For Amelia Stewart, her cochlear implant has not only opened up a world of sound, it’s given her the confidence to fulfill her dream of moving overseas.
Amelia’s parents noticed she was hearing impaired at age three and was fitted with two hearing aids. It wasn’t until she was 12 that it was suggested that she could benefit from cochlear implants, but Amelia was hesitant. “I thought at the time, I’m not ready for this. I think I was fearful of losing what hearing I already had left, and it didn’t affect me too much at that age, but as I got older, I was really noticing I was having difficulties in social situations, and I started pulling back.”
Fast forward sixteen years and one day, Amelia woke up and thought, “I’ve had enough. With hearing aids, you’ve always got to upgrade, and it wasn’t helping my hearing enough, so my partner at the time got on the phone and talked to SCIP who sent out an information pack and said that I would be eligible for funding.”
While Amelia was told it might take a few years before her operation, it was only two months later that she got the call. “And I thought, oh wow here we go!”
“I was excited, I was nervous, I was everything! But more than anything, I was excited for the future.” After Amelia got her operation and switch on, she said it took about three months for her hearing to adjust. But after some time and rehabilitation, “I was able to hear, and everything was so crisp. Even people’s voices sounded so much clearer.”
“Mum cried when I said I could hear the birds. And for the first time, I experienced hearing my partner’s heartbeat. And the first time I heard that, she was crying, and I was crying, and all the reactions were just overwhelming!”
“The SCIP team were a huge part of that, my rehabilitationist was amazing. Without the SCIP team I couldn’t have made it this far on my journey. I knew they wouldn’t have given me a cochlear implant if it wasn’t right for me, I had that reassurance and that’s what really helped me make the decision. My family were so supportive, and my work was great as well. I was just starting a new job, and they couldn’t believe it how much it changed my voice and my speech.”
Amelia and her partner Esther
Amelia, who is now living in Brisbane, QLD and works as a truck driver, said she would never have had the confidence to move overseas without her cochlear implant. “I’ve wanted to move to Australia for a while, and once I got my implant, it really gave me the confidence to take a leap of faith and be independent and do things on my own.”
Amelia is also a keen soccer player and believes her cochlear implant has improved her game. “My cochlear implant really helped me on the field. When I had hearing aids, I couldn’t hear anything, especially when people were yelling from behind. It’s a game of shouting and yelling so my cochlear implants have definitely helped.”
Amelia also has advice for those who are sitting on the fence about getting cochlear implants. “I have spoken to a few people, and I tell them that I know how scary it is to lose something, you worry about losing what you have left, but you’ve got so much support, so you’re not alone.”
“It’s funny, I feel like before I got my cochlear implant I was just falling through life, and then once I got it, I started flying. It’s given me so much confidence. I was able to stand up and be able to stand up for myself. I’m happier to be social, and it’s just changed so much about my life.”