Amusing Comic!

source: http://www.davideo.tv/

This was posted on the "Association of Audiologists with Hearing Loss" facebook group. The part about the deaf audiologists is funny, as I am one, and there are 33 members of the facebook! Granted with having a hearing loss and being a practicing audiologist there are some challenges. However technology has come so far that it's entirely possible for people with hearing loss to function as a capable audiologist among their hearing cohort.

I have only felt discriminated once because of my hearing loss in the field of audiology. When I was applying for a 4th year externship, I was on interview at a local hospital in Boston. The director of the facility grilled me on how I would be able to do word recognition testing? Word recognition testing, for those who don't know, is where words are presented to the patient, and the patient needs to repeat the words back. This can be presented by the audiologist (using spoken voice), or by using recorded material. Recorded material is the gold standard, because with many audiologists, it's hard to standardize and account for all the variables with this testing. Using standardized material takes the audiologist' own variable out of the equation.

Anyhow, I"m on this interview, and the director asks me how I will be able to do word recognition testing. I said that my preferred method is recorded material. He then countered that his clinic was far to busy for recorded material to be efficient, and then how else would I be able to do it. I stated that while recorded material is the gold standard, monitored live voice was always another option. He then asked how I would be able to present the words with having a hearing loss, and having speech that is affected by my hearing loss? At this point, I didn't really know how to respond, other than, that this has never been an issue in the past. That is when he said that my hearing loss was an "elephant in the room." My blood was boiling at this interview. I politely finished my day at this facility, and ultimately withdrew my application after my interview. This wasn't a place that I wanted to work at.

That was and is my only experience where I have had an negative reaction to my hearing loss. My 4th year externship and current place of employment has and is amazing in how accepting they have been of me. I'm very fortunate (that seems to be a common theme in these posts as of late!).