Jared is a 15 year old with severe hearing loss and wears two hearing aids.

We asked Jared to come and speak at one of our Primary 2 Secondary workshops. Jared shared his experience as a deaf teenager entering high school and the support he received during that time.

Following are some excerpts from Jared’s speech.

“Going to high school is a big step in your life. Some of your friends will be going to the same school and others will be going to other schools. You will meet new people in your new school. There will also be new situations you will have to overcome. For me it was getting into the habit of using my F.M. in every class and remembering to get it back from the teacher at the end of the lesson. I also had to remember to charge it every night without being reminded.”

“High school is also a stressful time when you get all of the information your teacher tells you to remember, but then another teacher tells you to remember something else, and  you forget everything the first teacher tells you. At the end of the day I would come home at and go straight to bed and fall straight asleep.”

“When it comes to exams it will out a bigger drain in your mind and sometimes you might just start to daydream or start stressing out.”

“Being in a group of people that are going through a similar thing to you is good because for example: your parents would say they know how you feel or what you are going through but they actually don’t. The people at Hear For You know what you are going through because they have been in that situation themselves.”

“Hear For You is a good group to be with as we have lots of fun going through life goals and helping each other with tips and tricks getting through high school and life. These sessions also allows us to know more people like us and also give us an opportunity to make new friendships.”

“Every few months we have a day out to catch up with the Rock My World sessions. We do lots of things such as escape rooms as team building exercises. We do treetop adventures to build up our confidence and build up our mental strength. Every year we also have a film workshop hosted by Hear For You and we also have a film maker come in and teach us film making skills. I have won the film festival this year and last year with some of the awesome people I know at Hear For You.”