By Jennifer Beilis
I have a moderate to severe hearing loss and use hearing aids and an FM system to communicate. I found a position teaching American Sign Language in a local college and I also tutor. I have offered motivational and disability awareness seminars at Barnes & Noble and libraries. It makes me feel inspired to assist others on their paths, be it with hearing loss and medical issues or to make some other change in your life.
I wrote a book, “Hear I Am,” several years ago about helping people with hearing loss and other disabilities to be able to graduate from college and work at a job with the proper accommodations in place. In the book I model through examples about how I persevered in college and then in the workplace. My hope is that this can also set an example for people to have the courage to change as well. It is important to always think of several ways to handle different situations so your goal can be attainable.
Having a pet has helped Jennifer Beilis cope with her hearing loss.
I always teach my students about disability awareness and advocacy. I often ask students to present the challenges and solutions for hearing loss in today's society. It has helped many people over the years to learn about and then use new strategies in their own lives. In the classes we use skits to role play how to problem solve.
This past year and a half was a real struggle to communicate with other people. I am teaching on Zoom and while Zoom is rolling out AI-generated subtitles in the main meeting room, in the breakout groups there is still no captioning. You must use the chat box so people with hearing loss and other disabilities can read along and follow. And of course, with masks communication is difficult for everyone, hearing loss or not.
One thing I advise is that if you go to a doctor and you cannot hear what’s being said through the mask, please ask for a nurse to repeat or have everything typed up for you to take home. It is not simple during COVID-19 as only one person is allowed into an exam room at a time, so that is a new challenge for everyone.
Another thing that helps is our pets. Lightening, our beautiful Sheltie, died six months ago. He loved everyone, was agile, and cared for all. Now we have Princess, also a Shetland sheepdog, who is a puppy at 5 months old. We look forward to teaching her agility tricks as well.
I enjoy helping people to become better advocates for themselves or their loved ones.
Jennifer Beilis lives in New Jersey. You can email her at Jenny08520@aol.com. “Hear I am” is available on Amazon.
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I do feel like something is lost when older adults are put into what feels like isolation chambers due to our hearing ability. We have something unique to contribute from the perspective of our years, and I would like us to find a way as a society to allow us to do that.