Although I try to stay upbeat and positive in coping with my hearing loss and tinnitus, there are times when it really gets me down.
Last week wasn’t a good week. For some reason my tinnitus was really bad and I had earache for most of the week. Of course this makes trying to hear a lot harder and more stressful.
There was an incident last week that really upset me. In fact it happens quite a lot. I was out with my friend and we met someone we knew and stopped for a chat. I noticed that the conversation is mostly directed at my friend and at no time did I get eye contact from the other person during the conversation.
I am sure that they are not aware they are doing it. Do they think that as I am deaf I probably won’t hear them anyway. When this happens I always make a point of looking at them whilst they are speaking in the hope that I will catch their eye at some point and made to feel included in the chat.
Oh I am very lucky really in that my family and friends are very good at letting me know what they are talking about. However it does make me realise how difficult and upsetting it can be to cope with my hearing loss in some situations.
I know that in my involvement with Hearing Link and having just been to the Intensive Programme as a volunteer I should know how to deal with such a situation and be more assertive. In most situations I am assertive but I would find it difficult and embarrassing to have to say to someone ‘Excuse me I am here too’.