A Day in the Life of John

I chose to spend the day with someone I met in school. His name is John and he is a disabled veteran. He served in the infantry of the United States Army. John signed up for a second tour and after getting his anthrax vaccine had a neurological reaction and he ended up suffering from hearing loss and is 100% deaf in his left ear.

Jon and I decided to have lunch at Piasano’s pizzeria on Saturday. We arrived at 11:30 and it was still quiet inside. We sat at a booth across from each other, and placed our drink and lunch orders. This was the first time I saw his disability in full. As he was ordering, the waitress was asking him questions and he couldn’t hear her. The only way to adapt to the environment was for him to tell her that he was deaf in one ear, and ask her to speak up because he couldn’t hear her. She was graceful, and looked a bit embarrassed but obliged and spoke louder, and slower. This was still while the restaurant was still quiet and empty. By the time we finished this, it had become busy, with most seats being taken. Although it is hard for John to hear, it has personal meaning for him to be out, and not let his disability deprive him. This does, however, inhibit his sociality in a way, as it is very hard for him to hear more than one person talking to him, even more so when he is in a loud environment. This activity made it difficult for any privacy in our conversation.  He will usually request someone to sit to his right so he can hear them better, but it really didn’t occur to either of us, as we are just friends, and it was quiet when we arrived. After eating and chatting we decided to go for a hike on Kennesaw Mountain.

Once arriving, we started our hike. The only problem this posed when it comes to accessibility as we hiked up and over the mountain was a small stint of vertigo. After he sat for a minute he was okay to finish the two-hour hike. We talked about many different things, and as long as I stayed to his right we were good.  Being outside is something that both of us really enjoy. This helps him with his sensory simulation as well. He told me that being outside makes him feel alive, and makes him appreciate life and all it has to offer. He feels like nothing could ever defeat him when he is in nature. We chatted a lot about his recovery. He told me about the events that led up to this happening, from the vaccination and how hard it is. He talked a lot about the constant ringing in his deaf ear, and the louder the environment gets, the more his ear rings. We also talked a lot about his recovery. When it first happened, he didn’t know anything was wrong. About six hours later while eating dinner, he noticed that he couldn’t hear so well out of his ear. By the time he went to bed that night he was completely deaf, but still walking.

The hike was over about then, so we chose to go back to his house and sit by the fire pit to continue our conversation. Once we arrived I asked him how he had adapted his environment to help him, and he told me that he loves music, and used to be able to hear music from speakers in a central location, but now he has put speakers in every room, and outside of his house so he can hear it. This makes his house more comfortable to him. We then continued to talk about what happened. He told me he woke up in the night with terrible vertigo and vomited three times as he crawled to get the phone. After 30 days in the hospital he was sent home to live with his brother and sister-in-law. Nine months, and 75 pounds later, remember he was in the army and very fit, he has only 45 percent of his equilibrium but he can walk again. He talked about how he still has vertigo and at times has to lay down for a while before he can function again. I have known John for about a year and never asked him about this, or realized how hard it is to function for him in a world that isn’t adapted to him, but to people that do not have disabilities.