Annette Cyr on Navigating Disability

With July being Disability Pride Month,

I am hoping that in sharing my story, it will help someone else feel that they are not alone and that you are more than your disability.

When I was seven years old my parents discovered that I was almost completely deaf. They are not sure when I went deaf.?Most of the times they just though that I was using selective listening.?I owe the soap opera, “Another World”, for helping discover my deafness. I would run home every day to watch “Another World” and would sit beside the TV and blast the sound. One day in my childhood, my mom was shouting to me, and I wasn’t answering. She put a watch up to my ear and I could not hear it. My mom quickly set up an appointment with the doctor and I was scheduled for surgery.?At that time, I lost 98 percent hearing in my right ear and 95 percent in the left ear, which they believed was due to a middle ear infection. Thanks to the surgery, I was able to recover most of my hearing back then, but as time went on – and to present day – I do not have full hearing.?I cannot hear if you are behind me and talking and if you are on my right side and not facing me – I only get a part of the conversation.?

I have learned that due to these hearing issues, I have a learning disability called “CAPD” – Central Auditory Processing Disorder.

“Central auditory processing (CAP) is the ability to perceptually receive stimuli within the central auditory nervous system (CANS) and conduct the subsequent neurobiological activities that give rise to the electrophysiological auditory action potentials”. What this really means is that people with this condition can’t understand what they hear in the same way others do.

I found different ways to learn and cope. I am a very visual person and found that when learning while watching, I was able to comprehend the activity a lot easier than just reading how to do it. I had very low grades in school, but when I entered senior high, I was in a typing class and realized that I was really good at typing.?So now when I’m trying to learn something new, I watch how another person does it and then try to do it myself – I have a lot more successes this way.

I have not let my hearing or CAPD stop me from trying new things.?I am good with computers and software programs.?It might take me a little longer to integrate things, but I have found that ‘work arounds’ really help me get there. A lot of people can’t tell that I have a hearing disability and learning disability.

I always tried to hide it before I worked at Aviva Canada , but here I found that I don’t have to hide it or be afraid that it would be used against me. All my leaders have always encouraged me and were constantly willing to find a work around to help me. But the best thing is knowing that I don’t have to hide my disability or be afraid to ask for help.

I have been volunteering with the Canadian Red Cross and Aviva’s internal committee, AvivaAbility, for many years now, and have come to realize that my abilities and way of thinking can bring a unique perspective to the table and help with finding creative solutions to a problem.

Annette Cyr

Underwriting Assistant, Aviva Canada