Working With People That Are Losing Their Hearing

By Rey Vetangelo


It is very likely that you have been exposed to various individuals of varying levels of deafness throughout your life. These individuals, in addition to the culture of their homes are able to participate in their own culture that has a separate language, and customs that are amazing and unique from all other cultures in the world.

In the hearing world, the world of deafness is often understood as a world of disability, but this is often not how it is perceived by members of the deaf community. Rather than seeing deafness as a disability, they understand it as a different way of perceiving the world, and this is extremely important to the maintenance of self worth.

While each elderly couple or individual will require different home modifications that will enable them to live comfortably, there are a few common considerations that can be made. One of the first ones is to modify the home to improve the elderly individual's mobility.

As decreased mobility is often one of the major limitations that the elderly suffer from, alterations to the home that help improve the owner's mobility can begin to be considered early on. Such modifications as stair climbers that transport people up and down stairs or increasing the width of doorways in the home to allow for wheelchairs or motorized scooters to pass through are two modifications that can instantly help with mobility.

Another area of the home that seniors often struggle with, and that can be very dangerous if not addressed, is the bathroom. Here again due to the lack of mobility and muscle strength of many elderly individuals, the bathroom can become a place of hardship.

But with in-home modifications to the bathroom area, this room no longer needs to be problematic. Such modifications as walk in baths, lowered counter tops, installed hand rails, and even the addition of benches or seats can all make the bathroom a more comfortable place for seniors to navigate.

Unlike hearing aids which simply amplify sound, and are completely ineffective for individuals with complete deafness, Cochlear implants are used to bypass the damaged portions of the ear by completing their purpose. In that way, cochlear implants act as a replacement for damaged portions of the ear.

The decision to get a cochlear implant is an extremely complicated and personal one. Individuals making this decision should be respected, no matter what choice they make. The difficulty with these implants is that they can often create a distance between the deaf culture and the individual with a cochlear implant, so the choice can impact many aspects of a person's life.

That is why the above home modifications, as well as many, many more, can be undertaken to improve the quality of life for the elderly couple or individual who desires to remain living within their own home.




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