When I was volunteering at Hearing Link's Intensive Rehabilitation Programme in May I met some lovely people. One of the ladies that I met, Linda Watters had had a cochlear implant for about 8 months when she came to the course.
Linda lost her hearing almost overnight due to an illness. She was of course totally devastated and she really struggled with hearing aids. She was offered a cochlear implant after six months. She coped very well at the course and really enjoyed it. She said that being on the course was a great experience.
We have kept in touch and we met up for lunch last week. I was really interested to hear how things have progressed for her with her implant. She is getting on great and the implant has given her the confidence to get out and about again. She has recently given a talk about her experiences with her implant.
While we were having lunch Linda noticed that a chap sitting at a table opposite us had a cochlear implant. I said to her that we should talk to him and find out how he copes with his implant. When his partner went to order the food I approached him and said I hope you don’t mind me interrupting you but I am deaf and I see that you have a cochlear implant. I explained that my friend Linda also has one. I thought I could detect an “accent” and he said that he was Canadian.
When his partner came back to the table we introduced ourselves. His name was James and his partner was Annie. They were here for a three week holiday, staying in a castle in Lanark. Linda and I were very impressed with that!
James has been deaf for most of his life. He had an illness when he was five years old and he said it was the medication that he was given that caused his hearing loss. He got his cochlear implant 8 years ago and he said that it made a huge difference to his life. It did take a lot of hard work but he did really well with it.
I asked Annie how long they had known each other and she said they had been together for ten years. She explained that she met James on the internet and chatted for a while through emails and online chat. She said that he had a great sense of humour. She had no idea that James was deaf until she asked him to phone her. That was when he admitted that he was deaf and couldn’t use the phone.
Annie decided to meet James anyway as he sounded really nice.
The first meeting was difficult but she decided to meet him again. This time she took a pad with her so that she could write things down for him. In her lovely Canadian accent she said that she ‘just fell in love with him’ and his deafness wasn’t an issue as far as she was concerned.
Linda and I thought it was a lovely story. I am sure a lot of people that are deaf including me would not have the confidence to meet a stranger in these circumstances.