Deafness

Hi guys, it’s been a long time since I had posted anything. After many years losing my hearing from the left side (I was born deaf from the right side) , earlier this week the ent doctor said I am a candidate for cochlear implant. My head is spinning. I am happy for this possibility, but anxious that it will be so weird to hear and understand everything . Then, I am also wondering if anyone with aps have ever had this experience. What was the outcome? #Anxiety #AntiphospholipidSyndrome #Deafness #CochlearImplants

Hi, my name is Anjpanj. I'm here because
I have been living with benign brain tumours for the last 26 years & was diagnosed with the rare genetic condition known as neurofibromatosis type 2, nine years ago. I’m the only 1 in my family of 5 to have this condition. I’m reaching out to others who have this condition for help & support at dealing with a hidden disability ( mine is at the moment apart from being partially bald from my treatment).I have left sided partial deafness from an Acoustic schwannoma . I live alone in South West London. I had to give up my profession of a complementary therapist which I loved. I now make jewellery, walk & look after dogs, garden, See family & enjoy tai chi & chi gong which helps with my balance. I look forward to hearing from you…. Xxx#MightyTogether #NeurofibromatosisType2

Anxiety has long plagued me. Ten years ago I was in a life-threatening and life-altering accident. My accident left me with a brain injury, chronic pain, and profound deafness in my left ear. The accident also left me with a lot of anxiety – anxiety about my identity, anxiety about my prognoses, and anxiety around driving a vehicle.

While time has helped heal some of the anxiety of navigating a new world post-trauma and concern over long-term prognosis, I have had to be more intentional about working through the anxiety I have felt every single time I have gotten behind the wheel of a car since my accident. Others likely haven’t had my exact trauma, nor have my exact response, but everyone who experiences anxiety can use some new ideas and modalities to help minimize it.

Anxiety can be pervasive and debilitating, but there is no reason someone should continue to live with it. There are all kinds of tools and resources out there to help. While medication and therapy are probably the best known, there are many other modalities that could be beneficial in your journey. Here are the three things that have helped me the most:

Exercise – This one is huge for me. The more I move my body in challenging ways, the more I understand that my body is strong and powerful. Knowing that I can let go of some of the worries that come along with being a trauma survivor. The endorphins pumping through my system during and after vigorous exercise help too! Don’t worry if walking is more your speed – I walk a lot too. Moving my body is a great distraction from worry. It strengthens both my body and my mind.
Mindfulness – I have always liked the idea of meditation and mindfulness, but have struggled with the practice. I’m not someone who sits still very often so voluntarily clearing my mind and sitting seemed really hard. Again, the idea of being at peace is amazing, but actually being peaceful – significantly harder to accomplish.

I started small with this one. I would meditate for five minutes at a time. Sometimes I didn’t make it through those five minutes, but after consistently practicing I was able to manage. From there I have only increased my meditation practice time and as I have done so, I have reduced my anxiety.

Mindfulness in approaching every activity also helps reduce anxiety. If I acknowledge how I feel about a certain event/person/activity, then I can explore what I need to do moving forward – whether that be saying no or challenging my thought distortions.

The more I meditate or focus on staying in the present moment, the less overall anxiety I feel about any situation.
Acupuncture – This one has made the most significant difference in reducing my anxiety. I realize that I am privileged to be able to access acupuncture. Not every acupuncturist takes insurance and practitioners can be hard to find. If you have access though, I recommend trying it. Just the relaxing environment allows some of the anxiety to go away. Really speaking with and allowing your acupuncturist to know you, your challenges, and your story will allow your practitioner to create a treatment plan that is best suited to you. If something doesn’t work, ask about trying something else. In my experience, an acupuncturist wants to do her job well and the only way to truly be able to do that is if they are aware of what’s going on with their patients. Acupuncture feels like part therapy/part peaceful nap/part deep release.

These modalities and tools may help you, and they may not. But, they are avenues to try. I encourage you to keep trying to find what works for you. Don’t live with anxiety if you don’t have to. Everyone deserves a life of peace.

Carrie Rickert is an author, speaker, and coach. To learn more about Carrie’s story, order a copy of her new book, Trauma is a Catalyst: Rickert, Carrie: 9798887315225: Amazon...on Amazon today.

Conversion disorder (also known as functional neurological system disorder) is a condition in which a person experiences physical and sensory problems, such as paralysis, numbness, blindness, deafness or seizures, with no underlying neurologic pathology. #psychognictremors #ADHD #Autism #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder

I am a 52 year old deafblind Asperger. Which is  old enough to be 'educated' (or rather dumped at) a special school. It wasn't my parents fault. They just acted in good faith to bad advice. They also removed me from 'special school' four years later when they realised how bad the standard of education was there.

Fortunately these 'special schools' is a thing of the past. Most of the children who went there would be educated in mainstream nowadays. Which is a good thing for most disabled children.

But not deaf or hard of hearing children, who are often still expected to make do without being taught sign language. Just as I was. Just because a certain Samuel Howe wrote a book stating that the deaf should NOT be taught together or with the use of sign language and certainly NOT be permitted to marry. He went so far compare the deaf to prisoners who would pick up bad habits if they were allowed to mingle.

This is the man Alexander Graham Bell took his policy from. He is the reason deaf education still isn't very good. He believed speech set us above other life forms. He was wrong. Literacy is. Yet literacy is sadly lacking when a deaf child is orally taught to the exclusion of gaining good literacy skills.There is only so many hours in a day and when most of those hours are spent in speech therapy literacy skills are not given the attention they need and the dismal education standards of a lot of deaf children reflect this failure . Th literacy rate among the Deaf was actually better before Milan where the Deaf were stripped of their rights to communicate via sign language.

As a baby I am told I spoke at the usual time before stopping altogether at the age of one until the age of 3. Only this was  more due to autism than deafness. I wasn't tested for deafness until I was about 4 and I was told that I had a 40 decibel hearing loss. I was enrolled at a mainstream primary school but it was considered I wasn't doing too well so I was transferred to 'special school'. The school report that decided the matter was kept and later used to diagnose me with Asperger syndrome at the age of 30. It's very unfortunate that the diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome is gone. Because Hans Asperger was born in the wrong time and place where failure to comply got you shipped to a concentration camp but he did do his best for his patients and he never joined the NAZI party. He was struggling to keep the NAZI at arms length. (Neurotribe by Steve Silberman has a chapter covering him).

I consider Ivon Lovaas a much more shady character. He was also the guy who introduced ABA as well as conversion therapy for homosexual children. Whilst conversion therapy (that implied torture NOT discussing one's problems) is on the way out ABA is most regrettably in use. There is a school that still electrocute there autistic pupils

Luckily I wasn't subjected to much of that. The first teacher I had at special school was awful. I was sent to the corner with the other 'naughty' children every single day for not eating my dinner, and other such  'crimes' . some of which I wasn't even aware of. Luckily I didn't have to put up with her for more than one year. The others simply left me alone. I was ignored but at least I wasn't being punished like I was that first year. I have heard horror stories about partially sighted children being locked in the dark and other such abuse. On the other hand I also heard bad things about mainstream and blind people who think their specialised education at schools for the blind were better.

After a brief stay at a mainstream primary school and 3 years in a mainstream high school where the better teachers wrote on the blackboard for me. I had to leave when the bullying got too bad.

The next school was a partial hearing unit who had an oral only approach. I did better socially because there were other deaf kids. They were mainly hard of hearing but we all could have me benefited from sign language. Having to struggle to decipher lip patterns and faulty sounds most of us could pick up. This is why I feel the Deaf and hard of hearing NEED sign language. Sign language is also beneficial for autistic children too. So learning baby signs from the start would have been best.

I am afraid I cannot remember all that I was subjected to but that only happened later. (Read 'shouting at leaves' by someone who remembers all the details of her past since mine is a blur of bad dreams and VERY strong feelings against ABA.)

For me it was just a question of being told by my parents: "we believe you are Autistic now stop behaving like one." And your brother Charlie's death was a good thing because he was disabled. Not the sort of thing you tell a disabled child to make them feel welcome!!!!

I also had an aunt called Chantal who also had an under active thyroid, learning difficulties and mental health issues. Nobody ever specified what they were except she hit people, broke things and was in the habit of going about without any clothes on. When mother spoke about her it was in the same way she spoke about a dog my grandparents once kept who bit people. I was advised to keep away from both of them. I was never around to witness any of her tantrums since mother was quick to bundle me off to a great aunt whenever she had any.

I am deafblind Asperger. I was born premature with with an under active thyroid and Asperger syndrome a minor hearing loss was detected age 4 started wearing hearing aids at age 11 and progressed to total deafness age 30. I was only relieved I could stop wearing hearing aids now because they hurt.

I have been self harming epileptic and having mental health problems since teens. Sight problems since 17. I a m happy to be deaf blind Asperger but could do without the additional mental health issues but these things are not up to you in life I have had to learn that the hard way.

I have been yo-yo dieting since my mid 20 when I slimmed down. I will slim then stop skimming. Get overweight and then start slimming again so I know the disadvantages of being over weight . I have tried bulimia too but for whatever reason I simply cannot do it. This is very frustrating but I guess a blessing in disguise since I have heard bulimia is very bad for you.

Problem is since Covid I have taken to comfort eating, and I have a lot less energy which makes losing weight even harder than before and I am yet to have any success even though I am told I should lose weight or at least not donate my too small clothes to charity yet.