STUDENT PROFILE- by Kimberly Fuentes

We have a student who was born in Providence on October 13th, 1999.  Upon birth she was a regular infant who seemed to be functioning normally.   At around one and a half years old her mom began to realize her child was not responding to her while she spoke to her, sang to her, or played music for her.  At first mom thought it was just normal infancy and she would respond in time but as the infant got older the responses were still not apparent.  Mom decided to do some research and realized there may be something wrong.  Mom then made an appointment with the Otolaryngologist and the child went through many tests and after many months it was determined the child was not totally deaf but had significant hearing loss.

The child of which is being referred to here is me: Kimberly, a student here at JSEC.  I remember from early on being taken to special classes and having my hearing tested repeatedly.  The test determined I had a lot of hearing loss, which I knew but I went through my entire life like this so I knew of nothing else.  Everything in my eyes was normal.  It was also determined I had vision loss as well.  As a 4 year old I had to wear really thick glasses in addition to a hearing device.  Needless to say I was confused as to why the other kids in my kindergarten class were not like me, they did not have to wear devices in their ears or wear glasses.  Although I was confused I just continued on being a kid.

1st -4th Grade I was put into classes in a public school for students with special needs.  I remember them removing me from my regular classes for special therapy during the school days.  I liked being taken from classes, it made me feel special and I liked the extra attention.    My mom then enrolled me into the Boys and Girls Club after school for additional programming which I really enjoyed.

Most of my classes were average, regular classes, and I was never put into classes with students who were exactly like me.  I like this, I didn’t want to be singled out as being different because of loss of vision and hearing.  I simply wanted to and still want to be treated like everyone else.  Recently I have a mentor from Boston, his name is John Jay Alves.   He also has hearing loss and has an awesome job in Boston.   I sent him some interview questions to find out what its like in the real world with a hearing loss.

Check out my interview below:

Conversation with Mr. John Jay Alves

Grants Administrator for  Atrius Health Academic Institute

 in Boston Massachusetts

Q1. Have you ever experienced any type of discrimination due to your having hearing loss?  

A1.  I don’t feel I’ve  experienced it any more or less than any other kid.

Q2. How long have you had hearing loss?

A2. Since Birth–A way long time ago.  Profound deafness, had speech therapy, and diognoses was severe hearing loss in the right ear.

Q3. Did you have to go to a special school as a kid?

A3. No but I did have intense speech therapy.  These sessions included lip reading sessions.

Q4. What was it like ‘back then’ to have a hearing loss or be deaf?

A4. When I went to school attitudes were  mainstreamed which doesn’t seem as popular today.  Sign language was actually discouraged which I think was a mistake.  I feel it’s always better to communicate in as many ways as possible when it comes to learning.  I know very little sign language which makes me sad, I wish I knew more and had been taught more while I was in school.

Q5. Do you have any friends who are deaf or hearing impaired?

A5.  Yes, I do have a few friends who are hearing impaired.