Connecting With Other CI Recipients

After you get a cochlear implant from Cochlear America, you are not on your own to figure out how to deal with your new hearing world.  Cochlear has what they call "Cochlear community chapter events" throughout the U.S.  In Boise the meetings are held the third week of the month.  People who are already implanted and those that are interested in gathering more information are invited to attend. 

The meetings are led by a regional manager who develops the agendas.  When all discussion is wrapped up, we are free to mingle and get to know each other.  I have been to a few of the meetings and have already connected with a lady who is doing really well with her implant.  Like me, she has one ear implanted and wears a hearing aid in the other.  In February she went to the Cochlear Celebration that was held in Orlando.  Every two years Cochlear America has a big weekend extravaganza where they bring people together to share their stories, attend educational sessions and to just have fun with other implantees who share the common thread of having a hearing loss.  It sounds like she had a blast.  These Celebrations alternate between the east and west coast so the next one,  scheduled for 2017, will be on the west coast.

If you are thinking about getting an implant, there are many avenues in which you can connect with others who have already been implanted.  The other two cochlear implant companies, Advanced Bionics and Med El, have forums for their recipients.  In addition to specific cochlear implant websites, there are other avenues in which to learn more about what life is like with a CI.  Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), SayWhatClub (SWC) and Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA) are three organizations for people with hearing loss.  They offer great resources and information as well as opportunities to network with people who know what it is like to live with a hearing loss.  If you have a hearing loss and are currently not associated with any of these groups, I strongly encourage you to look into them.  I learned more about cochlear implants from fellow members of the SayWhatClub than I ever could have doing my own research.  There is comfort in knowing you aren't alone in dealing with your hearing loss.

HLAA:  www.hearingloss.org
SWC:  www.saywhatclub.com
ALDA:  www.alda.org