Hearing Link Services

How Hearing Link Services helped me

When May decided to retire, she also made the decision to take action and understand her hearing loss.

Mid shot of a happy woman leaving on a fence outside looking directly at the camera and wearing a lanyard with a badge that says ‘Volunteer’

After struggling throughout her life and teaching career, May wanted this new chapter in her life to be one that she could enjoy and make the most of.

 

Communication

Although May's poor hearing goes back to her childhood, further communication difficulties emerged at the start of her career. She muddled through for years before finally receiving audiology support.

She attended lipreading classes and the communication hints and tips she picked up helped her to keep her head above water. But, she found that she was still struggling in many aspects of her life.

 

Hearing Link Services

Then, May heard about Hearing Link Services and was encouraged to find out more about our personalised peer support services.

May remembers: “When I took early retirement, I was very aware I needed to understand my hearing loss better and find more ways to cope and optimise my listening skills in order to better communicate and to socialise.”

I had become quite isolated, very withdrawn and possibly a little depressed.

Personalised support

May initially signed up to attend a peer-led support group.

She said: “The workshops explored ways to cope with so many of the difficult situations deaf people such as I face on day-to-day basis. I particularly found ‘target setting’ useful because I was able to take a fresh look at the problem, work out how I might resolve it, and then work on it step by step.”

A key benefit of those sessions to May was that she met lots of other people facing the same hearing and emotional challenges as her.

May said, “Hearing Link Services turned several corners for me. I realised I was not alone. I came to accept my deafness as a fact which I must deal with and keep moving forward.”

The boost to my self-esteem of being in control of living my life again was immense.

Family observations

It is not only May who has noticed the difference; her family have also been encouraged by her renewed confidence. 

Her son Andy said: “Since receiving support from Hearing Link, my mum is more confident, her self-esteem has improved, and she is more outgoing. She has gone from someone who struggled with her disability to someone who accepts it and deals with it. Of course, her hearing has not improved, but her improved coping skills, gained through Hearing Link Services, have helped her overcome her hearing loss.”

Volunteering

Two very happy looking people smiling at the camera, wearing hearing dogs uniform sat at a table covered in literature and clipboards

For over a decade now May has been helping others, as one of our valued peer support volunteers, by sharing her lived experience of hearing loss.

She regularly responds to a wide range of enquiries we receive from individuals with hearing loss and their families across the UK, who are looking for the type of support she once received. 

She actively promotes Hearing Link Services attending events, supporting our fundraising team, or giving talks to raise awareness that put May face-to-face with people who might benefit from her advice. 

She explained: “I love to meet people, to chat with them about their hearing loss issues and to share experiences. I wish to make more people aware of all the help they can access enabling them to live well with their hearing loss.”