Hearing Matters Podcast

Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing feat. Lindsay Dain

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When Lindsay Dain first had a student with hearing aids in her kindergarten classroom, she understood the basics of her FM system but admits she "didn't really understand the value." This honest reflection captures the essence of why Lindsay's work matters so deeply today; there's a critical gap between having hearing technology and truly understanding its importance in a child's life.

Lindsay's journey from mainstream educator to deaf education specialist to children's book author illuminates how powerful representation can be in the hearing healthcare space. Her book "I'm Getting a Cochlear Implant" breaks down complex audiological concepts into accessible language, serving both children who want to see themselves represented and parents navigating unfamiliar medical terminology.

The conversation takes a particularly moving turn when Lindsay shares how a foster mother approached her to say the book had helped her decide to pursue cochlear implants for her child. "You are the person that I wrote this book for," Lindsay reflects, her voice revealing how meaningful this feedback was to her creative mission.

Beyond the book itself, Lindsay offers valuable insights about advocacy in education, revealing how IEPs now frequently include self-advocacy goals for deaf and hard of hearing students. These skills, teaching children to explain their needs and educate others about their hearing technology, are life-changing foundations that extend far beyond the classroom.

Perhaps most compelling is Lindsay's personal transformation. When voice problems threatened her teaching career, she faced an identity crisis that ultimately led her to pursue writing. "It has helped me remove the ceiling of what I think I can or can't do," she shares, a powerful message for anyone hesitating to follow their creative calling.

Whether you're a hearing healthcare professional seeking resources for families, an educator working with deaf or hard of hearing students, or someone personally affected by hearing loss, this conversation reminds us that advocacy begins with accessible information and that representation truly matters. Check out Lindsay's book and share it with someone who might need to see themselves or their child in its pages.

Here is the Titze straw phonation video. 

Below, please find the ISBN numbers for "I'm Getting a Cochlear Implant" 

ISBN for libraries: 979-8-9885896-1-7 (Hard Cover)

Paperback: 979-8-9885896-0-0 

eBook:979-8-9885896-2-4

Connect with the Hearing Matters Podcast Team

Email: hearingmatterspodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @hearing_matters_podcast

Twitter: @hearing_mattas

Facebook: Hearing Matters Podcast

Speaker 1:

Thank you to our partners. Cycle, built for the entire hearing care practice. Redux, the best dryer. Hands down Caption call by Sorenson. Life is calling CareCredit. Here today to help more people hear tomorrow. Faderplugs the world's first custom adjustable earplug. Welcome back to another episode of the Hearing Matters Podcast. I'm founder and host, Blaise Delfino, and, as a friendly reminder, this podcast is separate from my work at Starkey. You're tuned into the Hearing Matters Podcast. I'm your host, Blaise Delfino, and today I am just so excited to welcome Lindsay Dane. Lindsay, many of our listeners may know you as the author and illustrator of I'm Getting a Cochlear Implant, but your journey started long before that as an educator, a storyteller and someone deeply rooted in advocacy. So I'd really love to begin there. Take us back to the first moment you realized that you wanted to pursue a career working with the deaf and hard of hearing population.

Speaker 2:

Well, I had a friend whose mom was hard of hearing and her sister was deaf, and so she taught me sign language and I loved it. It was so fun so I took it as a fun class in college. I ended up really liking it, so I took every class that I could. Later I became an elementary school teacher, and when I wanted to go back into school I wanted to do something different, not just general education or administration, and I'm like I love sign language. Maybe I'll look into deaf education. That would be fun, and so that's what made me consider looking into deaf education.

Speaker 1:

And then it definitely sounds like those early experiences with your friends, family, really planted that seed, because not a lot of people today know sign language. I took a sign language class in undergrad I don't want to go on a tangent here, but even baby sign, baby sign being that precursor to those early language developments. So you eventually became a kindergarten teacher, then returned to specialize in deaf education. What drew you back to pursue that certification?

Speaker 2:

Well, it's a funny story. My friend had just graduated from college and she said that she wanted to get her master's degree. I never had any intention of going back to school, but I said, okay, I'll do it if you do it. And so we just started looking around and our goal was to go to California, but that didn't end up happening. We did both get our master's, but it was just kind of like a whim sort of thing.

Speaker 1:

What's amazing is that at that point in time, you really didn't maybe know the impact that you were going to make on so many of these students. Right? Because, yes, you were aware of the deaf culture, you were aware of those who were hard of hearing, but maybe there wasn't as much of an emphasis on the field as there is today, which is incredible. So, lindsay, understanding your why and knowing that you wanted to work with children who were deaf or hard of hearing, but working in the classroom being a couple of weeks ago how you prepared these students to understand what hearing aids were. So you know I don't want to bury the lead here, but what did that experience teach you about? You know the gaps in awareness, even among educators.

Speaker 2:

I taught kindergarten in Phoenix, so most of my kids were Spanish speakers, so we were learning Spanish and we were learning English, and then I taught them sign language too. So my class was the perfect place for the sweet little girl to come, because every single one of my kids knew a little bit of sign language and that just makes me so happy that she was in my class. But they told me about her FM system. I understood what hearing aids were. I understood that I was supposed to wear this necklace thing and it was connected to her hearing aids and she was going to hear me better.

Speaker 2:

But I didn't really understand the value. I mean, as a teacher I loved on her and I did everything that I thought I should do, but I didn't understand how valuable the FM system was, because sometimes I would forget to turn it on or I would forget to turn it off. She couldn't advocate for herself. So I don't ever remember her saying I can't hear you, or will you please turn that on, or will you please turn that on, or will you please turn that off? You know, if she's in a small group with someone else and the FM system is on me, talking to another group like can you imagine how confusing that would be? But it was out of ignorance, I just didn't know. I was told. But I think that some more steps could have been made to educate me a little bit better on the value of that.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and I have a background in speech language pathology and I will tell you that our audiology professor, she, would use an FM system when we were in grad school and I have to tell you talk about reducing listening effort and everyone in my class had normal hearing, from what I can recall from just doing hearing screenings on each other. But even someone with normal hearing sensitivity, it reduced that listening effort and I didn't have to strain so much, which of course can help with retaining information and not having to squint and just help with classroom acoustics.

Speaker 1:

But I want to go back to a point there that you had discussed about.

Speaker 1:

She couldn't advocate for herself, and I think that hearing care professionals, especially today, especially within the last 10, 15 years, are doing a great job in terms of educating the parents and the caregivers on the importance of the technology and then carrying that over into the educational system. I did an externship in a school system and I have so much respect for educators because I just remember working with five different students on five different objectives and then going to an IEP meeting. So I think it's so important to have that advocacy at home and then even encouraging some of these kiddos which I believe is happening today more so than in the past of oh, this is my hearing technology and again, that's what you're doing. We'll get into your books a little bit later on the episode, but I do think that there is a turn for the better in terms of advocacy, even amongst these kiddos, and that story really does highlight how easy it is to unintentionally overlook a child's needs, really not out of malice, but just lack of awareness.

Speaker 1:

So, Lindsay, I had just mentioned that during my school externship, I had the opportunity to sit in a couple of IEP meetings of course, draft IEPs specifically for speech-language pathology goals. So if a child was working on a language goal, that's what I would work on and it was such an eye-opening experience. Of course, being very passionate about advocacy as it relates to hearing health care, A couple of weeks ago you shared with me that advocacy is now a goal in some of these IEPs, so can you expand on that a little bit more?

Speaker 2:

So in their IEP now they have goals to help themselves, ask for help and say I can't hear, or will you do this or that I can't hear, or will you do this or that they talk. They learn how to tell other people about their hearing loss and their devices so that everybody knows. Some kids don't know that it's better to look at your friend whenever you're talking to them, because if you turn away then they can't hear you. It's important that you don't say never mind, because what you said is important and if your friend doesn't hear you then it's nice to repeat it. But kids don't know that. So if children are taught to be able to tell that to others and advocate for themselves, it's so valuable because people don't know what they don't know.

Speaker 2:

So the more they can advocate for themselves, the better.

Speaker 1:

Lindsay, I believe I shared this with you, but I remember in elementary school I had a classmate who wore hearing aids and I believe he was fit bilaterally so right and left ear and we of course went through kindergarten to fifth grade together and I believe we were in the same class throughout those five years. But I do recall in kindergarten specifically, we went half day in the morning and our teacher, she was educating us Now that I look back of you know I don't want to say his name, but okay, so-and-so is going to sit in the front of the class and she was educating us on oh, these are hearing aids that help him hear better. And literally no one ever questioned it throughout our five years in elementary school because our educators were advocating for him and he advocated for himself. He did have which, I think, by fifth grade.

Speaker 1:

I could have helped with a tubing change growing up and hearing healthcare, but he had the supplies in the nurse's quarters to actually do tubing change and he was an advocate for himself even as he grew up, which is so cool to see. So I'm just so pleased to hear that even today, that advocacy is a goal in these IEPs, and how great is that for our future leaders of America, because what it's also teaching them is oh okay, I can. You know a teacher who is an authority figure, right, I'm not afraid to say, oh, I can't hear you, or things of that nature. So, lindsay, looking back, what advice would you give to teachers welcoming deaf or hard of hearing students into a mainstream classroom for the first time?

Speaker 2:

Because you've been there to is their parents. Tell me everything I need to know about your child. What can I tell the class? What can you tell me that I don't know? And just let her you know, let the parents know I don't understand all this stuff. Please explain everything that you can to me, down to the tiniest little detail, so that I can help your child, because I think now a lot more parents are advocating for their kids because they know how and they're being trained how.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, I would say parents go to them first and taking the educational approach because, being a teacher of a deaf, hard of hearing and also you taught that mainstream classroom and you understand the importance of educating those parents. Because if a child is just fit with hearing technology, they are on this major learning curve and number one empathy is so important. So they're learning about the technology from the hearing healthcare professional. Right, it's learning the technology. Then it's carry over into the classroom sharing the knowledge of what they learned from the audiologist hearing care professional with the teacher. So the teachers tuned in right now lead with empathy and understanding because even if it's for a child who was just diagnosed and just fit, it's new for everyone. So thank you for sharing your experience with that, lindsay.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think there's just ignorance. I don't really like that word, but it's just. It's a real thing. You know, so many people say, oh, you have hearing aids or oh, you're deaf, you can read lips. Okay, no, that is not true. That is not true. And if I'm honest, whenever now, this was a long time ago whenever I taught this sweet little girl, but I don't ever remember talking to a teacher of the deaf. I don't ever remember even hearing that word itinerant teacher of the deaf. And I certainly didn't know what audiology was. I didn't know any of that stuff.

Speaker 1:

And, while we're on the topic here, a teacher of the deaf, also known as TOD. They are a certified educator specifically trained to work with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. As we know, the key here is that the role of the teacher of the deaf goes far beyond just teaching academic subjects, right? So, tods, you're communication experts, you're advocates, you're collaborators and you often do bridge between a child's access to language and their long-term success academically, socially, I think half of a teacher of the deaf's job is to educate the parents and to educate the other educators about things that they don't know.

Speaker 2:

Yes, they need to teach, help teach the content and that sort of thing. But before any of that, other types of communication is important, just teaching all those things that we don't know.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And, lindsay, you are so passionate about teaching, so teacher of the deaf, also mainstream teacher, a teacher of the deaf for those tuned in right now maybe you're a parent, maybe you're watching this on YouTube A teacher of the deaf might help students develop those listening and spoken language skills, teach sign language, collaborate with speech language pathologists, audiologists or general ed teachers and, of course, advocate for accommodations. This could be FM systems or captioning in the classroom, which we touched on earlier. And, of course, lindsay touched on educating families really on how to support that language development at home. So, lindsay, you have this plethora of experience in the classroom working with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. And I want to lead into now the power of representation, because this is what you're doing. Your latest book, which is I'm Getting a Cochlear Implant. It introduces hearing technology and the audiogram in a kid-friendly way. Why was it so important for you to take these concepts and to make them accessible to both children and adults?

Speaker 2:

Well, when you get into the hearing aid world, it's a new language. Everything that the audiologist is talking about is not typical human knowledge. You know, there's so many new words and so many different concepts they're not going to grasp it all. So my hope was to put things in there that they're going to hear a lot. They're going to hear the word sensory neural, they're going to hear the word conductive, but they're not going to remember that. So my goal was to put these things that audiologists are going to be talking to them about in this book in a kid friendly way, so that eventually, you know, they'll be able to come together and be like oh, that's what the doctor was talking about, and with my book they can read it 20 times. Whereas with the doctor, you know you can. You only have so much time to ask questions, as with the doctor, you only have so much time to ask questions. Half the time you don't know what questions you're going to ask.

Speaker 1:

So my hope is that it makes it easily understandable for children, but more for parents and educators. And it's really to your point all about that carryover, and I can imagine that writing something so educational yet digestible really wasn't easy. Representation in children's literature is. It's so powerful. So how do you hope children, especially those who wear cochlear implants, see themselves in your story? Implants see themselves in your story.

Speaker 2:

I hope that they look at my pictures and they, yeah, they see themselves. Oh, yeah, see, there's lots of people who have cochlear implants, or there's a little boy who has a bone conduction hearing aid. I have one of those and just being able to relate.

Speaker 1:

Today there's 44 million Americans on an audiogram who present with hearing loss. There's another 26 million Americans who present with difficulty in noisy situations. So there's millions and millions of individuals, Americans, who do present with hearing loss. But what I'm getting at here, Lindsay, is hearing loss is a global epidemic and I'm personally excited because you have resources like your book, resources like you yourself as a teacher of the deaf, as a general ed teacher, who is so passionate about passing on the torch to this younger generation and learning how to advocate for yourself, Because listening communication it's so important for that spoken language and communication is an exchange of ideas. Tell me about the feedback from parents or educators about how the book has impacted their conversations around hearing loss.

Speaker 2:

Yes. So I ran into a lady who has my book. I did not know her, but she fostered a sweet little boy and found out that he had hearing loss. He was really young and she was not prepared for that and she had been to the doctor and they had said that he was a candidate for cochlear implants. And you know, she's going through the motions and trying to learn all of this stuff. And she told me it made me feel so good. She's like your book. I got your book and it helped me decide to make the choice to get him cochlear implants. She said it helped so much for me to understand. And then she said I gave it to my mom and then she understood. And that just touched my heart so much because I'm like you, you are the person that I wrote this book for. No, I don't know her, but she is exactly the person that I wrote the book for. You know somebody who doesn't know anything. They want to know, but it's just it's hard to understand.

Speaker 1:

I do feel as though, that there's so much power still, of course, in the physical book because you have an author and an illustrator who put the time in but who also researched on you know what is the technology today, in modern times today, what is the technology that is being fit on patients who do present with hearing loss, versus going on to Google? I said this in our episode last week not everyone is going on the 13th page of Google. We are often yes, we are the most socially connected demographic right now. We transfer information so fast, there's so much information out there that it can often be overwhelming for a parent whose child was just diagnosed with hearing loss. So you not only have, maybe, the parent that's grieving, they need to show up as their best selves for their child and now educate and work with the educator. So where I'm getting at with this is how essential physical books are today for families who are going through this process, because you can pass it on to even friends, neighbors, family members to better understand what that technology is.

Speaker 1:

I do feel as though, yes, stigma is a big part of why adults don't necessarily move forward with technology, maybe as soon as they should. But I will say. I think a lot of us today have AirPods in our ears or earbuds in our ears, so it sort of reduces that stigma of maybe kids being like oh, what is that? But your book has been profound and hearing a story like that is your art, that is something you're passionate about. Hearing a carryover story like that is absolutely powerful. What did that moment mean to you?

Speaker 2:

I cried it just it came full circle for me. You know, I had the idea to write the book. It took me a long time to figure out even how to write books and illustrate them. I put a lot of time and effort into creating this for people that I don't know, and so, even though I don't know everyone, that didn't stop me from creating this book, but to finally meet someone who you know, the book served its purpose for was wonderful for me. It just, oh it just made me feel so good.

Speaker 1:

When listeners read your book, what action do you hope that they take?

Speaker 2:

I hope that they take it and be like wow, you guys need to read this. This is a great way to explain things. You know. This needs to be in our office. This needs to be in the area where the children's books are for the children, but also for families, for the children, but also for families. I also hope that I want people to know that you don't have to buy the book in order to learn from it. It is available to buy in any library, anywhere. So if you know the ISBN number, you can go to your librarian and say hey, this is a book that I think is so valuable. Have him or her order it and then it's available to the whole community.

Speaker 1:

So, lindsay, what we'll do is we will put that ISBN number in the show notes. So if you are a parent and you want this book to be available to your community, you can absolutely go to your local library and request that. Lindsay identity and calling In 2021, you mentioned going through somewhat of an identity crisis, wondering who you were, if not a teacher Going to school for communication sciences and disorders most commonly known as speech-language pathology. You shared a little bit about your experience losing your voice. Walk us through that season of life and how it led to publishing your book.

Speaker 2:

You mentioned that I taught kindergarten. I taught kindergarten for several years and every year it didn't fail. I would lose my voice at the beginning of the school year because I went from not talking at all to talking a lot, and so it started in 2019. When I went back after my second child, I started teaching two days a week and then I moved to five days a week, and I mean that week I lost my voice and it didn't really concern me because I thought, oh yeah, you know it's not the beginning of the school year, but this is what happens at the beginning of the school year. So I was expecting my voice to come back and it didn't. And when I would sing, notes would drop or words would drop. Where drop? Meaning like it didn't come out, and it got very, very frustrating and it was painful and if I got sick and got a cold, that lasts so long and I can't go without not talking. So when I was teaching, it was rough. After a while I ended up going to speech therapy, which was a whole other challenge. I went twice and when COVID happened, of course, I stopped talking all the time and my voice completely came back. I could sing, I could talk all day long. It was wonderful.

Speaker 2:

But whenever I went back to work again, my voice started giving me problems and I got to a point to where I couldn't teach. Well, I was irritated. I was frustrated. I love the little ones, I love to sing and read stories, and that job you absolutely have to have your voice all the time. That job you absolutely have to have your voice all the time.

Speaker 2:

And so, to me, I felt like I was doing a disservice to the kids because I could not be the teacher that I wanted to be. So, yeah, it was a bit of an identity crisis, because I'm like, well, now, what am I going to do? If I'm not a teacher, then who am I? That's all I've ever done in my life, and I've always wanted to write books, but it was one of those things I never even tried really to do. Yes, I've written poems, but I've never taken creative writing or art or anything like that.

Speaker 2:

But I got to a point where I was like, okay, I need to do something else. I don't know what else to do. And so at that time I feel like God had shown me look, this door's closing. You can't teach the way that you thought that you would be teaching, but now I found out that what teaching looks like to me can be very different than what you expect. But anyway, at that time, there were digital art platforms, you know, drag and drop websites. E-commerce is a big thing. So I feel like God was like this is the time for you to pursue this idea that I've given you so long ago, which is to write books. And so, yes, in 2021, I spoke to my husband and just said I really think that this is what I need to do. I think I need to leave my teaching job and pursue writing. And he supported me and that's what I did.

Speaker 1:

So much to unpack there, lindsay. Let's start first and foremost because we might have teachers tuned in, we might have parents tuned in the importance of vocal hygiene. So, because I went to school for speech language pathology, stay hydrated. Caffeine and coffee dehydrates, it will dehydrate you. So, first and foremost, if you are a teacher, take those vocal rests if you can Drink lots of water. In my medical externship I worked with patients who did present with voice disorder. So I did work with a decent amount of teachers, but also performers, performers who had vocal cord nodules.

Speaker 1:

Some of them had to be surgically removed, but it was really interesting and what you're talking about you may have presented with either polyps, vocal cord nodules, but if your vocal cords are not closing how they should, it's sort of like this wave-like form. They move really fast, so the naked eye can't really see that, but it sounded like you had poor vocal cord closure and that's where that airiness was coming out. So that's my soapbox of vocal hygiene. But also, if you are a teacher and if you are someone, even if you work corporate or whatever you do, vocal hygiene is so important. There is something called TITZE straw phonation T-I-T-Z-E straw phonation and all you need is a straw. We'll link the YouTube video to the TITZE straw phonation.

Speaker 1:

I learned this in graduate school, being a you know, previous performer and musician. Even before I would go on stage and sing, I would do easy onset drills like ma me, me, mo mu, easy onset. So this is my soapbox here. Lindsay, very passionate about the vocal hygiene, but I'm so happy to hear that you worked with a speech language pathologist. That helped tremendously, I'm sure, and of course, covid forced that vocal rest. Now this is also something we should definitely talk about, which we did previously, the importance of FM systems. I understand they are expensive. I get it. However, if we were to outfit every single classroom with an FM system, I believe in the United States kids would have reduced listening effort. I believe this is my hypothesis. I don't believe that this has been studied, but I believe that attention would increase. I believe memory would increase, because classroom acoustics often are not the best.

Speaker 1:

That's terrible, I mean I remember being a kid, it was tile. There was very limited echo and reverb absorption. So that's number two. And then number three, of course. I am a man of faith and I was reading the Bible one morning and I came across Matthew 5.16. And Matthew 5.16 is in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. And a couple of days after that, who did I get an email from? It was you, lindsay, and I remember going to your website and seeing that you had Matthew 5.16. And I said wow, we are supposed to connect. We are absolutely supposed to share information on Lindsay's works, but also raise awareness of teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing. You described this journey as being deeply tied to faith and purpose. Faith and purpose. Lindsay, I'm curious. Would you say that this calling that you had talked about to write and illustrate has helped heal or expand your identity beyond the classroom?

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely Absolutely. It has helped me to remove the ceiling of what I think I can or can't do. Before all of this happened, I would think, oh well, I can't do that because I don't have a degree in that, or I can't do that because I've never done it before, or this has never been done before. But now, since I was forced to move and do something different, I can do whatever it is that I want to do, and I really, really try to share that message with other people. The only reason why you aren't able to do something is because of you. You don't believe in yourself.

Speaker 2:

So once I kind of got over hoping that somebody would tell me that I did a good job or whatever, I've just been my own cheerleader and I feel like, you know, god gives you ideas on purpose and everything that's ever been created started in somebody's head. Yep, you know, and somebody had to go first, and so when I started accepting that and just remembering, you know, god made me to be me I'm the only one and all of these ideas he's given to me on purpose, and I've just gotten over what people think or what I think I can or can't do, and I've just moved, and so it's been huge. It's been really huge for me as a person. It's been really huge for me as a person. It's been big for my kids, though, like I want my kids to see that you know, mama didn't know this, but she tried anyway. I want them to be able to not hinder themselves from doing what it is that they want.

Speaker 1:

And I love the fact that they're able to see you be creative, because oftentimes it's almost like at a certain age, unfortunately, it's like creativity is sort of like capped out, maybe not encouraged, so I love the fact. Of course, you know you being a teacher, you promoting creativity, because you taught the kiddos right and you want them, especially in kindergarten, to think big, to dream big. Now let me ask you if you could write your book. I'm Getting a Cochlear Implant again. I'm sure you learned some things about writing the book. What would you change? What would you have done differently, if anything? Because usually as an artist you're never really finished, it's just a band. Yes, Okay.

Speaker 2:

So that is one thing. So I've asked a lot of advice from people. One bit of advice that was given to me is don't wait until it's perfect. Don't wait until you're ready, because you're never going to be ready. And yes, looking back at some of my first books, I could definitely make those illustrations better, but I'm not going to because I've already done it and I'm not going to go there again. You know, because I have other things to create and that was the idea that was given to me at the time and I'm just going to have to package it and that's good to go. Was given to me at the time and I'm just going to have to package it, and that's good to go. As far as what I would do differently, honestly, I don't know that I would do anything differently as far as how to create the book. But when you are self-published, and because I don't know anything, I've had to learn as I go, and marketing is a challenge, I'm pretty proud of it.

Speaker 1:

I'm really proud of it actually, and as you should be. If there's any listeners tuned in who have an idea or maybe who are a little bit afraid to take that next leap, what I want them to hear there is number one you're proud of your work. Number two you really wouldn't change anything because the idea that you had that was put on your heart then has flourished into something incredible. I mean all of the hearing care professionals that you're connected with, you know maybe we would have never connected, lindsay, if you hadn't written this book right. So I think that it's incredible how that all works, and I have to know what's next. Are there more books in the works? What projects are you excited about that you can share with us?

Speaker 2:

Well, because I am creative at home. My kids have become so much more creative, and so has my husband. He and I have written a book together. We actually would like to write another book together. I have about 28 ideas of stories. I think I have three of them that are written. I just need to illustrate them.

Speaker 1:

So, lindsay, the hearing care professional brain in me is going off right now. Have you considered sharing your story about your close friend's mother who was deaf? You?

Speaker 2:

know I haven't really, but that's a good idea. Like one of my goals is just to plant seeds. You know this book doesn't have anything about sign language in it. It also doesn't have anything about the surgery. People have asked me if I would write a book about the surgery. I don't know that I'm qualified. I'd have to really partner with somebody to get some help on that. But I would love to do stuff in the sign language space. But I love motivation, I love inspiration. So especially for the kiddos, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

All the things that I've learned like hey, you can do anything that you want to do. Don't wait for somebody to tell you that you can do it. You know that's a really good idea. Here we go. We're just adding to the list.

Speaker 1:

You've dedicated so much of your time today and we so appreciate that. What message would you want to leave with hearing care professionals, educators and families who may be walking this journey right now?

Speaker 2:

I would love for this book to be required reading for anyone who's working with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Teachers of the deaf, speech and language pathologists, audiologists all of these professionals are going to be working with people who don't know anything. You know, this is their first time understanding all of this stuff, but I also want those parents to know this is not the first for the world. You are not the first. Other people have gone through this. Other people can help you and guide you through this, so I think that's a really important message.

Speaker 1:

Lindsay, as we close today's conversation, I'm really reminded that advocacy doesn't always start in front of a microphone or on a legislative floor. Sometimes it really does begin with a story like I'm getting a cochlear implant, a picture book, classroom moment, whisper of encouragement to a parent who's really trying to make the right decision. So thank you so much for reminding us that representation matters, awareness is action and when we combine education with empathy, real change happens. And to our listeners, whether you're an educator, hearing health care provider or a patient, I encourage you please read Lindsay's book, share it, talk about it, use it as a tool to really create more informed spaces and really for the children and the families that we serve. So thank you so much for tuning in and remember hearing matters, because connection matters. Lindsay, thank you so much for joining us on the Hearing Matters podcast. This was great, Thank you.

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Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS

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