Sarah had the dream of doing nursing training. However, due to her hearing impairment, the 27-year-old from Leipzig has not yet been able to realize her dream and is finding it difficult to find work. She has had to have experiences like this her entire life. Sarah now uses Instagram and Facebook to draw attention to her challenges and those of other people with hearing impairments, reaching hundreds of followers.
By Leven Wortmann, Konstantin Henß, MDR SACHSEN
“We had a normal conversation, but when the employer saw in my application documents that I had a hearing impairment, the question suddenly came up: Can you even speak?” Sarah Felten has often had experiences like this. The 27-year-old has been hearing impaired since birth, but has had a cochlear implant (CI) since she was two years old, which still allows her to hear. Nevertheless, she is often confronted with discrimination, which is why Sarah started hers Instagram account Hörvisionsto draw attention to the topic.
What is a cochlear implant?
A cochlear implant, also known as a CI, helps people with hearing impairments. According to an estimate by the German Cochlear Implant Society, there are around 50,000 people in Germany who wear a CI. The CI sits on the side of the head and uses a magnetic coil to transmit sounds directly to the auditory nerve in the inner ear. In contrast to hearing aids, this bypasses the auricle and eardrum and transmits noise directly into the head. A CI can be useful at almost any age and with many different hearing impairments. According to hearing aid acoustician Anna Kipping-Walther, the complex procedure, follow-up examinations, rehabilitation and the device together cost up to 100,000 euros. In Germany, the statutory health insurance company bears the full costs.
Through school with CI
Sarah got hers First CI implanted at two years old and her second CI at 16 years oldwhich means she has been able to hear since she was a child. It’s more difficult in noisy environments, but with a little concentration it’s possible, explains the Leipzig native. This made it possible for her to attend a normal elementary school and high school. Even though Sarah was sometimes at the top of her class, her time at school was different: “Children often don’t understand what it means to have a hearing impairment and then they can’t deal with it. This accompanied me for a long time, especially when I was a child and myself “I couldn’t reflect on why others were bullying me. As a result, my self-confidence suffered.”
This stayed with me for a long time, especially when I was a child and couldn’t yet reflect on why others bullied me. My self-confidence suffered as a result.
Sarah Felten |
What is ableism?
If people are reduced to their physical or psychological disability or, for example, a learning difficulty and treated unequally in everyday life, this is known in technical language as ableism. More precisely, ableism means that people with disabilities are reduced by other people without disabilities to the characteristics in which they differ from the supposed normal state. […] These characteristics are then used, without knowing or speaking to the person with a disability, to determine, for example, what the person supposedly can or cannot do or how the person feels – and they are treated accordingly.
It is important to her to emphasize that people with a hearing impairment and the right support can attend a regular school and graduate normally. So she graduated from secondary school. It’s only after that that things often don’t really progress: “There aren’t enough training occupations that take people with hearing impairments into account. My big dream was to work in a medical profession. Due to the circumstances, I then had to complete my training as a nurse but unfortunately cancel.”
Everyday life for people with hearing impairment
“Unfortunately, I have to answer the question of whether I have a satisfied life with no. Unfortunately, with my hearing impairment, I cannot pursue the dream that I actually had for my life.” The 27-year-old is currently looking for a training position again. However, finding an employer who takes her disability into consideration is not easy. But even everyday things can sometimes be a challenge. Even if she can hear, hearing in loud environments requires more concentration and her spatial hearing is also partially limited.
Unfortunately, I have to answer the question of whether I have a satisfied life with no. Unfortunately, with my hearing impairment, I cannot pursue the dream that I actually had for my life.
Sarah Felten |
To create greater awareness of this, Sarah has a Facebook and a Instagram channel launched. Together, around 1,500 people follow her here. In interviews with experts and those affected, but also with descriptions of their everyday lives, she shows where the problems of many people with CI lie. “You are often thought to be stupid just because you speak a little differently or sometimes have to ask questions. Many people only know about hearing loss in older people and don’t even think about the fact that young people can also be affected by it.”
MDR (lev/koh)
