Archive of Open Ears
I had my annual checkup the other day at the hospital, and I was somewhat adamant I wanted to keep my hearing aids even if there was a newer version available.
However, that changed completely once I talked to my audiologist… Continue reading “Showing off my new hearing aids”
Everybody who has met me knows that I have a very strong, yet unpredictable sense of style.
One day, I will wear a blue high-low dress that floats over the floor as I walk. My eyes are blue and silver, and my legs completely black from the illusion created by leggings and boots. The next, I might step out in hot pink skinny jeans and a Gap kids’ shirt with a starry-eyed cat, paired with black thigh-high boots. Cat wings will grace my eyes, and sometimes, I’ll wear heart-shaped glasses if I feel really psychedelic. In college, I actually received a prize for having the most colorful fashion in the entire school. Frequently, I am the fashion consult of my family and friends. The outlandish, erratic nature of my fashion is, ironically, a signature style.
My freedom to dress so outlandishly was acquired by the alienation that came from my hearing loss and chronic ear infections. Other middle school students frequently called me a “retard”, and harassed me in every class because of my hearing loss.
Continue reading “How Hearing Loss Influenced My Taste in Fashion”
The hearing-impaired community is diverse, and certainly not of one mind. Such is obvious when it comes to the “debate” that surfaced on one of my Open Ears posts from April, about my personal desire to use hearing aids that are as “invisible” as possible.
There are plenty of hearing-impaired people who prefer to flaunt their hearing aids, not only as a way to make their devices a fashion statement — in the same way as most people who wear eyeglasses spend a lot of time selecting just the right, fashionable frames — but also to make a different kind of statement. One commenter on my April post nicely explained the “flaunt them” point of view:
Continue reading “Flaunt It Or Hide It? A Future Hearing-Aid Scenario”
