Miss-Delectable
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Passionate for the deaf | Stuff.co.nz
"My ears are broken." That's how Therese Luxton describes her hearing impairment to children.
This week is National Foundation for the Deaf Hearing Week with the theme, the Faces of Hearing Impairment.
Therese is one of the faces – she has a hearing level of less than 50 percent in each ear, lip reads and wears a hearing aid.
People tend to do one of two things when you tell them you're deaf – they over enunciate or they ignore it, she says.
"People want to protect you but in doing so they take away some of your dignity."
She completed a three-month placement with the Health and Disability Commission last year and has previously worked as a truancy officer in Manurewa.
She describes herself as "one of the lucky ones".
Lucky because she has a job and support from her workplaces, like Clayton Park School in Wattle Downs where she's a strengthening families co-ordinator. She gets assistance to do her work such as note-taking support.
One of her biggest concerns is the isolation the hearing impaired and deaf people suffer when they're in prison.
She's also concerned for kids who are acting up at school. It's not necessarily bad behaviour but it could point to undetected hearing problems.
And she's so passionate about empowering kids through education she was given an Every Child Counts Award in 2009.
She's also passionate about ending the isolation the hearing impaired face.
"Let the inclusion begin," she says.
"They're just normal people with a disability – I'm not my disability, I'm a whole lot of different things."
Hearing Week aims to present all the faces of hearing impairment and help those who live with hearing loss to realise they are not alone. A number of organisations that can help them, foundation chief executive Louise Carroll says.
It's also an opportunity for all Kiwis to be aware about communicating with people with hearing impairment, like speaking a little slower, facing them, keeping lips clear and not shouting.
Bullying is something that affects people with hearing disabilities and there's many examples of it, she says.
"Refusing or declining to repeat yourself is bullying – it is punishing the other person for their inability to hear properly."
Go to Welcome to the National Foundation for the Deaf - nfd.org.nz for more information on the National Foundation for the Deaf.
"My ears are broken." That's how Therese Luxton describes her hearing impairment to children.
This week is National Foundation for the Deaf Hearing Week with the theme, the Faces of Hearing Impairment.
Therese is one of the faces – she has a hearing level of less than 50 percent in each ear, lip reads and wears a hearing aid.
People tend to do one of two things when you tell them you're deaf – they over enunciate or they ignore it, she says.
"People want to protect you but in doing so they take away some of your dignity."
She completed a three-month placement with the Health and Disability Commission last year and has previously worked as a truancy officer in Manurewa.
She describes herself as "one of the lucky ones".
Lucky because she has a job and support from her workplaces, like Clayton Park School in Wattle Downs where she's a strengthening families co-ordinator. She gets assistance to do her work such as note-taking support.
One of her biggest concerns is the isolation the hearing impaired and deaf people suffer when they're in prison.
She's also concerned for kids who are acting up at school. It's not necessarily bad behaviour but it could point to undetected hearing problems.
And she's so passionate about empowering kids through education she was given an Every Child Counts Award in 2009.
She's also passionate about ending the isolation the hearing impaired face.
"Let the inclusion begin," she says.
"They're just normal people with a disability – I'm not my disability, I'm a whole lot of different things."
Hearing Week aims to present all the faces of hearing impairment and help those who live with hearing loss to realise they are not alone. A number of organisations that can help them, foundation chief executive Louise Carroll says.
It's also an opportunity for all Kiwis to be aware about communicating with people with hearing impairment, like speaking a little slower, facing them, keeping lips clear and not shouting.
Bullying is something that affects people with hearing disabilities and there's many examples of it, she says.
"Refusing or declining to repeat yourself is bullying – it is punishing the other person for their inability to hear properly."
Go to Welcome to the National Foundation for the Deaf - nfd.org.nz for more information on the National Foundation for the Deaf.