I didn't say my first sentence until I was 10. During my teens and when I was at secondary school my range of vocabulary wasn't good and I was well behind my friends. I only really caught up when I started at uni.
There was confusion when I was little as to whether it was deafness or a speech problem that I had, but when I was 3, I went to Birmingham Children’s hospital who assessed me and said according to my mum that 'you were a very bright little girl, your IQ was well above average, problem was that you only had one-third of the right amount of hearing'. That was when I got hearing aids. I don't remember much of my childhood but then I'm thinking that maybe I just thought visually rather than being able to put my thoughts into words, or maybe I made up my own words, I'm not sure. I remember being at school when I was about 8 and doing a roly poly over the bars and my hearing aid box and batteries went flying but I don't remember much else about primary school.
At around the same time, my mum spent a lot of time with me going over the same words again and again, I remember the Dr Seuss books, the AA Milne books - the House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Very young and Now We Are Six; the Ant and Bee books and Richard Scarry. The written word became really important to me as it allowed me to make a connection with something. Around the age of 4, I had started to read the words on peoples lips and now began to understand what was being said.
I remember before I started secondary school that my parents took me to London to a large bookstore and I chose my first adult books - I still remember them now - Day of the Triffids and A Town Like Alice. I remember feeling very proud that I had grown up books. The written word has been a huge part of my life. I remember being very confused about the words ballet and quiche. Why weren't they spoken the way they were written? I still get all my information from the written word, books, magazines, subtitles from TV/films/documentaries - it's no wonder I needed glasses from an early age!
I went to an all girls boarding school at age 11 and one reason was because they had smaller, quieter classes and they could give me more one to one attention. Also, my dad said that by that stage my language had begun to develop well and that my speech could be understood by other people. Again, I really struggle to remember much, my year out and university days are so much clearer. I enjoyed English and History and I loved Art and I remember joining the creative writing group because the teacher made such good hot chocolate! I also remembered that my history teacher had told my parents that I would probably get a grade 'C' for GCSE but if I wasn't deaf I'd probably get an 'A'.
I also remember a swimming class we had, we were working towards a swimming badge of some type and I got changed with the other girls and waited by the pool for the teacher. She then proceeded to go into a lengthy explanation about something and I had no idea what she was saying and I was waiting for her to indicate that we could go into the pool. Anyway, she talked for the whole lesson and we didn't even get to swim. I went back to the changing room with the others and then had to find the teacher once I'd got my hearing aids back in and explain that I hadn't heard a thing all lesson!
I can remember a few occasions where my peers mistook my deafness for stupidity, some would speak very slowly (which is incredibly frustrating) and some would take the mickey out of me. There were some girls who didn't actually believe I was deaf and left my hearing aids in a puddle in the swimming pool changing rooms. They just didn't understand. But saying that, I also made some really good friends and I know they're for life.
Anyway I took a year out after school and went travelling to see a really good friend of mine in Australia and then I went to Uni and felt like I came into my own a bit more. I met some crazy people who I'm still in touch with today - hopefully we will make that reunion next year!!
Anyway, for someone who was told that because she's deaf she'd only get a C at GCSE History, ended up with a BA Honours degree in History associated with English - not too bad for someone couldn't pronounce hyperbole!
