Yes, I want to help fund a deaf young person's dream!
“My confidence was broken into a million pieces and my heart was shattered.”
Hannah first noticed she couldn’t hear her friends too well around the age of 12. When she was 14, she was diagnosed with mild-moderate, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Her confidence was shattered.
“I felt alienated and disconnected from my friends. I was already being bullied by another student and this just added to it,” she says.
Things became worse before they got better. When she was 19, her hearing deteriorated dramatically to a profound hearing loss. Hannah had to learn an entirely new language – Auslan. She had to learn to advocate for herself in a hearing world.
“Everything seemed so difficult, a simple conversation would now be one of the hardest things I could do. It negatively affected my mental health, I stopped going out, withdrew from my friends and just felt lost. I ended up in a dark, black abyss I was sure I was never going to crawl out of.”
Thankfully, Hannah chose to seek help. She embraced the support she found through health professionals, the NDIS and organisations like Deaf Children Australia.
Hannah had grown up with animals her entire life. She always felt they helped her, and her goal was to help them too. That’s why she wanted to become a vet nurse. For a long time, Hannah was too afraid to pursue what she loved. It seemed impossible.
But with the support of her family and the community of support she had found, Hannah enrolled in the Certificate III in Animal Studies. The course cost over $5000, which neither Hannah nor her family could afford. She was thrilled to find out she could apply to Deaf Children Australia for a Youth Grant so she could follow her dream.
Hannah is one of 15 young people who received a DCA Youth Grant last year to pursue their goals. Hannah has now completed her Certificate, and gained some amazing experience in a placement at the RSPCA.
She says it wasn’t easy, but it was worth it!
