In the symphony of existence, your ears are conductors of joy, hearing is not just a sense but a gift and gateway to understanding and connection. That is one of the reasons given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on why they established World Hearing Day – also aimed at raising awareness and highlighting the global issues of hearing loss and the struggles of the deaf community.
“Hearing loss has been referred to as the ‘invisible disability’, not just because of the lack of symptoms, but because it has been long stigmatized in communities and ignored by policy makers,” World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The World Hearing Day 2024 focused on overcoming the challenges posed by societal misperceptions and stigmatising mindset through awareness raising, information sharing, targeted at the public and health care providers.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 80% of hearing and ear care needs around the world remains unmet. “Addressing hearing loss poses a cost of $980 billion each year, this is the cost incurred due to the impact of hearing loss without rehabilitation access including productivity losses and social exclusion,” said WHO.
Ntombifuthi Ntsibande, mother of 23-year-old Zanele Ntsibande, expressed her shared concerns as a mother to a deaf child on the various stigmatisation that exists in the society saying when she gave birth to her disabled child, the father was still present which she assumes was out of pity. After finding out that their daughter may be deaf, he left.
“My daughter was not born completely deaf, however, due to lack of finances we were unable to get her the help she needed in time so her condition worsened. It has been 23 years now and she only managed to go to school at the age of 14 when we took her to learn sign language and increase her chances of being possibly employed. My daughter is intelligent and can type with her knuckles,” Ntsibande said.
Luthando Maqethuka, a student nurse at Impilo Nursing College shared her insight on the subject too.
“This is a topic very dear to my heart because I also have a hearing aid to assist me. My heart as an aspiring nurse gravitated towards the deaf and in my time within the sector, I’ve been fortunate to witness the super-abilities of the deaf that even subside their inability to hear,” Maqethuka said.According to a study by Neurologist, Dr Ithai Rabinowitch, there is a quirky phenomenon where people who lose one sense can gain near-super abilities in another, especially if that sense is lost early in life. Blind people may hear better; the deaf can have a type of enhanced vision. These “super senses” are not just learned behaviour — the brain actually remodels itself, giving more real estate to other senses when one is missing.