Hard-of-Hearing: My Educational Experience

Transcript for Hard of Hearing: My Educational Experience

Hi, my name is Marc Boytim. I’ve been hard of hearing ever since I was three years old. I lost my hearing probably from either a high fever, flu, something along those lines. I did not start in a normal kindergarten class. Matter of fact, I was halfway through kindergarten class and that's when they decided to pull me out and put me on the special class for hard of hearing.

You know, so every kid that was in my class has some type of level of hearing loss, whether they are like me, hard of hearing, to fully deaf. But a lot of it was reading lips, you know, because that is how you're going to communicate with anyone that has full hearing, you know, that doesn't know sign language. So that was one of the things how we were taught to communicate by reading their lips, this and that.

You may even ask them, hey, can you say that again? But slower. You know? And a lot of people would, you know, without a problem. So Harmon Elementary School was not in my neighborhood. Matter of fact, I was living in Roseville at that time and I was being bussed all the way down to St Clair Shores for that.

So it was part of the Macomb Intermediate School District. That was part of the district I was in. So I was getting bussed back and forth. But we did learn a lot. You know, as far as educational. Math, all that other stuff because we were also integrated for a short period of time each day with all the normal kids, so to speak.

Kids at first didn't really want to accept you, cause they didn't know how to interact. And it was our job to find that communication that works well with them. I was taken out of that class right around fourth grade, at the end of fourth grade. So I only spent about four years, five years roughly, with that special class. And I was put into regular classes over in Warren, Michigan.

So I basically went from St Clair Shores, Harmon Elementary School over to Westwood Elementary School for one year, due to the fact that my parents moved and they weren't offering any type of bussing. So as you could see already, some of the things I still struggle with is my speech. That will probably never change. And what I did learn through my years is I don't hear the same way other people hear words.

So, a little of my pronounciation can be off at times, but I rely on my friends, that’s my support system, which over the years been really good. They helped me correct myself. So I started off with Westwood. It was very challenging. I did have speech class and also other teachers that will help me with various subjects through, whether it was science, math.

A lot of it was my mainly English, writing abilities, along those lines. I actually completed that, moved on to middle school. A lot of the teachers that I had, we had smaller classes. I wasn't integrated with the regular classes 100% yet, but maybe with about 50%. So the classes were a little bit smaller, they can... Teachers were able to help you one on one more so.

High school was as much as anything a challenge for every kid that gets into it. Far as education goes and learning, in my perspective it was challenging for the most part because as you can see, probably can't see, but I wear two hearing aids now. Back then I only wore one hearing aid in the right ear because that was my worst ear.

The left ear was too damaged to even use of putting a hearing aid in, especially with that technology they had back then. The education part was good. I mean, there's always people out there, especially nowadays, that will help you with your struggles and everything else of far different type of disabilities and things along that line. But for me, it was I needed the support system. And by doing so I tried to connect with certain people that had the same similarities as I did. Not by hearing, but just personality-wise.

And that became my support system throughout the years. And even back in high school, roughly, I still would talk with a lot of my friends from the elementary school and they were a big help because my teacher, Miss Narone from elementary school, that’s what they taught us. Our group of six was our biggest support through everything. I was a little bit on the outside of the group, only because I don't see them every day,

this and that. But it didn't matter. So once I was integrated into regular classes, the teachers were very accommodating by putting me up in the front row. Even though the alphabet scenario, I would kind of close to the front row anyway. But no, I was the very first in the seating chart in front of the teacher’s desk.

So that way, no matter where the teacher was walking at, whether it’s over by the chalkboard, behind their desk, or off to the left, to the right, I can always see their lips, their face. And that was one of the biggest help throughout. So moving... once I got into high school and going from class to class, a lot of the teachers were still very accommodating by necessarily keeping me up in the front row and always facing me, this and that, to the point where I started understanding their voices a little bit more.

So I didn't need to always be up at the front, but they also talked louder, too. So in some cases where we had to be in groups and I was assigned to this group that sit in more towards the back of the classroom, the teacher will walk over by us or where I was, just to make sure I was and talking and explaining the scenario or the subject that we were had to do for a project.

They always made sure that I was very close by them, so I will be able to hear. Math with probably my best subject because I love playing with the numbers. It was easy. I didn't have to necessarily listen to anybody. I could read and understand it. Science was also another one because it was hands on. My worst subjects were English, Literature, things along that line. Spelling, aw forget it. That goes right along with trying to sound out your words when you're hard of hearing or deaf. It doesn't work very well.

So right after high school, I went into college at Macomb Community College. I actually took two classes just to test the waters out because I was working full time at that time. And I took a economics class and a math class. Math class, like I said earlier, I've no problem with the math class. It was very easy to do. However, the economics class, because I really was interested in business and understanding that aspect. He was not very accommodating and he talked very fast with an accent, and it was a constant struggle to understand him.

Sadly to say, I could not get the help I needed for that class and I ended up dropping the class, which was okay. I was kind of discouraged at that point, too. So I took several years off. I started working a lot and actually learned how to weld during my high school years. So I started becoming a welder. And it just happened that I injured myself and because I had to do one handed work, I was able to start learning how to be a quality tech inspector.

And this gentleman by the name of  Mr. Kemp, he took me under my wing, under his wing, excuse me. And taught me everything I needed to know about quality and got me back into school again. And I took several classes earning my Associates at that time in quality, to the point where I went straight from a quality inspector to my next job, which was a quality manager.

So going through my classes again at Macomb Community College for quality, they were a struggle at first because I was very nervous. I didn't know how I was going to handle it, thinking I'm going to have another scenario like I did with my economics teacher. However, that was not the case. They were very accommodating. Like even my classmates were helping me out more and more to the point of we would do a lot of things after classes and including my instructors.

They will meet us up at Ram's Horn for coffee afterwards and we’re discussing different things that we were talking about during class. So it became more of a one on one with a lot of the my classmates and instructors, which really progressed in my learning throughout those years. So my instructors were very accommodating by always making sure they were in front of me or looking at me.

It could be the point where sometimes when they were looking away at a minute and writing something on the chalkboard and stuff and they're talking and all of a sudden they’d say, oops, hang on a minute. They'll finish right now what they said or write they were saying, and then turn around and look at me and repeat everything all over again to the point where the instructors are actually kind of start repeating themselves twice because they didn't even benefit me, but it also benefited a lot of their other classmates. So with all my experience and education throughout my high school, elementary, all that, and even in college, it helped me today to become the person I am today. I am a quality engineer to this date. I work with so many different people on so many different levels. Us being hard of hearing and everything doesn't mean that it's a disability.

It's actually advantage because we're able to express and help other people learn and use what their disabilites are and then make them improvements to abilities to communicate, which has been a lot of things that I enjoy doing in my life.