Power Me Up! A CHHA-NL Youth Group Presentation

Speakers  Erika Breen  Olivia Heaney

What This Presentation is About?  Peer to Peer Conversation  Sharing of ideas & ‘real world’ tips  Personal Growth Empowerment!!!!!

So How Many of Us Are There?  Stats  3/4 of the population has a hearing loss  2/5 know about it  Causes?  Loud noises  Genetics  Illness  Ear wax build up Source 1: Source 2:

So What is Communication? The CHHA-NL Youth Group believes that communication is...  the ideas we are trying to share  our way of sharing these ideas  the responses we get as a result of sharing them

So What is Communication?  A Visual Diagram…. How am I going to share it? Does this person understand what I am sharing? What do I want to share?

Scenario 1  You are hanging out with your friends. Everyone is excited and the noise level begins to rise. You find it increasingly hard to hear, and you are getting frustrated.  Why is this happening?! You’ve told them many times that you are hard of hearing!  How do you deal?

Option 1  Take the bluffing approach.  What are the positive outcomes of choosing this option?  Easy (until you get ‘caught’)  What are the negative outcomes of choosing this option?  Isolation  Miscommunication

Option 2  Ask everyone to lower their voices, so that you can hear.  What are the positive outcomes of choosing this option?  Potential for long term change  What are the negative outcomes of choosing this option?  Requires a lot of energy  Low chance of immediate success

Option 3  Get frustrated and tell everyone that you are going home.  What are the positive outcomes of choosing this option?  Easy  What are the negative outcomes of choosing this option?  Hard feelings between you and your friends.  Losing out on a social opportunity, and on the opportunity to assert yourself.

Option 4  Find a notebook and pen. If there is something you cannot understand, you ask them to write it down.  What are the positive outcomes?  Ability to communicate immediately  What are the negative outcomes?  Impatience on the part of your friends (somewhat likely)

What TO do  Ask for clarification if you do not understand  Be able to open up and talk about your hearing loss (perhaps even take a humourous approach)  Maintain a positive attitude  Be able to adjust to the environment  Personal listening systems  Pen & paper

What NOT to Do  Get frustrated and blame others  Bluff – acting like you understand when you don’t  Develop a negative “I can’t” mentality  Choose to not open up and talk about your hearing loss  Indulge in self-pity (“poor me; I can’t hear”)

REMEMBER……. Our attitudes influences how others react towards us. A positive attitude will yield positive results; a negative attitude will yield more negativity. We teach others how to treat us.

Self-Identification According to the CHHA-NL Youth Group, self- identification is…  When we identify ourselves as either having a hearing loss, belonging to a particular group, or having any other specific disability.  Taking charge of our disability and embracing the challenges and opportunities it involves.

What are the benefits of Self-Identification?  Enables us to receive the proper accommodations for our needs.  Enables appropriate recognition of our disability.  Educates the general public about hearing loss, and thus strengthens the bridge between the hearing and the hard- of-hearing.

(Benefits of Self- Identification continued)  Builds self-awareness and in turn self- confidence.  Sets a positive example for other hard-of- hearing individuals who are considering self-identification.

Why Don’t the Hard-of- Hearing Self-Identify?  Fear of how people will react  Lack of knowledge about process of self- identification  Lack of confidence  Lack of knowledge about disability  Fear of being different  Negative Stereotypes  “deaf and dumb”

Best & Worst Case Skit 1  Scene 1:  You are at work, and a co-worker is giving you a task. He or she is in a rush, and talking to you while walking away. He or she does not know that you are hard-of-hearing. What are the best & worst case scenarios of self-identification that can happen?

Best & Worst Case Skit 2  Scene 2  You are going to your first class at university. Your professor does not know that he or she has a hard-of-hearing student in her class. You want him or her to wear your Personal FM system. What are the best & worst case scenarios of self-identification that can happen?

Best & Worst Case Skit 3  Scene 3  You need to find someone in your university class to take notes for you. You do not know anyone in your class. What are the best & worst case scenarios for self-identification that can happen?

Best & Worst Case Skit 4  Scene 4:  You have a job interview. On your resume you did not self-identify. You know that you should inform the employer of your hearing loss so that you can have the proper accommodations. What are the best and worst case scenarios of self-identification that can happen?

How bad are the worst case scenarios?  Not actually that bad  Dealing with unsupportive people gives us an opportunity to teach them about the importance of accommodating persons with disabilities. (Human rights law, etc.)  It is all about our attitudes  We tend to over-dramatize the possible negative reactions

Song – “Power Me Up” -Song is an overview of the main points of the presentation. -Sung to the tune of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”

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