February 25th: 14 years of celebrating International Cochlear Implant Day
During this period where the changes in our environment have been enormous, specifically for CI users, and for people with impaired hearing, enormous barriers to communication have appeared, particularly the use of opaque masks, which prevent lip-reading.
All of us have been affected by the new social and communicative customs, but young CI users in education and the labor market have been particularly affected, by having to use masks or rely on video calls for education or online meetings.
Poor lighting, backlighting, background noise from refrigerators or washing machines in teachers’ homes or work teams have presented continuous problems for people with hearing loss. Today, accessibility through technology is more important than ever and we’re all trying to adapt to it. Nevertheless the elderly population are getting left behind.
The situation in which we are immersed causes a lot of frustration and concern stemming from social isolation and the isolation that the digitization of our environment entails. That is why, at EURO-CIU, we are working to eliminate barriers to communication and information.
In 2022, we have chosen four protagonists of different ages as representatives of the Cochlear Implant Day celebration. Each age has its specific needs and we want to make them all visible, thereby reducing the stigma of deafness.
The health situation is causing longer waiting lists for cochlear implant surgeries and delaying processor renewals due to a lack of resources. In some places, rehabilitation services, which allow users to get the most out of their devices, are being closed.
Communication is what connects us to the world. Unaddressed hearing loss causes isolation and depression, and accelerates cognitive decline, dementia, etc. in later life, requiring additional public sector spending in the long term.
Faced with the great problems we have, we must remember that investing in hearing is investing in people’s quality of life. We must continue to advance, to claim our position in society, with equal opportunities.
Nothing and no one will prevent us from communicating!
Happy International Implant Cochlear Day!
#CochlearImplant #CochlearImplantDay #CIDay
Look for cochlear implant users sharing and raising their voice for #CochlearImplantDay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngO7T_IzlOM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Irq8kYsD4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1uXEcozV3I
You can find more videos on:
CI voices – European Association of Cochlear Implant Users a.s.b.l. (eurociu.eu)
and our youtube:
EURO-CIU SOCIAL https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSFym5zLpnBTcPqo51bncbw