My advocacy journey through OT school with hearing loss
By Avanna N. Tiwarie
Growing up with bilateral severe to profound hearing loss is a world of its own, full of challenges and setbacks that require tremendous self-advocacy and support. But at the same time, it offers opportunities to grow and educate others.
From missing important information in my classes to struggling to understand what others are saying and relying solely on lipreading, to facing social challenges related to acceptance and advocacy, having hearing loss has proven to be very difficult in a world that depends on auditory input. Since my hearing loss is an acquired disability, it makes it even more challenging to practice acceptance and learn how to self-advocate. Fortunately, throughout my time in the University of Florida’s Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at the College of Public Health and Health Professions, I have grown to be proud of my disability and who I am as a person.
I first encountered occupational therapy as a child when I was a client receiving school-based OT services due to my hearing loss and severe anxiety. These conditions led to very low participation in everyday school activities, requiring OT intervention. As I grew older, I came to see the various settings and specialties within occupational therapy, which sparked my passion to become an occupational therapy practitioner. I saw the side of OT where they educated, advocated and developed interventions that enabled clients to do what they wanted to do, making life meaningful. I immediately knew this was the career path I wanted to pursue. When I started OT school, I realized how difficult it was for me to learn with my hearing loss disability. I struggled with group assignments, applying principles to real-world scenarios, and memorizing fundamentals of OT concepts like anatomy and foundational theories. Hearing loss affects more than just hearing; it also impacts attention, memory and physical balance. When I recognized that I needed to advocate for myself and the challenges I was experiencing, my learning became much easier, and I faced fewer struggles.
My advocacy journey started by regularly reaching out to the UF Disability Resource Center (DRC) to inform them of the captioning problems I was facing. I would use captioning in my classes every day, but I often encountered technical issues that caused the captions to break up, slow down or provide incorrect information, leading me to miss important details. I held consistent meetings with the DRC to find the best solutions for me and my coursework. These meetings also involved advocating for different accommodations in various clinical settings. This process led me to test various captioning systems on my own and identify the most suitable one for my needs. I then began collaborating with my instructors to advocate for my needs in class and demonstrated how to use my microphone and captioning set-up, making sure I had access to the materials necessary to succeed both in the classroom and in clinical environments. These small advocacy changes inspired me to create more for the future generations of students.
Seeing the limited resources for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community inspired me to advocate for others with hearing loss. Over time, I have grown more confident in my advocacy efforts, enabling me to better express my needs. I was inspired to write a “manual” for others that details much of what one needs to know about students with hearing loss. A few themes included in my manual are Deaf and Hard of Hearing communication strategies, how to navigate captioning systems, psychosocial perspectives of having hearing loss, how to create an accessible environment that addresses Deaf and Hard of Hearing students’ needs alongside other students in the classroom, and more. I have continued my advocacy journey by sharing my story with others in my program, as well as advocating for my Deaf and Hard of Hearing clients during my fieldwork rotations. These small changes allowed me to realize the impact of simply advocating for myself and others and pushed me to want to do more with a goal of creating an environment that considers the needs of everyone.
Throughout my advocacy journey and my determination to make a change for individuals with hearing loss, I have learned that I have immense potential and am fully capable of doing things I never thought I could do. This includes serving as a guest speaker to my student organization, speaking at Santa Fe College, leading introductory American Sign Language, or ASL, sessions for my program, and having my capstone project focus on improving accessibility for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. While these events may seem small, I am very proud of the work I have been implementing, and I hope to continue my advocacy journey when I become a clinician.
One thing I would want other students and health care providers to understand about students with hearing loss is that we are just as capable as anyone else, with or without disabilities. While hearing loss may be an invisible disability — meaning you would never know if someone were Deaf or Hard of Hearing unless told — we can still do everything a hearing individual can do; it just might look different. My one piece of advice is to “let them.” Let them try, let them be part of the opportunity, let them recognize their potential, because you never know, they could make a huge impact that you never thought was possible.