Overcoming Obstacles: Emily!
HOW does Emily hear?
With her Gap onesie on, a gummy smile, and 2 pink hearing aids!
All About Me
Hi, my name is Emily, and I’m 18-months-old. I’m from Long Island, New York. I love to go to school, play with my toys, and learn to listen with my hearing aids. This year I went to New York City and auditioned for an ad campaign... and guess what? I was featured in the GapxDisney campaign proudly showing off my hearing aids!
Hearing My Way
My Mommy and Daddy learned that I had hearing loss during my newborn hearing screening at the hospital where I was born. Three months later, I got my pink hearing aids with sparkly pink ear molds! My hearing aids help me hear all of the speech sounds and quiet sounds, too, like birds chirping.
School Cool
Even though I’m little, I already go to school! It’s a special school for kids with hearing loss, where I learn lots of new words, ideas, and how to be a good listener. I am an auditory/verbal learner. That means I use listening and speaking to communicate. I have so much fun playing with my friends and teachers at school.
Family First
My family loves to help me learn new things by reading and playing with me. The first sounds I remember hearing were my parents’ voices. My Daddy always makes up silly songs and sings them to me. My first word was ‘baby’ because my favorite toys are my baby dolls. Recently, I started saying all of my older cousins’ names because I love spending time with them!
Overcoming Obstacles
Even though I love how my hearing aids make everyone’s voice clearer and louder which helps me a lot, I’m still a baby, and sometimes I pull my hearing aids out! I’m learning how important it is to keep them on and how much they help me.
Role Model
I never thought I would be called a role model when I’m just a baby. I had an opportunity this past year to be included in an amazing campaign with GapxDisney. They are spreading messages of love, acceptance, and dreaming big. I hope that other babies, kids, and teens with hearing loss will see my picture and feel happiness that our differences are being celebrated. I want everyone who sees the ad with me and my pink hearing aids to recognize that kids with hearing loss are smart, strong, cool, and extraordinarily capable!
The Gap and Disney Baby are registered trademarks.
Do you know an inspiring child with hearing loss?
Tell us about them, and they could be on our next cover! info@hearingourway.com
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