Am I ready?

How do you manage stress?

I talk to someone

I exercise (e.g. yoga, workout, hike)

I get away by myself

I do not have a way to deal with stress

Do you have a friend or group of friends with whom you feel comfortable discussing events and your shared interests (e.g. sports, movies, politics)?

I do not have a friend that I can easily talk with

I have one good friend that I frequently talk with

I have a variety of friends that I frequently and easily talk with

Friends that share my interests are hard to find

How will you make decisions about your career?

I will search the Internet for information about careers that interest me and find out if people with hearing loss work in those professions so that I can arrange to meet with them and hear about their experience

I will talk to organization that support people with disabilities about jobs that might be open to people with hearing loss

I will try to search for jobs that do not require a great deal of communication with other people

I don’t think I will have a career. With my hearing loss, it will be difficult to get any job.

If you plan to go to college or university, how will you make sure you can follow the classes?

I will check out my rights and approach the institution’s accessibility office to make sure appropriate support and equipment will be made available to me

I will arrange to get a fellow student’s notes from class so that I can copy them afterwards

I will just sit in and hear what I can hear, and then supplement with an online self-paced course at home

I will not go to college because it will be too difficult for me to follow conversation in lecture halls

If you cannot hear what somebody is saying, what do you do?

I ask them to repeat, speak more clearly and face me so that I can understand what they are saying

I wait to see if I can understand what comes next and perhaps work out what was being said

I keep quiet because I have asked them to speak more clearly before and it's no use

I never say anything because I do not want the others to know, or be reminded, that I have a hearing loss

If you would like to ask somebody you haven't spoken to before on a date, what will you do?

I will tell him or her up front that I have a hearing loss and how they can help me communicate

I will wait and see – perhaps they will not notice that I have a hearing loss and when they do, we will already have become friends

I will try to hide that I have a hearing loss – it would be really embarrassing

I will not ask anybody on a date – they probably will not want to date somebody with a hearing loss

When somebody asks you about your hearing aids or cochlear implant, what do you do?

I explain to them that I have a hearing loss and, if they are interested, I will tell them how the hearing aids or cochlear implant work

I try to pretend that I did not hear their question because I prefer not to talk about my hearing aids or cochlear implant

I tell them that I would rather not talk about my hearing aids or cochlear implant

I get really upset that they saw I have hearing aids or a cochlear implant and walk away because I do not want to talk about it

At your job (student or full-time), what will you do if your co-workers refuse to adjust their communication style so that you can follow conversation?

I will explain to them what my hearing loss is all about and that I cannot participate, nor do my job properly, if they do not help me communicate

I will get angry and tell them that their behavior is unacceptable

I will complain about them to our boss and ask him or her to make them change their behavior

I will get upset and look for another place to work

I will do nothing

If you are in a noisy place such as in a bar or at a concert and someone wants to talk to you, what do you do?

I will tell them I have a hearing loss and suggest that we go to a more quiet place to talk

I will try to lip read as best I can and hope that I get most of it right. If not, I will tell them I have a hearing loss

I will pretend to understand what they are saying and nod in response

I will just smile and walk away – no point in trying to have a conversation in such a noisy place

I think my next steps should be:

Discuss your answers and notes with your audiologist or someone close to you.

Be inspired by others

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Am I ready?