New Children’s Book Battles Stigma
Posted by Living Sounds
A recently released children’s book is helping hearing-impaired children feel better about their experience. The book Let’s Hear it for Almigal by Wendy Kupfer, with illustrations by Tammie Lyon, is receiving some great reviews. The book focuses on a little girl with hearing loss and her group of friends. Each of the characters in the book has an interesting story to tell and you’ll find yourself rooting for the characters. According to one reviewer “It’s easy to identify with Almigal, a child full of energy, enthusiasm, and mischief.”
I think the book is wonderful! I just wish there were more hearing-challenged individuals in popular culture overall. If hearing-impaired children had more heroes (and why shouldn’t they), there wouldn’t be as much stigma surrounding wearing hearing aids. The children we see in our practice are inspiring, with their wit, enthusiasm and joy. I just want them to experience everything they possibly can, and that includes acceptance of their condition by those around them.
So maybe you know a child that likes to read? By exposing them to books and television and interactions that normalize hearing loss, maybe fewer children will have to suffer from stigma and misconceptions.
