Hi! My name is Liam. I’ve had bi-lateral hearing loss since I was born, due to a condition called Connexin 26. Bi-lateral means I have it in both ears. It affects me because at school I have to listen extra hard. If I miss something I always have to ask. It’s very difficult. I’m always tired after school because of all that listening and paying attention. I got new hearing aids from HEAR Wisconsin two years ago and they have this really helpful tool called Bluetooth. It’s where I can listen to movies like I have AirPods in (but it’s my hearing aids). The HEAR Wisconsin staff is always so nice and helpful.

A helpful tip for kids who have hearing loss is, if you don’t want to miss out on something, you have to look at the person who’s speaking in the eyes and in the mouth so you can directly see what they are saying otherwise known as lip reading. It is sometimes hard to explain my hearing loss to my friends, so I do a presentation every year to my class about it. My friends always like it because we do a fun test on guessing words and sounds based on my hearing loss, and they have to guess the word being said. Everyone always fails! My teachers say they learn from it too. When switching desks at school I ask the teacher if I can be up front so I can hear better, or my Mom does. HEAR Wisconsin has helped me a lot. I encourage others to be kind and patient with kids with hearing loss. I thank you for reading this letter. I hope you can help support me and many other families enrolled in HEAR Wisconsin.