The article discusses a conversation between the author and a young woman in Ireland struggling with hearing loss and related shame. The author shares her own journey overcoming similar feelings and the importance of confronting stigma with honesty. Influenced by a mentor, Jennifer Pastiloff, who is deaf, the author encourages open discussion about hearing loss. The response to her candidness revealed a community of people who felt isolated yet relieved to find they were not alone in their experiences. The author emphasizes the significance of supporting one another and dismantling societal stigma.
She was terrified to get her hearing checked, even though she couldn't hear people at work, and she had to mumble or nod as if she did.
When I first, with great terror, wrote to her about my issue, she was the one who urged me to claim the shame! "Write about it, put it out into the light, and it will shrivel!"
I now try to pass that calm along, and to educate others about how no one has to suffer.
"I thought I was alone," people said. "I was too humiliated."
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