Book Review: Breaking the Sounds Barriers

Book: Breaking the Sound Barriers: 9 Deaf Success Stories (Volume 1)
Author: Julie Postance
Publisher: Deaf Children Australia
ISBN: 978-0-9805953-0-7
Pages: 200
Category: Parenting/Deafness

Description

When a parent first discovers their child has a hearing loss, the first question they usually ask themselves is “Will my child be able to lead a normal life?”
This collection of inspiring stories captures the struggles and successes of nine remarkable deaf adults and parents of deaf children as they explore what helped and what hindered them, and offer advice to parents of deaf children.

My Thoughts

There are 9 different success stories and each one describes success differently. The stories are frank and funny, describe educational and cultural barriers, and full of possibilities and opportunities. They show families making difficult decisions and taking much thought and care to make the right one for their child.

You see, more than 90% of deaf or hard of hearing children are born to hearing parents who have LITTLE or NO experience with hearing loss. For some parents, their deaf child may be the first deaf person they have ever met.

Parents must make life-altering decisions when faced with the reality that their child has some type of hearing loss. Embrace the deaf community. Hearing aids. Cochlear implants. Sign Language. Oral language. Speech therapy. Mainstream school. Specialist school. Identity. How to parent a deaf child. How not to parent a deaf child.

There will always be people who disagree with parents’ decisions about their child. But these are all personal decisions. The parents will not be able to please everyone, and they might make a bad decision. But – these 9 stories explain what worked and didn’t work for each family. The stories explain how the parents and the deaf child must work extra hard to keep up with others in school. How they must work longer hours and spend more time job hunting and trying to find their niche.

There are also so many emotions and fears associated with the diagnosis. Disabled. Obstacles. Setback. Support. Blame. Grief. Challenge. Limitations. What if? Differently abled. Champion. Choices. Success.

One theme that resonated throughout each of the stories was how they, as deaf children, were treated by their schoolmates. As a parent, and a former school-aged child , I cannot imagine mistreating any one of my classmates, but I know, deep in my heart, that kids get bullied for all kinds of reasons. It hurts to read those parts of the stories – but they are absolutely honest in describing how it happens, and how devastating it feels, when the only thing they want to do is fit in, and there’s always one person who will try so hard to point out your differences.

What this book does very well is show that there are many different ways for a child to become deaf, many different paths to take to overcome obstacles, and many different outcomes – all of which can be successful for the child. The diagnoses of deafness or hard of hearing is just the beginning. The ending is up to the individual.

About the Author

Julie Postance is the author of Breaking the Sound Barriers: 9 deaf success stories (2009). A journalist and ghostwriter of non-fiction books, she has spent four years working for the not for profit organisation Deaf Children Australia where she discovered the great need for a hands on guide that would help hearing parents raise their deaf and hard of hearing children. She is based in Melbourne, Australia.