There Is No right or Wrong Way to Get Support You Need by Liz Fisher

Today's post is written for us by my friend Liz Fisher. She graciously accepted my invitation to write a guest post. Though we're literally an ocean apart, hearing loss knows no boundaries, nor the issues that come with it. Support is hugely important. You'll find the link to Liz's Deaf Blog below the article.


There is no right or wrong way to get support you need

How you get support as a late deafened adult is up to you. There is no right or wrong way going about it.

Here in the UK, when you are first told you are deaf, there is no counselling support offered there and then should that person need it. You just go away with your hearing aids after being fitted and shown how to use them.

Then you come after so long for a review, so they can see how you got on with them, and if they have helped. If nothing more is needed to be done, then you go back away again, and the only time you need to come back is for maintenance, or if you have any problems.

I felt later in the year that I needed support, or some kind of counselling. But I did not know where to turn. So I kept my feelings hidden until I decided to write my personal blog; Liz's Deaf Blog. My blog was my therapy, which I never realised would one day help others when I first started writing this.  

A few  years down the line, when I was claiming for DLA (Disability Living Allowance), all my feelings, and more, surfaced up again. With other problems going on in my life, also, I felt like it was one vicious circle.

I then approached my GP with these problems, thinking I would not get support for my hearing loss issues, and found that there was support out there. And that I could talk to a counsellor about what I was feeling with regards to my hearing loss, along with my other issues. 

So my advice is, don't wait like I did, until you feel like it's spiralling out of control. If you feel you need counselling, then go to your GP and ask for counselling

Find  your own group, as sharing your problems regarding deaf issues you face with others who understand will be of great help, like joining hard of hearing groups in your area. You will make friends along the way. .  


You don't have to start a blog like I did. But if you feel like writing about it, and sharing it to the world, and chatting on other blogs as well, you can get support and make friends that way, too. I have made some great friends along the way through blogging.

*Be sure to visit Liz'z Deaf Blog :   http://lizsdeafblog.blogspot.com/