The problem with how society views hearing loss

Throughout my research on the topic of hearing loss, it has come to my attention that the audience that most hearing aid companies and hearing assistance individuals focus their products and support on the elderly when the elderly are the least likely audience to pursue hearing help and are the audience who will benefit the least from the products and support. Why do people direct their focus primarily on the elderly when there are millions of children with hearing loss who would benefit far more from hearing help than older individuals would? Of course the elderly should get the support they need in order to hear better, but studies have shown that the greatest impact hearing technology and support can have on a person happens during childhood. When the brain is still developing and neurons are still forming pathways the brain is better able to undo any harm hearing loss has had on a child. Speech issues such as vocabulary and pronunciation are the most susceptible to damage by hearing loss at a young age and hearing aids and other technology are the most promising solution to combat these issues. Many parents and young adults do not know much about hearing loss and could really benefit from more outreach by hearing support individuals and companies. There is a stigma surrounding hearing loss, and any other disability really, that creates this image that having a disability like hearing loss is a bad thing and that if you have it you should hide it. People think that if you have a disability it means you won't be as successful as peers who do not have a disability and therefore there is less of a push for hearing technology for younger generations. Teenagers and young adults would rather pretend that their hearing loss doesn't exist than wearing hearing aids.

Deaf culture can also have a big impact on hearing loss and how people view people who have it. A major argument that has been going on and continues to go on today is the idea of whether or not deaf people should learn how to speak. Some people argue that it is a necessity to be successful in the world as most people don't sign while others argue that a person shouldn't be forced to learn to speak just because it would make other peoples' lives easier. Those who are opposed to deaf people learning to speak are often not very supportive of technologies like hearing aids as well.

We as a society need to stop viewing peoples' differences, such as hearing loss, blindness, autism, etc,   as an excuse to write them off as a failure before they even get a change to prove us wrong and start realizing that 'disabilities' aren't all that disabling.