I’m not usually one for talking about my achievements on the Microtia UK Facebook group but over the summer I took part in the National Citizenship Service for the second time. NCS is a 4 week programme for 16 and 17 year olds. I completed the programme last year as a participant and returned this year as a graduate mentor (a leader of sorts). The first of the 4 weeks is an activity holiday with lots of water activities, the second is staying in the university halls and the final two weeks are planning and carrying out a social action project.
The first week was what I was most worried about. I have BMA with moderate hearing loss and wear a BAHA on both sides, I feel very lost without my hearing aids particularly around people.
The first time I ever went on an activity holiday I was 11 and I ended up crying because I’d found a job I could never do, I would never be able to be a leader on an activity holiday because of my ears. This summer I started to prove that wrong. I led and earned the respect from participants whilst helping them do many activities that involved me not wearing my hearing aids. I see a lot of posts on this group about people worrying that microtia will hold their children back but I now believe that it is our personal beliefs that we can’t do something that holds us back more than our physical limitations. Push your children to do the things they think that they can’t and I am sure they will be pleasantly surprised.
Since Becca wrote this, she is now studying a degree in bioengineering at Sheffield University.
