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New year, new start!

Published Date: 31 Dec 2020

Mum and dad sitting on the sofa with a little girl, all wearing Christmas hats

 

As we come to the end of a most unusual year, it’s time to start considering the year ahead. Life looks a little different for everyone right now, but as a deaf adult and parent to a deaf child it’s been particularly challenging adapting to face coverings.

 

Whilst I fully appreciate their necessity, it closes our world just a little bit as we struggle to communicate without access to lip-reading. Visors and see-through masks are a great initiative but only a handful of people wear them. The fact is, face coverings will be around for a while yet and I think a New Year’s resolution for me needs to be advocating for myself and Isabelle more instead of retreating from conversation. It’s the first time since my school days that my disability has cornered me, just a little, but enough to rattle me. So enough of that for 2021.

 

My tiny baby is turning three next year - I’m not sure who authorised that! We’ve started looking at nurseries for next September, meeting with Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) as much as COVID-19 restrictions allow. The idea of handing her over into someone else’s care is daunting but we have our fantastic Teacher of the Deaf (ToD) with us each step of the way to guide us through the process and assess each setting for the best auditory outcomes. I’m all too aware myself, as a teaching assistant, of the wall of sound a classroom brings and Isabelle will need to learn to navigate this and pick out key sounds, such as the teacher speaking. Of course, she’ll be aided by technology but sound discrimination is a crucial life skill she needs to develop that will stand her in good stead for all settings.

 

We are hopefully resuming Isabelle’s speech and language sessions next year too, though they may look a little different with PPE and social distancing. After missing out on almost a year of input, I’m looking forward to watching her blossom as she participates in the fun activities carried out by the specialist nursery nurse who works alongside our ToD.

 

This year has made us grateful for an awful lot. Isabelle battled meningitis, COVID-19 and MRSA at the beginning of lockdown. Thanks to the swift actions of our wonderful NHS, she has walked away unscathed. Lockdown forced us to discover the beauty in our surroundings as we tried out every local ramble (whilst Isabelle tested every puddle!) and found a love of the woods. Most of all we’ve had more time as a family than ever. We haven’t been able to schedule every weekend to the hilt like we usually would, and that’s probably my last thought for the New Year. It’s OK not to have plans. It’s OK to just go for a walk in the woods. It’s OK to just stay at home and play. 2021? It’s going to be ok. 

 

Nicky

Nicky and her husband Ross are parents to Isabelle (5) and Jack (2). Isabelle is profoundly deaf and wears cochlear implants, and  Jack is severely to profoundly deaf and wears hearing aids. Nicky is severely deaf herself and wears a hearing aid.