Part Two: Australian Hearing in the community

Part Two: Australian Hearing in the community
21
Danielle Richardson, 16
Paediatric client, Australian Hearing Southport
Danielle, 16 years,
is a full-time ballet
student. Her goal
is to make it into
the Royal Ballet in
London. She shares
with us her passion
for dance and how
she manages her
hearing loss.
‘I have been dancing since I
was five. I started to love it
and I really wanted to keep on
doing it. Most of my friends
backed out but I kept going.
I want to get into the Royal
Ballet, which is the hardest
to get into – that’s my goal.
It’s in London. I’m going to
try out in a couple of years.
‘I dance about 40 hours a week.
I go to school once a week on
Monday and I bring my school
work to the studio. All the
girls here do that. Some do
school by correspondence.
‘My mum first realised I had
a hearing loss when I was
three. When I was a baby, I’d
sleep through anything – the
vacuum cleaner, music. I have
hearing loss in both ears. I wear
in-the-ear aids so that I can
dance and they won’t fall out.
I was going to get the ones
that go completely in the ear,
but my ear canal is too small.
‘My friends talk to me the
same as any other person. I
can lip read. One time I had on
an FM [frequency modulation
system] and one of my teachers
was wearing it and he went
to the phone and I could hear
everything he was saying and
everything the other lady was
saying. Kids would come up
and be like, “What’s behind
your ear?” Mum would come
to school and get the teacher
to talk about FMs and hearing
aids and let them have a go of
it. I used to feel special, because
I was like, “I’ve got this…” and
my friends were like, “Ooh,
I want hearing aids now!”
‘We tried using FMs here [at the
dance school]. The teacher wore
it down too low and all I could
hear was her walking. I was
like, “Just switch it off.” I’m fine
with hearing the music. When
I have trouble, I just ask them
to turn it up and then I’m fine.
‘I have been going to the
same centre [Southport]
the whole time. Lynda is my
audiologist. The staff at the
centre have been great.
‘Dancing is what I’m focused
on, it’s my biggest passion.
My favourite dancer is Darcey
Bussell. She’s in the Royal Ballet
and she’s got really good feet.
I was part-time last year – 30
hours per week. Now I am fulltime
with two others. This is
one of the best schools on the
coast. I’ve gotten this far and I
am going to keep on going.’
“Dancing is what I’m focused
on, it’s my biggest passion.
My favourite dancer is Darcey
Bussell. She’s in the Royal Ballet
and she’s got really good feet.”