Cochlear Implants : The story of Adrianna Bodziony
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Fourteen years old Adrianna Bodziony was born with profound hearing loss. At the age of 2 years and 4 months she received at her right ear a MEDEL C40+ cochlear implant, at the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in Warsaw, Poland.
Today, she studies in the best junior high school in Cracow and takes part in international mathematical competitions. Her passion is in informatics and she has started writing her first computer programs. She successfully studies two foreign languages. She likes also sport and won medals in swimming and skiing competitions.
Adrianna’s hearing loss was diagnosed when she was 2 years old. Earlier nobody in her family had realized that she cannot hear, because she learned lip-reading very well. After consultation with Prof. Skarżyński at the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Adrianna’s parents decided to provide their daughter with a cochlear implant.
The girl was delighted having the implant.
– She would point to her ear all the time, to show that she could hear. She willingly attended speech therapy and exercised a lot at home – recollects her mother.
Adrianna started talking several months after cochlear implantation. When she was four, she started reading. Since then, books are her passion. She is particularly fond of fantasy.
Adrianna attends a mainstream school, together with her hearing kindergarten friends.
– We were aware that it will be more difficult for her, but we wanted our daughter to stay in the peer group she was familiar with. We believed she will be able to cope, so we did not try to protect her. We did not want her to have a false picture if the world, because it was unavoidable that at some time she would have to face the difficulties – says her mother.
A couple of months later Adrianna was the best student in her class. She finished primary school with a distinction. She took the universal school competency test performed at the end of primary school without taking advantage of any handicap for her hearing loss. She obtained the maximum score, which won her admittance to the best junior high school in Cracow. Adrianna has made a lot of friends there and cannot imagine studying at another school. Hear hearing peers have no problems with accepting her implant. Adrianna may count on their help and support.
– We have always spoken about our daughter’s hearing loss frankly and openly – says Adrianna’s mother, – because the more you are trying to hide something, the more unhealthy atmosphere gathers around it. So we would often ask her: Ada, show your cool implant! We have helped her to accept it as something normal. This is probably why her friends also treat her implant as something ordinary.
Adrianna Bodziony’s story has been published in „Słyszę” issue 5/2014 – Polish bimonthly magazine for people with hearing and speech disorders, published in collaboration with the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing.
Author: Aneta Olkowska
English translation: Olga Wanatowska