By Dr. JJ
In addition to being a pediatric audiologist and co-owner here at Little Heroes, I have a side gig teaching a course at Utah State University. The course is an undergraduate one called Hearing Sciences. The students are a mix of speech-language pathology and audiology hopefuls. I love the course, but I have a mission. Aside from helping students understand the fundamentals of how we hear, I want my students to understand something big:
The inability to hear does not make one less than others.
Hearing Differences Are Everywhere
The World Health Organization reports that nearly 5% of the world’s population has elevated hearing levels (often called hearing loss), with 34 million of that number being children. So, even though hearing loss is highly prevalent, on World Hearing Day the message that hearing is everything can be a little overbearing, and it’s not true. It’s common for individuals to need accommodations and technology to help them access sounds.
Hearing Differences are Just Differences
Like any other “disability” (a clinical and legal term used to describe physiological, neurological, or psychological deviations from what is typically observed), hearing loss can often be talked about as something that is bad. We may talk about hearing loss as if it’s an issue with the individual, rather than something that is simply different. It’s true that most people hear, and we live in a hearing world. Because of this, learning that a child is born with elevated hearing levels or has developed hearing loss over time can be an emotional experience to parents, and that’s okay! However, in sharing the results of hearing exams, it’s important for clinicians to share information in a way that does not insinuate something is wrong with the child in question.
One of the big topics in the disability world, including the world of pediatric deafness or hearing loss, is self-advocacy. Self-advocacy is understanding your needs and advocating for them independently. Unfortunately, self-advocacy is so important because many of the systems in our communities are ableist. By ableist, I mean that the systems are designed with only individuals without disabilities in mind. Thus, even though individuals with disabilities are skilled in so many (so, so many) ways, they often experience barriers to success, because we have not provided them accessible ways to show their skill sets in our community systems.
(Community systems, of course, meaning schools, employment opportunities, recreation, etc).
What Is Audism?
Individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can experience these same barriers, and unfortunately may often encounter these compounded barriers in clinic where providers demonstrate audist practices. Audism is the audiology-specific term for ableism that pushes an agenda for care that treats the hearing difference as a problem. For example, in pediatric audiology, audism may look like the following:
- Telling parents that a deaf child must have hearing technology (i.e., cochlear implants or hearing aids);
- Telling parents that a deaf child must learn spoken language to be successful;
- Telling parents that a child cannot be exposed to a visual language (e.g., sign language) if they are learning spoken language as well;
- Using messages that make parents feel guilty for not having their child wear their hearing technology all day every day;
- Suggesting neutral hearing aid and earmold colors so that they “blend” or are otherwise “less noticeable”.
Being Family-centered Matters
How do we ensure that our practice is less audist and more family-centered? Making clinical decisions based on family values will always help. As a pediatric audiologist, I can tell you that most of my families do want hearing technology and do want their child to learn spoken language as much as possible. But, it is so important to me (and, I think, to them) that I make sure they understand that other options for intervention exist, and that their child can be successful in any approach to treatment. It’s about giving them (the family and the child) the tools to integrate into a predominately hearing world. This can mean:
- Connecting families to free or cheap programs for learning a visual language;
- Connecting families to appropriate support communities;
- Letting the family and the child know their legal rights for equitable education and employment;
- Talking about hearing differences as a difference you can be proud of.
World Hearing Day is great, because it’s important to understand how we use hearing to communicate and experience the world around us. It’s important to understand that hearing can change due to genetic or environmental conditions. It’s important to understand that there are things we can do to protect our hearing. However, it’s also important to understand that individuals who have not experienced hearing are just as valued and belong in our communities just the same. I love that some of our recent pop culture has highlighted this in such excellent ways (have you seen CODA yet?).
I’m proud of my patients who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. They have shown me skills and talents that qualify them for any opportunity this world has to offer, and I hope that for them with every inch of my heart.
Happy World Hearing Day!
Do you want to have your child’s hearing examined? Call us today!