By Anna Skinner
After visiting a conference on students with hearing loss with her mother years ago, Anna Morrisey’s education changed. During the conference, she saw a PowerPoint presentation by a mother sharing with her son’s teachers about his hearing loss and the best way for them to teach him.
Morrisey wears hearing aids after being born with large vestibular aqueduct syndrome, a malformation of her inner ear. She has moderate to severe hearing loss, and the conference she attended as a child assisted with her education.
Now a senior at Westfield High School, Morrisey presented a similar conference on Oct. 2 to help the young girl she babysits, Emily Greyvenstein, who has the same hearing disability. Morrisey showed parents a PowerPoint like the one she saw years ago. Nearly 80 people attended the presentation.
“The teacher wears a microphone, and it connects to my hearing aids, and it makes their voice seem like its right next to my ear, so I am able to understand them better and hear them better,” Morrisey said. “During my PowerPoint, I’m able to show parents how to use it and give them tips on what not to do and what to do.”
Morrisey presented at St. Luke’s Church in Indianapolis. Greyvenstein was on stage with her.
“I’ll show them what a kindergartner might say to the teachers about her hearing loss and then what the high schoolers would say,” Morrisey. “When you go into school, it’s not just about how you have hearing loss, and you’re that kid. You’re a person too, and I want her to be more confident in herself. I don’t want her to feel like she’s different.”
