JDA_Magazine_PaperTurn_Sept 2025 - Flipbook - Page 42
LE A
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LIP
LEARNING TO LIPREAD AND MANAGE OUR HEARING LOSS
HAS EMPOWERED US!
It’s not easy for us to describe how important JDA’s classes in Lipreading and
Managing Hearing Loss are to people living with hearing loss. So we asked
our students to do so!
Here, Nick Graham and Sue Aarons explain that learning to lipread is giving
them a space where they can be themselves, feel heard and understood,
share, grow, learn and laugh.
Nick Graham writes:
One of the de昀椀nitions of
lip-reading is:
“Lip-reading is
the art and skill of
understanding spoken
language by visually
interpreting the
movements of the lips,
face and tongue, as well as using contextual clues
and gestures as an essential tool for people who
are deaf or hard of hearing.”
But our teacher Gabbie gives
us so much more! The weekly
classes give participants a
feeling of empowerment and
foster inclusion, connection
and con昀椀dence — for us her
students.
The classes follow a structure
that always gives us a chance to
discuss any issues that we want
to bring up and we have become
a close-knit group within the JDA’s
overall community. The tuition
and activities are conducted in a
relaxed and fun way.
36
JDATogether — Issue 50 — April 2025
We students have all become so much more
con昀椀dent in letting people know that we are
hard of hearing and that they need to help by
accommodating our communication needs, rather
than us missing out on conversations that go on
around us.
Come join us and see how you too can feel more
con昀椀dent in living with your hearing loss.
Huge thanks to Gabbie and the JDA!
