Growing up in a hearing family...

I grew up in a hearing family where my family members especially my older sister spoke quickly.   As a result of this, I spoke quickly to keep up with her. 
                  I have a severe hearing loss which requires the use of digital hearing aids and lip reading to communicate.  My background is that I was born with a hearing loss.  My parents did not find out about my hearing loss till I started kindergarten.  Because of my hearing loss, I almost flunked out of kindergarten.  You must remember this is about 35 years ago and at that time people were not very educated about the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing community.  I am extremely grateful for my father who traveled to the Washington DC area to find out what type of educational services that I was entitled to received because of my hearing loss.  I am from a small town in Northeastern PA which is not the most progressive in the area of education.
                   When I was in kindergarten, I was very lucky to have a good teacher.  My teacher realized that I had a hearing loss.  Next thing that happened was that my hearing was tested.  After the hearing test, I was fitted with a hearing aid and received speech therapy.  Luckily, my principal, decided to give me a try in first grade instead of holding me back in kindergarten.  So, I entered first grade and I received help from a man by the name of John Seamon.   His background is in special education and he also specialized in deafness and hard of hearing.  John was not a teacher; all I remember is that I was required to see him on a weekly basis where he helped me with my hearing loss. I remember this  when I was as a little kid, John   and my teacher, Mrs. James they came to my house to meet with my parents and educate them and myself  about my communication needs.  I was very lucky to have Mr. Seamon, my first grade teacher and my principal (Ms. Seager) who was very concerned about my hearing loss and how it would affect my academic performance. 
              To make a long story short, I was mainstreamed. As I stated earlier, teachers were educated about my hearing loss, and my family was very supportive.  My sister talks very fast and she is also is very intelligent.  She is currently a professor and has her Ph.D. in business.  I am very grateful for my sister because she helped me tremendously with my pronunciation.  If I missed spelling something or I couldn't
hear she would be there to explain.  Also, I  didn't understand something or had a hard time understanding grammar, she was always there to help me.  She was almost like my personal tutor.  I think it is pretty interesting, that she is now a professor and now  teaches undergraduate and graduate students.   

In addition, I have a very good audiologist who decided that I should wear two hearing aids instead of one.  This made a difference especially when I attended college.  It was funny, I didn't want to wear a second hearing aid, even though I had been wearing one.  At first, I felt kind of ashamed of wearing it, but it did help and make an improvement in terms of hearing. 
                  I went to a small college, my father didn't want me to go to a large college.  They thought I would perform better in a small  college.  I selected social work because I  received a lot of help and I wanted to give back.  I left the field of social work since there was not much money, and it was very demanding at times. 
                   As a result, I switched careers.  I have been working as a management program analyst and an Equal Employment Opportunity Disability Program Manager for the federal government in Northeastern  PA.
                    To make a long story short, I stumbled into Self Help for the Hard of Hearing  (Now it is the Hearing Loss Association of America)   and it really did a lot for  me personally because I didn't realize how isolated I was because of my hearing loss.  It was just so nice to have the contact  with someone who has a hearing loss.  It was a great feeling knowing that I have somebody to talk to  and also compare hard of hearing stories. This was a great source of support for me.   I enjoy attending the conventions and connecting people who have hearing loss.  Just even coming here to Gallaudet University to participate in this mentoring program is a wonderful feeling.  In this setting, everybody is sensitive and educated about communicating with people who have hearing loss.  It is very relaxing since I do not have to be the educator about hearing loss. 
                   I educate hard of hearing people about using  assistive listening devices.  Also, I have been  trying to for quite a while  on working on a little informal SHHH Chapter that I started in my area.  I have SHHH Socials and try to reach out to people.  I am on the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Council where I represent the  deaf and hard of hearing.  I try to get involved  in any issues that relate to the needs of this community.  Right now we are working on a project, in which we are looking at career accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing. I will graduate from the Peer Mentoring program this June.