By Julie Ryder, founder of HearFirst and TalkFirst
I was 21 years old in December 1991 and was working at NatWest Bank in Rochdale. I picked up the phone and noticed that I couldn’t hear that well. After seeing my GP (thinking that my ears needed syringing) I was referred to an ENT consultant who gave me the surprising news that I had a mild hearing loss in both ears and would need to wear hearing aids!
Over the following months and years my hearing deteriorated, for no known reason, to the level of profound deafness in both ears. I couldn’t lip read and I certainly didn’t know any sign language. My only brush with signing had been as a child watching See Hear now and again. My whole world changed and I felt my hearing identity slip away with nothing there to fill the gap. I had problems at work, my employers, NatWest Bank, were sympathetic but didn’t really know what to do with me. I saw friends who I’d known for years lose touch and social occasions were something to be avoided rather than look forward to.
By the year 2002 - 11 years after the onset of deafness - I was married with two small children and could not understand ANY speech sounds even with hearing aids. I had been assessed some five years earlier for a cochlear implant but was refused. When the appointment came through in Jan 2002 I was accepted and was implanted in March 2002.
The implant proved to be a great success and opened up my world. My voice volume and quality improved. I could understand speech in a quiet room without having to lipread and for the first time I could hear my children's voices. I learnt to use an amplified phone and watching TV became easier as I still used subtitles but wasn’t as reliant on them.
I still consider myself deaf, and my implant is one of the most successful in Manchester, but life is much less tiring and my confidence, self esteem and general health have all had a great boost!
Not only that but I have founded two companies as a result of my deafness - both of which are becoming increasingly successful. This month I have been short listed by the British Chamber of Commerce for the Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year. If I win it will mean £50k prize money donated by Stelios from Easy Group.
I established HearFirst Deaf and Disability Awareness Training in 2002. HearFirst delivers in house training courses across the UK to local authorities, NHS, Housing Associations etc. We have a small team of deaf and disabled tutors who deliver deaf awareness training, British Sign Language, disability equality and awareness courses etc. Because we have all faced discrimination first hand we are passionate about bringing about positive changes within organisations that will make real differences to D/deaf or disabled people. For more information please visit www.hearfirst.org.uk
My 2nd company followed in 2006. We were working with several organisations who work with children and they asked if I knew anything about baby signing. From a very young age babies can understand and they are having plenty of thoughts of their own, but they can’t voice those thoughts and that’s frustrating for them. The baby is developing their hand co-ordination and can learn many signs to communicate their message. Signing gives the child a temporary tool for the job until speech comes along and is a great relief for a frustrated baby and frazzled parents. Signing babies can lead conversations and introduce topics to talk about. They can communicate and be satisfied before crying is even a possibility. Parents can get an early insight into their child’s thoughts and because there’s more interaction and understanding the bond between parent and baby strengthens. As they learn to speak they will sign less, but it is said that signing babies can go on to speak earlier, have wider vocabularies and even higher IQs than non-signing babies in general. We have developed exciting classes to teach baby signing. Classes involve music, puppets and props. We are currently expanding the tutor network nationally through franchises and are recruiting carefully selected individuals to run classes on a part time term time basis. For more information about a franchise, classes or baby signing products please visit www.talkfirst.net
After thinking the onset of deafness was the end of my life – it has proved to be the beginning of a new life which is more exciting and enriching than my old life was! Having the cochlear implant was really the start of better things.
