Summary Of Deaf And Blind Being Me Heather

In the documentary “Deaf and Blind: Being me Heather”, at birth, Heather was born with deafness and hearing loss. Growing up, Heather and her family lived on a farm in Victoria, Australia where she worked with cows, fed them hay, and did yard work. She states that this was something that she deeply enjoyed which helped her cope with her deafness as a child. Being deaf was never an issue for her because two of her other siblings were also diagnosed with hearing loss and deafness. Heather’s family was extremely supportive and adaptive to the medical challenges they had to face. She emphasizes that her family “learned how to be unselfish” and that her parents and siblings learned sign language for communication (CITATION HERE). One of the critical

“It happened over time. It wasn’t something that happened over night. I could cope with being deaf, but being both blind and deaf was hard,” Heather says (CITATION HERE). Her classmates would tease her every day by throwing items at her face to see if she would catch them or waving their hands in front of her. Even Heather’s teacher would oftentimes yell at her because she was “always being clumsy” (CITATION HERE). Heather lost her sight completely when she was 20 years old, and that is when she became extremely depressed. “I was always crying, sad, and felt isolated. I hated myself and wanted to kill myself,” she admits (CITATION HERE). When Heather found out she lost her sight entirely, she became extremely angry that she never knew and wished that she could have discovered this earlier on in her life. Only until Heather moved to Melbourne, Australia as a young adult, was she able to gain autonomy and control over her life. This was the moment in which Heather met many new friends who had the same disabilities as her and moved away from her farm where “nothing was happening” for her and “going to Melbourne was for the better” (CITATION

In this point of her life, her family was her major social support system and they fostered a positive household environment by learning sign language in order to communicate with Heather. She also had two other siblings who had Usher syndrome so the family had experience with this disability. However, when Heather completely lost her sight she had a lot of internalized anger because she was bullied by her teenaged classmates and her teachers doubted her. Heather was also angry at the fact that she never knew that she had Usher syndrome until after she lost her sight and spoke to a Welfare Staff member. This was her ultimate tipping point because she wished that she could’ve prepared for the moment she became permanently blind to try seek out medical attention. As a result, Heather became extremely depressed, isolated, and alone in Melbourne where she contemplated suicide. However, Heather entered the phase of acknowledgement and realized that she really needed social support. She made friends within the Deafblind Victorians where she met her best friend Carla, who is also deaf. She adjusted to her lifestyle by learning how to use a cane, read brail, and finally let people into her life. Heather started to see her family again and spent a lot of time with other individuals who were also deaf or