I woke up this morning deaf. Yes, I've woken up deaf every morning since August 11th 2011, but it still makes me stop for five minutes and think about what my life would have been like if I hadn't have got the cochlear implant straight away.
For starters, I woud be better at lipreading and signing. The cochlear implant makes me a bit lazy so I don't lipread or sign as much as I would. I prefer to look people in the eye anyway. I can participate in a normal conversation with one or more people just like a hearing person can.
My job wouldn't be as exciting. I'm working on a big project at the moment, the most important of my career, and this involves daily meetings, something that is very difficult to participate in (let alone Chair) when deaf. Next semester, post-project, I'm back in the classroom and will be implementing a whole host of new teaching strategies to make my teaching fun.
I wouldn't be as social, that's for sure. The cochlear implant doesn't pick up music at parties unless it's really loud so I find it's easy to chat away to friends. I NEVER say no to a social event based on my lack of hearing.
Without the cochlear implant I wouldn't be able to participate in family life the way I do. I'm in the office right now typing this but I can chat with my husband in the kitchen and I can hear my youngest son watching TV in the lounge. Speaking of TV, with my cochlear I can watch TV without subtitles!
OK, there are still things I find difficult with the cochlear but they are things that I can't do at all without it. Like my mum said, with a cochlear I'm ENABLED, not disabled, yay! :)
