Diary of a deaf guy - My haircut [Part 1]
65This blog that I'm doing is to help people understand what it's like to be deaf, or even for other deaf people to know that they are not alone.
I hope to continue this blog with various things that happen to me during the day in terms of my deafness.
Please like this video if you like it and comment on it if you want to ask me any questions.
Hello. I haven't done one of these deafness videos for a while now. But, umm, I'd thought I'd do another one, mainly because in the past few months, I've had my hair cut. And if you've watched my two previous deafness videos, you would've noticed that I had long hair that covered my hearing aids and went down to here, over the years, right down there! I decided to get it cut because I thought long hair when you're 19 is a bit silly. So I got it cut, and as you can see, you're able to see my hearing aids. And, when I first had it done, I was quite worried about what people would say and people looking at it. But that wasn't the case really, at all. The moment I got it cut, I had to walk back through town to meet up with my mum, and it was so noticeable, first of all how light it felt, and how much freer it all felt, I suppose. And, I didn't really notice anyone sort of staring thinking 'what's that he's got in his ears?' Wasn't anything like that all, maybe one person saw it and didn't really take much notice of it. It was definitely a lot better than what it has been. I've had this, this short hair for a few months now and I've been at uni, and I've gone out on various nights and stuff. It's not, it's not exactly been like a sort of bad thing at all. I've not had anyone come up to me and be rude about the hearing aids, but I wasn't expecting anyone to anyway, and if there are people out there, then you're an idiot if you do that. I've not had anything bad and I've made new friends, they're not fussed at all by my hearing aids, which I think is quite a nice thing to have.
I also have been doing placement at, cos of the course that I'm on, I go into an audiology clinic anyway. I have to talk to patients. Some of the appointments, I have to say what it's like to have a hearing aid, not just because I have hearing aids myself, but because that's the role of an audiologist. Last year, I had the long hair, and I did some placement there, and none of them knew that I wore hearing aids until I lifted my hair back over and showed them the hearing aid. Sometimes I take it out and show them that this is what a hearing aid looks like. But at this new place that I've been going to this year, the majority of them have noticed that I wear hearing aids. There are some that haven't. Yeah, I haven't had a shower today. What is up with my hair? Anyway, I can show them how a hearing aid looks like on someone. Some of them can be quite worried that there's a stigma attached to it. But I can show them that I'm a 19 year old guy who wears hearing aids. Pretty much, well actually, all of my friends, don't wear hearing aids, or have a hearing loss. I get on fine with them and do normal things anyway. I think that's what some of these people are worried about, whether they'd be able to continue on these normal things or anything like that. They've really got nothing to worry about. All the hearing aid will do, is improve how you hear things and how you perceive things. Really, the main thing I wanted to say in this video, is that if you have long hair to hide your hearing aids, it's gonna make you worse than you realise. You're gonna think 'ah yeah it'll cover my hearing aids, therefore no-one will notice.' But you feel so much more relieved after you've had the haircut and after your hearing aids are being shown. Because some people will see these and, not so much be more sympathetic, but maybe more understanding of the hearing aid. It could be that 'oh, one of my relatives has this, a hearing aid, and I know what it was like for them.' You could even start conversations and make new friends that way, which is one of the sides to it. But it's all about having that confidence to get your haircut in the first place and having the confidence and courage to show off your hearing aids. In the first couple of weeks, it was fairly difficult for me, but the more I went out, the more I go used to it, and when I saw my friends for the first time, they were shocked. Mainly because I had my haircut and I've had long hair since I was 12 or 13, so I've had it for like, what, 6 to 7 years. For them to see me with short hair, is quite something. I explained I got it cut because it was time to get it cut and also to show off my hearing aids which is good for my university course, and they were all 'wow, cool.' So, anyone out there with long hair, whose hair covers their hearing aids, especially if you're a guy, don't hide behind it. You'll feel so much better after getting it cut.
Hope you've enjoyed watching this and I might try and do more of these videos. Yeah, see you soon.