Beyond Access: Deaf Awareness
When access becomes participation
September is Deaf Awareness Month.
This month, DBSA is looking beyond the question of whether access exists and asking a more important question:
What does that access actually make possible?
For a DeafBlind person, a hearing aid is not simply a device that makes sound louder. It can mean being able to communicate, follow a meeting, share a conversation, receive information, participate in everyday life and maintain independence.
But access can have barriers of its own.
The cost of an assistive device. Whether it is the right device. Whether the person using it has a say in the choice. Whether the support around the device is appropriate. And, ultimately, whether it enables the person to participate more fully.
Throughout September, DBSA will explore these questions through Beyond Access: Deaf Awareness.
We will look at hearing aids and their hidden costs, communication with family and friends, and the difference that appropriate hearing support can make to everyday participation.
One of our valued members has also agreed to share his own experience.
His story is personal, but the questions it raises are much bigger:
What happens when you need support to participate, but that support is out of reach?
What does the right support really mean?
And what does it mean when better access gives a person something more than improved hearing?
For our member, the answer is simple.
Freedom.
This September, come with us Beyond Access — where we look not only at what is available, but at what it makes possible.