Ashley had an apointment with her audiologist today for a hearing test. It’s always seemed a little strange to me that a deaf child had to have a hearing test, but apparently my school district needs to see in black and white numbers and symbols to believe she really can’t hear.
The appointment went well. It had been two and a half years since Ashley’s last hearing test, but she went right into the booth without hesitation, and never complained when the audiologist put the two little probes into her ears. She then cooperated for about 20 minutes while the test took place.
I knew things weren’t good when I could hear the tones (I was in the booth with Ashley) while not having the probes in my ears, yet Ashley couldn’t. So it was no surprise when I saw the final audiogram and it revealed that there had been a progressive loss since the last test.
Ashley now has the official numbers to prove she has a profound hearing loss in her right ear and a severe loss in her left. I hope my school district is happy.
While going through the test with Ashley today, I was thinking about last season’s Amazing Race show on TV. That season’s show had a mother and son team, and the son was deaf. And like Ashley, the son felt he needed to prove something.
The young man and his mother were the first to reach the destination point, which, although I have not watched the show in the past, I could figure out was a good thing. The young man was so excited! When the host asked (in sign language – good job, host!) why winning meant so much to him, the young man said he needed to prove that Deaf were capable people.
So when you are deaf, sometimes you have to prove you really are deaf, and sometimes you have to prove that you are still capable. I just have one question – Why do you have to prove anything to anybody? Needless to say, this whole subject has struck a nerve with me…
Deborah can be found writing here at 5MFSN every Wednesday, and can also be found at Pipecleaner Dreams.