Miss-Delectable
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Henrietta's 'Deaf Girl' publishes her first book - Henrietta, NY - Henrietta Post
When Henrietta resident Amy Sargent lost her hearing in her late 20s, she had little assistance for what she would be facing. She spent well over five years getting acclimated to being a “deafie” and has lived as one for 15 years.
Her struggle led her to pen “A Survival Guide for New Deafies.” According to Sargent, the book provides coping skills for both hearing people and newly deafened people, as well as those who are just hard of hearing.
Calling herself “Deaf Girl,” Sargent lost her hearing at age 27 due to progressive hearing loss.
She was working as a broadcast technician at television station WROC-TV 8 at the time of her diagnosis.
Not being able to work as a broadcast technician anymore, she went back to school to start a new career. Along with learning new career skills, she also learned American Sign Language and became a hearing aid wearer.
Sargent said it was truly “hell” losing her hearing and that it caused both frustration and anxiety for herself and family members. The worst of losing her hearing was the “silence and the isolation,” she said.
She had previously lived her life with “hearing people skills” but suddenly had become a “deafie” — a term of endearment she uses for those who have lost her hearing or have no hearing. She admits that its a term that make many deaf people cringe but she has come to embrace the term.
She is a teacher at the Rochester City School District and teaches technology to hearing students.
“I would have never been a teacher,” she said if she had not lost her hearing but adds that it’s been “rewarding.”
Sargent said with losing her hearing, she has done many things she would have never guessed she would have done as a hearing person. That includes writing a book.
“I’ve never been a writer,” she said, but she learned a lot of grammar and was given help from friends. She said her lack of training as a writer has kept her writing more conversational.
She said it feels likes she has lived two different lives. “So much of your life changes,” she said. She’s changed careers, has learned how to use different forms of communication and has watched friends in her life disappear. But that doesn’t make one of her lives better, she added.
Its also changed her perspective on life and the way she perceives events that happen in her life. She notes that she has become a much happier person since she has learned to cope with losing her hearing.
With music, Sargent said she’s still able to hear music but doesn’t hear it the way a hearing person would. But with older songs that she heard when she was hearing, her memory will fill in the song.
Sargent said it’s been hard for her to fit in with both the completely deaf culture and the hearing world.
“We’re the lost voice,” she says of those who have lost their hearing later in life.
Sargent is also pushing the grass roots campaign, “Flaunt Your Bits & Pieces,” to eliminate stigma attached to wearing hearing aids and cochlear implants.
She said many hearing people are ignorant of hearing aids and stare at her like she has a problem. On the other hand, there’s many hard of hearing people who don’t wear hearing aids, she said.
“So many people won’t wear hearing aids mainly because of vanity,” she said.
When Henrietta resident Amy Sargent lost her hearing in her late 20s, she had little assistance for what she would be facing. She spent well over five years getting acclimated to being a “deafie” and has lived as one for 15 years.
Her struggle led her to pen “A Survival Guide for New Deafies.” According to Sargent, the book provides coping skills for both hearing people and newly deafened people, as well as those who are just hard of hearing.
Calling herself “Deaf Girl,” Sargent lost her hearing at age 27 due to progressive hearing loss.
She was working as a broadcast technician at television station WROC-TV 8 at the time of her diagnosis.
Not being able to work as a broadcast technician anymore, she went back to school to start a new career. Along with learning new career skills, she also learned American Sign Language and became a hearing aid wearer.
Sargent said it was truly “hell” losing her hearing and that it caused both frustration and anxiety for herself and family members. The worst of losing her hearing was the “silence and the isolation,” she said.
She had previously lived her life with “hearing people skills” but suddenly had become a “deafie” — a term of endearment she uses for those who have lost her hearing or have no hearing. She admits that its a term that make many deaf people cringe but she has come to embrace the term.
She is a teacher at the Rochester City School District and teaches technology to hearing students.
“I would have never been a teacher,” she said if she had not lost her hearing but adds that it’s been “rewarding.”
Sargent said with losing her hearing, she has done many things she would have never guessed she would have done as a hearing person. That includes writing a book.
“I’ve never been a writer,” she said, but she learned a lot of grammar and was given help from friends. She said her lack of training as a writer has kept her writing more conversational.
She said it feels likes she has lived two different lives. “So much of your life changes,” she said. She’s changed careers, has learned how to use different forms of communication and has watched friends in her life disappear. But that doesn’t make one of her lives better, she added.
Its also changed her perspective on life and the way she perceives events that happen in her life. She notes that she has become a much happier person since she has learned to cope with losing her hearing.
With music, Sargent said she’s still able to hear music but doesn’t hear it the way a hearing person would. But with older songs that she heard when she was hearing, her memory will fill in the song.
Sargent said it’s been hard for her to fit in with both the completely deaf culture and the hearing world.
“We’re the lost voice,” she says of those who have lost their hearing later in life.
Sargent is also pushing the grass roots campaign, “Flaunt Your Bits & Pieces,” to eliminate stigma attached to wearing hearing aids and cochlear implants.
She said many hearing people are ignorant of hearing aids and stare at her like she has a problem. On the other hand, there’s many hard of hearing people who don’t wear hearing aids, she said.
“So many people won’t wear hearing aids mainly because of vanity,” she said.