Life can be full of joy and laughter, but everything can shift in the blink of an eye, leaving you in a world you never imagined. Living with deafness is one of those profound changes that can turn your life upside down.
It’s not just a challenge; it’s a journey into a new way of experiencing the world. Imagine navigating life where the sounds that once guided you are now silent.
Journey with hearing loss
Losing friends, becoming a laughingstock, and feeling like a nuisance are experiences Nomalungisa Jengqa from Gugulethu in Cape Town has faced since she became deaf in 2009.
“I had symptoms of tuberculosis (TB), and when I visited clinics, I was referred to Brooklyn Hospital, where I was diagnosed with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB),” Jengqa explains.
She was initially confused about how TB could lead to hearing loss, but it was explained to her that MDR-TB is linked to hearing loss at some point.
“My life changed a lot. I became disabled and lost friends. Although my family and some friends have supported me up to this day, my life is far from what it used to be.”
Nomalungisa Jengqa
Despite these challenges, Jengqa has accepted her situation with support from solidarity spaces and strives to live positively despite the changes. She even got into a learnership for business administration at Siyaya Skills Institute.
“Learning business skills gives me hope that I can sustain my life in the future.”
Feeling like a burden
It was in 1999, while in grade 11, that Nokuzola Stata from Site-B, Cape Town was diagnosed with hearing loss. She recalls having painful ears when the doctor cleaned her ears.
“I’m not sure if the cleaning affected my ears and led to hearing loss, or if it was something that was going to happen.”
Stata adds, “I was later told that a nerve had been damaged, which left me deaf and also impacted my speech.”
She explains that living with deafness comes with its own set of challenges and pain, such as feeling like you’re burdening others because of your disability.
“There are even criminals who take advantage, knowing they can enter and take whatever they want because you won’t hear them.”
Nokuzola Stata
Although she uses a hearing aid, Stata finds that life is still not the same, including in terms of the job market, which is not as accessible as they are for others.
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Living with deafness
According to Dr Afifa Titus, who manages the #Keready mobile clinics in Cape Town, deafness can be caused by various factors, including genetics, infections like measles or meningitis, injuries, or exposure to loud noises.
“Some people are born deaf, while others lose their hearing over time,” she says.
Titus explains that the ability to speak depends on when a person loses their hearing.
“If someone is born deaf or loses their hearing before learning to speak, they might struggle to develop speech because they can’t hear sounds to mimic them.”
Dr Afifa Titus
“This can make it tough to pronounce words correctly or understand speech patterns.”
However, she says with the right support, like speech therapy or learning sign language, they can still communicate effectively.
Titus adds, “If someone loses their hearing later in life, they might still speak clearly because they learned to talk when they could hear.”
With early support like speech therapy or learning sign language, she says they can still communicate effectively.
Tools and support
Titus says someone who loses their hearing later in life might already know how to speak, but over time, their speech might change if they can’t hear themselves talk.
“Communication can also be challenging, but tools like hearing aids or cochlear implants, and learning lip-reading or sign language, can help.”
Dr Afifa Titus
She further notes that there are tools for intervention to help those living with deafness find life better, like:
- Hearing aids: These devices amplify sounds, making it easier to hear and improve speech development, especially in kids.
- Cochlear implants: For those with severe hearing loss, cochlear implants can help by directly stimulating the auditory nerve. This can make a big difference in understanding speech.
- Speech therapy: A speech therapist can work on pronunciation, vocabulary, and communication skills. This is super helpful, especially for kids.
- Sign language: Learning sign language is a powerful tool for communication, especially when hearing is limited. It’s a great way to connect with others.
- Lip reading: This skill helps individuals understand speech by watching the speaker’s lips and facial expressions.
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