I subscribed to a mailing list concerning Cochlear Implants (CI). The description said that you did not have to have a CI or a hearing loss in ordert to join the group. This community is very informative and supportive of everyone in it. Overall, everyone is very helpful to their fellow members, and offers any type of advice they can. The community seems to be very close. There is a wide variety of people in the community such as: People with CI’s, people with children with CI’s, professionals/educators, people with hearing loss, and like myself, the general public.
There are several people who enjoy sharing their experiences that they have on a daily basis that never would have occurred without having a CI. When reading these stories, I admire these people and often find myself getting excited for them being able to hear! For example, one woman wrote that she was in her car on a large freeway when she got stuck in traffic. She said she turned on the radio and heard there was a big accident so she was able to get on a different street and avoid being stuck in traffic for hours. This is a good example of something so simple, but she made the point that she could have never been able to do that pre-CI. I have read numerous inspiring stories just like this one from this community. It often makes me realize the little things hearing people take for granted.
The main purpose of this community is to offer support to those members in the community. It is primarily for people with hearing loss, who personally have experience with a CI or know someone with a CI. However, it is not specifically only for people who are already implanted; many are in the process of just beginning with their CI or in the process to see if they qualify for a CI. There are also many people who are going through the process and have questions about all of it. I know this through the messages that are sent daily to the group. One particular e-mail, a lady had recently been implanted and was becoming frustrated with the way she was hearing. One of the replies was encouraging not to give up and remember that they may never really hear “like before,” but they will hear and that is the most important thing. I thought this was very motivating and reassuring.
Quickly after joining this group I realized how involved everyone was with it, and the concern of the people in the community. I feel like the community does a very good job of fufilling it’s purpose of offering support for people with hearing loss. If one person has a question, or makes an interesting comment then that comment alone receives about 8 or more helpful responses. Typically, I receive about 10-20 e-mails per day from the mailing list. All of the people want to help, whether it be a simple or complex question or concern. People in the community also often send educational or interesting information like links to different articles concerning hearing loss of CI’s. One woman sent a link to a very interesting/educational article back in early October.
I am very glad that I have had the opportunity to participate in the mailing list, and I have learned a lot about CI’s. I was not aware before this class that lists like this existed. I have found that they are a very good source for information.
