Book breaks silence on child deafness

By Bridget Cook
AN Endeavour Hills resident has shared her story about the challenges and barriers she faced in raising a deaf child.
Joanna Fricot recalled her journey with raising her deaf daughter Estelle, 9, in a book Breaking The Sound Barriers: 9 deaf success stories, published by Deaf Children Australia.
Breaking The Sound Barriers came about as a result of the hundreds of calls made to Deaf Children Australia each year from parents with children who had been diagnosed with a hearing loss and unsure of where to go or what to do.
Ms Fricot said she wanted to share her story as she had had a lot of connection with other families in her situation that just didn’t know their child could still lead a normal life.
“This book is an inspirational book,” Ms Fricot said.
“They are stories of parents who did not give up on their child’s destiny because of their hearing impairment.”
Estelle was Ms Fricot’s third child and was diagnosed with a hearing impairment at 22 months.
“The diagnosis came to us with no experience in the past; it was a new journey, a new road,” she said.
“I personally discovered Estelle’s hearing problem at six to nine months and started dealing with it.”
“My goal was for her to keep her goals and visions and attend mainstream school.”
Ms Fricot said it was early detection and her ambition to never lose faith in her daughter’s destiny that now allows Estelle to live the most normal life possible.
Estelle attends mainstream school and is a great sports person.
Author of the book Julie Postance said she wrote the book after she was unable to find any resources for families with a child with a hearing impairment.
“I decided to conduct interviews with some outstanding families of deaf children who had ‘broken barriers’ in terms of raising their deaf child and deaf adult role models who had achieved remarkable things in their lives,” Ms Postance said.
For more information on Breaking The Sound Barriers contact Julie Postance on 9539 5362 or visit the Deaf Children Australia website.