A recent guest column in the Motherlode blog published in the New York Times, by a mother whose seven-year-old daughter was diagnosed as having a hearing loss two years ago, has generated many comments. Some of the comments on the column "Life After a Child's Diagnosis" reflect a lack of understanding on people's part. The mother's feelings are actually normal as she struggles to accept the reality of her life, and her child's life. My comment is #61, and it was submitted via my cell phone, so I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.
In a way, I can identify with this mother because of what happened when I was a young girl. I had just had yet another hearing test. While I waited, I noticed the audiologist talking to my mother about the latest results, which showed I was continuing to lose hearing. I lipread my mother saying, "Jamie has so little hearing left!" and saw she looked somewhat sad. At the time, I wondered why she was sad, because to me as a kid, losing more hearing was no big deal. I think that was the first time I realized I was possibly going to become totally deaf. I did become totally deaf as an adult.
This is an excellent article to read for its honesty and the comments are also excellent for their variety of reactions to this mother’s attitude. In all, a lovely and thought-provoking piece.