Abstract:

Possibly every hard of hearing person has been unfairly accused of being a snob, unintelligent, contrary, domineering, demanding, or something equally negative. Few people know how hearing loss contributes to these damaging misperceptions, or more importantly, can explain this to others. This workshop highlights some of the most common misperceptions of a hard of hearing person’s character that stem from the effects of his or her hearing loss. It sheds light on what factors of hearing loss cause these misperceptions and gives strategies on how to avoid them.

Summary:

Many hard of hearing people understand that their failure to hear something may lead to others having negative perceptions of them. However, few understand that hearing loss can affect their behavior in more subtle ways than simply resulting in a failure to respond to something they do not hear. These more subtle effects can lead to negative misperceptions of their character by others. The hard of hearing person may not notice what causes these misperceptions about them. Therefore, he or she is left with little or no hope of adequately dispelling these misperceptions or avoiding further recurrences of them in the future. The major goal of this workshop is to help hard of hearing people and their significant others understand more about how misperceptions arise from the effects of hearing loss. This will arm them with information to help avoid these misperceptions and the damage to relationships that they wreak.

The introductory segment of the workshop will cover who I am and how I came to be interested in the topic. It will also give an overview of the format for the workshop and the objectives. I will also briefly ask the audience to tell about some of the misperceptions they have struggled with.

The first part of the workshop will cover several major common misperceptions of a hard of hearing person’s character that I have encountered in my professional and volunteer work and personal experiences. For example, the accusation that a hard of hearing person is domineering or demanding may be partially due to his or her need to be physically close to the other person and in their direct line of sight. This is a needed communication accommodation. However, efforts to obtain and maintain optimal position for speechreading and hearing may be seen as another person as domineering body language. This idea may be exacerbated by some hard of hearing people’s tendency to speak too loudly. Even if the other person knows about the hearing loss, the effects of a lifetime of interpreting the non-verbal behavior as “domineering” may be hard to overcome. This mis-interpretation will then likely influence any further perceptions about the hard of hearing person’s character. This is one example of several common misperceptions that will be covered.

I will also introduce a concept I have termed the “illusory context.” This is when a misunderstanding has occurred during an interaction, so that one misunderstanding builds on another and eventually neither party knows the true context that they are communicating in. This sets the stage for many destructive misunderstandings. An example will be given from my own experiences.

The second part of the workshop will focus on some strategies to avoid negative misperceptions. Part of this will be disclosing the hearing loss. However, many hard of hearing persons have reported to me that this is not enough to avoid the misperceptions. Additional strategies will be covered. For the “domineering” example above, the person should make an extra effort to show that he or she is considerate of the other person and his or her space. For example, he or she may need to specifically ask the other person if he or she will feel crowded before moving too close. He or she will also need to specifically explain why being relatively close to someone is needed to hear. He or she may also need to prompt the other person to indicate if they are speaking too loudly. This is one example of the types of strategies that will be covered.

Attendees will also be advised to watch out for signs that they are operating in an “illusory context” and will be given strategies to use to get themselves out of it.

Hearing attendees will be encouraged to think things through very carefully and ask questions to explore the situation they are in before making conclusions about a hard of hearing person. They should remember that, when someone has a hearing loss, their behavior may be influenced in unpredictable ways. In other words, “appearances can be deceiving.” Open, honest, and non-judgmental communication with the hard of hearing person will be emphasized.

Attendees will also be encouraged to learn about conflict resolution and “win- win” communication by looking into books at their local library or book store. These will include books not specifically focused on hearing loss. Attendees will also be encouraged to brainstorm their own solutions to common problems and share them with the group.

The summary will be that I hope people will leave with an understanding that the impact of hearing loss on relationships is deeper and more complex than it often appears. Hearing people should try to keep the material covered in mind and use it as a guide to figure out what is really going on before making an unfair assumption about a hard of hearing person’s character that may hurt an innocent person and needlessly damage a relationship. Hard of hearing people should use this material to educate others and to avoid feeling overwhelmed and persecuted when they are the victim of an unfair misperception. Many of the misperceptions can be seen as natural and understandable mistakes when one understands what is causing them. The hard of hearing person can use this knowledge to help them remain calm and explain to the other person what is causing the behavior that led to the misperception. Hopefully, everyone will have a better chance a maintaining harmony in their relationships as a result of this workshop.

OUTLINE:

• Introduction
  • Who I Am and Background
  • Summary of What Will be Covered
  • Learning Objectives
  • Audience Examples of Misperceptions
• Common Misperceptions & Underlying Causes
• Ways to Avoid Misperceptions
  • My Suggestions
  • Audience Brainstorming
• Summary of Main Ideas

TARGET AUDIENCE: Intermediate Consumer or Novice Professional

ABSTRACT TYPE: This workshop is primarily for general consumer education. However, novice professionals and service providers may also benefit.

LEARNER OUTCOMES:

• The audience will be able to name at least three common misperceptions of a hard of hearing person’s character and likely underlying causes for the misperceptions.
• The audience will be able to use strategies presented to avoid misperceptions and use these to help develop their own.
• The audience will be able to use what they have learned to educate significant others and help prevent misperceptions from occurring.