Disability is a concept that is generally at least recognized by the population and when listening to it they know in general terms what it refers to. However, we are all unique and we come from different realities, have experienced different experiences and different knowledge.
During my adolescence, I began to feel that my vision about disability was expanding and that I was learning new things because my sister was studying a career in the health area and was being permanently exposed to her new theoretical knowledge and experiences with clients. Years later, when I began to study Speech and Language Pathology, it was my turn to be part of a study program where I had instances of observation, evaluation, and intervention in different settings, with different people and with different disabilities. However, it was not at the university where I experienced disability in a more intimate and close way.
In September 2015, from one moment to the next, my mother lost the hearing in her right ear. Sudden Deafness, that was the diagnosis given by several doctors and according to the results of the tests, it had no apparent cause.
It was from that moment that many changes began in her life. She began to use a hearing aid, daily struggles with a very strong Tinnitus, adaptation to everyday situations in which now the frequency of certain sounds were very unpleasant (for example the sound of plastic bags or the sound of others or even herself dragging the feet on the floor), dealing with people that would get annoyed if she asked them to repeat something in a noisy place like the mall, start learning lip-reading, among infinite other things. Seeing these changes in my mother's life and witnessing how it affected her way of living and relating to the world, led me to be much more awake and alert about what it means to have a disability. Details such as thinking about the best table option in a restaurant for acoustics, the best place at the table for my mother to sit and have her ear with better hearing more accessible to better interact in a conversation, being aware of always being in front of her when talking to her so she has the visual support of the lips, informing and educating those close to her to be aware of their modulation and articulation for better understanding, and something that should be permanent in our society but apparently a constant reminder is not too much: be more tolerant, considerate and compassionate of the needs of others.
My mother is a person whom I deeply love and admire, she has endless virtues, lots of love to give, and wisdom, but what stands out most from her attitude after several years of difficult adaptation (continuous process), is that she has been able to embrace this disability learning to live with deafness and tinnitus.
Picture description: Black and white picture of my mom showing her tattoo of a treble clef with a heart in the center, located on the back of her right ear.
