From being a qualified children’s librarian to sharing literature with families and professionals, a love of words has shaped both Bernadette’s personal and professional life.
Bernadette was born deaf before the Newborn Hearing Screening was introduced, and diagnosed with hearing loss at the age of four years old.
“Born hard of hearing, I got by with my limited hearing and, over the years, I taught myself to lip read,” she said.
However, after noticing a slow but gradual decrease in her hearing as she got older, Bernadette started to look into hearing aids as an option.
“I was struggling to hear in noisy situations and hear people speak in low/quiet tones. I wanted to preserve what hearing I did have, with the assistance of hearing aids,” she said.
After searching for a provider for hearing aids and trying a couple of places, Bernadette was excited to find out that Hear and Say was now offering hearing tests and hearing aids for adults.
“My first appointment, I was very nervous. I was not sure what to expect. The audiologist was very understanding, explaining every step of the way what she was doing. I was in awe to see the setup at Hear and Say,” said Bernadette.
Bernadette was initially hesitant about wearing hearing aids due to the stigma of wearing them but a chance encounter with one of Hear and Say’s young clients changed her outlook.
“My problem was my ‘hang up’ about wearing aids. I thought people would treat me differently,” she said.
