A lack of hearing ability doesn’t stop Capital student

By Michael Ramsburg
Capital High School

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The dim lights shine brightly upon the barren stage. The leader of the National Honor Society finishes a speech, and then it is time for the initiation of the new inductees.

Slowly, the names of the honored students are called. Lindsay Kiser, a Capital High junior, makes her way to the stage. As a small pin is placed on her chest, her faint smile turns into a serious expression. She examines the auditorium, then again smiles that faint smile.

National Honor Society membership is only one of Kiser’s accomplishments. She is a member of Youth in Action, a national campaign organized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to inform teens about the risks of alcohol use and abuse. She also belongs to Teens Against Tobacco Use. Kiser has used sign language to present the National Anthem before basketball games and sung for the governor.

It sounds like the life of a regular teen, right? In fact, Kiser is a regular teen. But one thing makes her different from other teens — her inability to hear much sound.

She’s quick to clarify that she is not deaf. Rather, she is hearing-impaired.

“When I was 9 months old, I received the Pertussis vaccine for the third time,” she explained. “That caused me to have a slight balance and hearing problem."

But that was not the end of her transition into the hearing-impaired world. “When I was 18 months old, I became critically ill and was treated with ... an antibiotic, to save my life,” she said. “That caused my balance problem and hearing to [get worse], and also caused my vision problem.”

Kiser’s eye and balance problems have greatly affected her daily life, but not as much as her hearing difficulties have. Sometimes, she is unable to understand what others say. She must now use a sign language interpreter in school.

And sometimes, it is hard for her to speak with family and friends. “My family sometimes has to repeat things over and over for me to understand them,” she said.

Simple tasks most teens take for granted — like talking on the telephone and watching TV — prove difficult for Kiser. “When I speak on the telephone,” she said, “I sometimes have to have someone else get on the phone to ask the person what he or she was saying. I have to depend on TV with closed captioning, to understand what [characters] are saying word for word.”

For the most part, Kiser said she can understand what people are saying, with the help of her hearing aid and some tactics she has learned over her 18 years of being hearing-impaired.

“I wear hearing aids, I lip-read sometimes and use an interpreter to understand what people are saying,” she said. “I also try to listen to people’s voices.”

She added that it is hard for her to understand everything a person says, even when using her hearing aid and lip reading.

“Sometimes even if I hear the person’s voice, I can’t understand every single word he or she is trying to say without them using sign language. Sign language helps me to understand things better,” she says.

In addition to the activities mentioned earlier, Kiser currently is involved in the Spanish Club, ballet and many community service projects. But extracurricular pursuits can be difficult for her when her peers are talking and she cannot understand what they are saying.

“Sometimes I feel left out of things, when I don’t understand what is going on,” she said.

Kiser said that some people perceive her as not being normal. In response, she said, “I can dance and run and do many other things ‘normal’ people do.”

But there are occasions when things are awkward. “I sometimes feel different when I feel left out of the normal things. Sometimes I just get angry and depressed and keep quiet, but most of all I just do the best I can to deal with what is bothering me.”

She offered similar advice for other individuals, especially the hearing-impaired. “Just do the best you can in whatever you do. When you don’t understand something, just do what you are able to and don’t worry about what you cannot do. Just be thankful you’re not as bad off as some people."