I’ve had a cochlear implant since I was 3 years old. I attended the Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf (JWPOSD) from age 3 to 7. The school was small, but I met lots of other kids with implants. It was a long drive to school everyday, and I was REALLY happy to start going to a regular school in my neighborhood in the 2nd grade.

I like being able to hear!! I have lots of friends in my neighborhood I met in school, Boy Scouts, and on my Lego robots team who have normal hearing. I’m really happy to have lots of friends.

Checkout my website, blog and blog archive, and the About Me page to learn more and see what I like to do!

I have an Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant in my right ear. I used to wear a hearing aide in other ear, but it was irritating as I could only feel vibrations with it. When someone calls my name I have to look around to see where they are. On my little league team or playing with my friends, they were good at telling me which way to turn when yelling out directions or saying something. When it’s noisy, windy, or a large crowd it is harder to hear. My friends are good about saying things again or talking louder. You have to be brave and just mix it up with kids on the playground, even though you cannot hear in the noise with all the yelling and stuff. I don’t want extra help, I like to do things myself. It is nice to have friends who are willing to repeat things for me when I cannot hear.

Things I can do:

1. Talk on the phone
   

2. Go to a regular school
   

3. Hangout and play with all my hearing friends
   

4. Fun stuff, like go to movies, Cub Scouts, play on teams, ride my bike and hear cars, run around and go nuts
   

5. Sleep well, since I cannot hear anybody snoring. Haaa Haa
   

Stuff I can’t do:

1. Play in the water with my processor on, like water gun fights, slip and slides, swimming, water slides.
   

2. Hear an alarm clock, because I don’t sleep with it on
   

My Dad told me to tell you about this part. My processor has a T-Mic. Above there’s a picture of a girl with a processor and a T-mic. It’s curled to fit inside my ear. It’s easier to use a telephone and to hear with. The outside ear helps collect sound for the mic. The T-mic is way better than the regular one. Wearing a helmet for baseball has a hole around the ear. Bike and skateboard helmets fit close to the ear too. The mic inside the middle of the ear works best.

I was being very careful with the processor since they are soooooo expensive. My Dad said to just play and run around and enjoy life. He would rather buy me a new one than have me sitting around watching other kids having fun. Yes SIR!!

Sometimes people will make fun of me for talking a little bit different (but they’re just morons!!), but lots of times no one knows that I have an implant.

I don’t mind people asking me about it, but I’d rather be known as Eric and what I can do.

Play this little game

Well more later, Dude!