Hey guys! I made a new account. It's called HowIHear. I made it because on this account, I have three different blogs and I keep getting them mixed up! This way I will be able to keep my dance blog separate from my CI blog and not accidentally post things on the wrong blog. So go follow my new blog! 

In my class we have been assigned to do senior speeches as we get closer to the end of the year. I have never been so excited to give a speech! The topic we are supposed to stick to is focusing on marginalized groups of people. This is because in my class, we have been discussing different groups that fit in this topic. Different issues such as racial, gender and so on. We are supposed to talk about stuff like that and what we have experienced at our service site (We go volunteer every Thursday instead of going to the class). Well, I asked my teacher and she thought talking about my deafness would be a lovely idea. We've never really talked about the subject in my class and I want to voice that it is out there and we are often overlooked. I want to talk about what it feels like to miss things in conversations, what it feels like to be told "Nevermind" and I also want to talk about what a cochlear implant is and how it works since I've never been able to properly explain that before. I also want to talk about the controversy about Cochlear Implants and how there are deaf people who do not want a cochlear. Lastly, I want to talk about how I've been advocating a little bit out of school on my own. I have been to an ASL group with my ASL tutor. It was fun and scary because I'm not very good at ASL and I'm used to talking, but everyone was very welcoming (and surprised I had an implant!). I have also been volunteering at a school for kids with hard of hearing. I got there every Friday after school. I was a little surprised when I got there because the school doesn't use ASL. The teachers are trying to get students to hear their best! I've also made a few new friends this year who have CIs. It's been fun to be around people who are just like me and I feel a little more comfortable with them than with hearing people. I'm excited to talk about all these things, I'm just worried it might exceed 5 minutes...

I got it turned on today!!! ahhhhh!!! It's amazing! This time around I was able to understand speech MUCH better than last time! It was amazing! I got the new Nucleus 6! It doesn't have all the cool stuff yet (like how its supposed to switch programs depending on what environment your in) because that stuff isn't FDA approved yet. But soon I'll get that stuff! Anyways I'm home now and listening to music with just my new implant in. It's pretty cool! I've been able to understand most of the songs! At first things sounded kind of robotic but now things seem really low pitched. Haha so it's kind of funny listening to songs and they have really low voices even when it's a girl singing! Anyways, it's going well and everyday it will continue to get better! :D