Rebuilding confidence after deafness lead to bullying

For 20 year old Daniel Whiteside of St Albans, working towards a degree and returning to education has been not only a learning experience but also a lesson in confidence building after a childhood being bullied about his hearing problems and hearing aids.

Born with mainly high and some low frequency hearing loss in both ears, Daniel endured frequent ear infections and spent much of his early childhood in hospital undergoing numerous operations.

While the operations and grommets helped to improve Daniel’s hearing, he still needed a hearing aid and his speech was badly affected with him struggling to pronounce words that included the letters ‘s’ and ‘t’, factors that Daniel believes left him vulnerable to school bullying.

“I lost my confidence as a child and at the age of six I only had the speech of a two year old. Speech therapy was a huge help, but I was bullied and this had a huge impact on my self esteem. Even now, although I am much more confident, I don’t always wear my hearing aid as I am conscious of how it looks. People have said that wearing a hearing aid is no different to wearing glasses but I beg to differ. People who wear glasses can choose ones to suit them. I have had several hearing aids and they have all looked clumsy and out of proportion. Thanks to the treatment and therapy I received as a child - along with the support from the people who care about me - I have now managed to overcome the bullying I was subjected to whilst growing up,” says Daniel.

Daniel, who also suffers from tinnitus, has learnt not to let his hearing loss get in his way and he is finally becoming more comfortable with wearing his hearing aid. Completing a degree in marketing and working part time at a school after care club has helped build Daniel’s self esteem as he looks forward to pursuing a career in business.

“As an adult I am now much more comfortable and upbeat about my situation” he explains. “I do feel I have had to work harder for my degree as I often feel tired after long periods concentrating or listening intently. I enjoy working with the children at the after school club, and find this a fun distraction.”

Daniel is particularly keen to support the work of the charity Deafness Research UK as he is anxious to see medical advances that may prevent children with hearing loss suffering as he has.