Let's start at the beginning...

So my reason for this blog is simple: September is Deaf Awareness Month and every year I put up a proudly HoH post on social media and get plagued with questions regarding my disability. There are SO many misconceptions regarding hearing loss and what goes with it that I decided I would start a blog to answer commonly asked questions and basically just to share with you my daily life.

This is who I am:

Brief intro about Amy Nicole Barnard!

Well, I was born and raised in a coastal city in South Africa called Durban and have lived here ever since. I am what is politically correctly known as 'Hard of Hearing' (Hearing Impaired is the lesser known version, partly because we see the word impaired as being a tad bit of an insult.) 

Basically I have what is known as moderate to severe bilateral hearing loss (more about what that means in the next blog post!). I wear these EPICALLY small hearing aids in each ear that are called CIC (Completely in Canal) so you have to basically be looking at my ear in order to see them. I'm a bit of an unusual case as I was only diagnosed as a young teenager due to the fact that it was just never picked up on when I was younger, and I have what is known as degenerative hearing. I can function pretty normally in society as I read lips fluently plus I'm really good at invading people's personal space to hear them better! I am a High School Drama educator at a mainstream school so I like to think I kick stereotype's rear end out the door!

I don't consider myself different, my ability to read lips is my Superpower (you have NO idea what convos I eavesdrop on...) and I surge on refusing to allow my 'disability' to change me or the way I live my life. In my next blog post I'm going to address some of the most commonly asked questions and statements that get directed to me on a regular basis, so don't worry, you're going to get very knowledgeable about my life as an HoH person and what I've learnt along the way!