions catalogue for anyone who is interested. Its easy to use and light, so you don’t know you are wearing it, and has a good battery life before it needs to be charged up again.

Book recommendation: “On The Fence: The Hidden World of the Hard of Hearing”

A book I recommend is called “On The Fence: The Hidden World of the Hard of Hearing”-Mark Drolsbaugh, which I read earlier this year has a selection of stories and poems from people who are Deaf themselves, to shed light on the HOH experience, who all share a common goal, and know what it means to be on the fence-hovering somewhere between the deaf and hearing worlds.

I liked this book as I could relate to this, and it was nice to know I was’nt the only one who felt like they did, and also the feeling of being on the fence-not being completely in the Deaf world or the hearing, but instead in between. Although I’ve been profoundly deaf since 2002, its only been since this year I’ve started to grieve for my hearing loss, since I had to talk about stuff last year that I kept hidden. This book helped me a little regarding some of these feelings I had, I even felt I learned a little too. The book can be bought from Forest Books.

If you’re worried…

If you’re having an operation, and you’re concerned like I was regarding your hearing aids, just ask them.

 

I had an operation on my foot 4th September this year, and as well as having slight nerves for my op, I was also worried about communication difficulties I would have when I had to remove my hearing aids, as I’m profoundly deaf and without them I’m no good in communicating, especially if I’m spoken to without even realising it.

But after asking them this about when I would have to take my hearing aids out, I was soon put at ease as I knew I could keep them in, until I reached theatre, in which once the formalities were out the way, then I had to take them out before getting on the bed. While I was on the bed ready, to be prepared ready for going in the operating theatre, staff knew they had to make sure I was looking their way first before starting to speak to me, as so I could follow the conversation from the start.

When I came round from my operation in the recovery room, I discovered my hearing aids were already in my ears switched on, so that I could hear them speak to me when I came round. Which was a nice surprise for me and very helpful that they did that, as without them I wasn’t sure if I’d be very confused with me feeling drowsy from the anesthetic.

So after this first hand experience of having an operation since I’ve become profoundly deaf, I know that should I ever have an operation in the future, I won’t worry about that side of things again. As long as they know how deaf you are, and in what way your affected and any worries, the staff are very helpful and caring. And you will soon find that your put at ease.

A few sites I can recommend

A few sites I can recommend, are “The Deaf Village”, “I look so I can hear” and “Smudge’s Blog”

“The Deaf Village” makes everyone welcome (including friends and families of the deaf), where you can chat about deaf issues that affect you, or general chat. 

“I look so I can hear” and “Smudge’s blog”, are both written by funnyoldlife, which are worth viewing, and I include these links on my page. Enjoy!