The magazine for kids and teens with hearing loss
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books We L ve: Eva’s Bookshelf Eva is a 15-year-old girl from New Jersey who has always loved reading. She has hearing loss in her left ear, but with the help of a crossover hearing aid, she never lets her hearing loss hold her back. Ready to discover your next favorite book? Eva invites you to explore her bookshelf. With the winter season upon us, I am reminded of holiday books I enjoyed as a child. The Mitten, adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett, was always a favorite tradition to read. This Ukrainian folktale is a sweet and simple book filled with wonderful illustrations. It shares the journey of a lost mitten and the woodland creatures who try to fit inside the mitten to keep warm from the snow. The book contains themes of sharing and inclusion. I recommend this book to families looking for a cozy read this winter.
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Eva (15) (our friend from Eva’s Bookshelf) has unilateral hearing loss and uses a crossover hearing aid. Her first cousin Luke (14) was recently diagnosed with moderate bilateral hearing loss and received his first pair of hearing aids. Together they love celebrating holidays and spending time as a family.
The m ore the merrier
Eva: I was diagnosed with hearing loss when I was born and have been using hearing
assistive technology since kindergarten. I grew up always aware of my hearing loss, working with teachers of the deaf and audiologists, learning how to advocate for myself, and building my confidence. So when my cousin Luke was recently diagnosed as a teen, I was nervous for him because I knew it could be a hard adjustment. However, Luke has done a great job with it, and I can see how confident he is now.
Luke: Until last year, my life was all about playing football, video games like Madden, and spending time with my family, including my younger sister Morgan and my dog Winnie. I knew I had ADHD and auditory processing disorder, which can resemble symptoms of hearing loss, but finding out I needed hearing aids was a big surprise. I went from being told by my grandma that I had the TV volume way too loud to wearing hearing aids and discovering for the first time that shoes, hardwood floors, and squeaky chairs all make so much noise!
Eva: My advice for Luke is that self-advocacy is key. People won’t know you
have hearing loss right off the bat, and they might not always remember or be respectful of it. It is our job to ask for what we need. For instance, I remind my friends to stand on my right side when speaking to me.
Luke: Eva and I were always close growing up, but I never really thought about or
understood her hearing loss in one ear. To me, she was just my cousin, and it was normal to me. But as soon as I found out about my hearing loss, I FaceTimed Eva, and I felt like I wasn’t alone. Overall, I’m feeling confident about my hearing loss. My friends have been really supportive and say I have superpowers! For the first time, I can hear what’s going on in the back of the room—no one is going to sneak up on me now.
One Last Word: We think sharing our hearing loss journeys will bring us even closer together. We are only a grade apart in school, so we can really help and learn from each other along the way. We were always close, but now we share a common bond.
Hearing loss is part of the whole family. Share your story with us: info@hearingour way.com
Language can be tricky, especially idioms, which are groups of words or expressions that mean something different than what they say. You might hear the idiom the more the merrier and think it is only about wishing people a ‘Merry Christmas,’ but no! The more the merrier means that the more people who are invited and included in something, the happier and better the event will be. Like this: “Mom wanted to keep the holidays small this year, but when we heard our friends had no one to celebrate with, we said, ‘The more the merrier!’ and invited them to come. The house was more crowded, but we had a lot more fun!”
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