Insight: I’m a deaf life coach from the US now living in London

I’m a life coach and reiki practitioner, originally from Michigan in the USA but I moved to London eight years ago. I wear hearing aids and communicate mostly in spoken English and with lipreading but I have picked up a little British Sign Language since being here and I always use this if I ever have a client who is deaf or prefers to use sign for whatever reason. I’m still learning though!

I was born with bilateral severe deafness and I have had hearing aids since a real young age. I have always felt they have benefitted me and I’m grateful for the advancements of technology – I can connect to a multitude of things using Bluetooth with my hearing aids, it truly is incredible.

My family are all hearing, with most still residing over in the US, I have one Auntie here in England and my husband is a British Londoner who I met when travelling over 15 years ago. When I first moved to England I struggled a little to lipread the accent, but as soon as I got used to the vowel changes and so on it became easier. When I FaceTime my family some of them comment that I pronounce certain words in a more English way, which I find really amusing.

I started working as a life coach as I progressed from working in a youth club environment to taking certifications in certain counselling and emotional support programmes. I realised that my strength lies in encouraging and motivating others and I’m really good at ‘reading people.’ So I took the qualifications necessary and started small, slowly gathering interest through word of mouth and testimonials.

A lot of my clients are entrepreneurs or creative folk, people with big dreams and big ambitions who need support in grounding their ambitions and making a plan. The first thing a lot of people say to me is ‘I want to do this, but I don’t have the time.’ You’d be surprised how much time we have in our life that we waste. So looking at utilising time well and recognising what we do with our time is a vital part of coaching.

I would say my deafness enables me to focus on other people more intently, so I give them more of my attention and I can therefore offer more intuitive feedback in our sessions. I find it so much easier to work with people in person, when working on Zoom or online I find it harder to lipread and I get screen fatigue – which is a real thing! So to be honest I really struggled during the pandemic when everything went online, that was a great challenge.

Instead, I used the period to focus on my personal development, and did the minimum amount of work necessary to tide me over financially. It was hard going but I also saved so much money by staying in and not flying out to see family which I used to do quite regularly.

I find the attitudes I encounter in the holistic field is mostly positive, but I have encountered some rather odd remarks, especially in the more spiritual field of reiki healing. I remember once I was at a festival and a ‘healer’ saw my hearing aids. She mumbled something to me at first which I didn’t catch with all the background noise and ushered me into a quieter corner.

I assumed she knew me and my reiki practice and wanted to exchange contacts or something, but she went on to say how she believed with regular reiki sessions and spiritual healing she could ‘cure me’ of my deafness and make me hearing! I laughed my head off at that phoney healer.

Luckily I wasn’t at all swayed by her silly comments, but I did worry that some other person with hearing aids may be tricked into believing there was something wrong with them and that they needed to be fixed. Please know that any reputable healer would never force their services upon anyone, and most of us have very positive open minded attitudes towards deafness and disability. All individuals and their differences are beautiful.

An ‘average day for me’ consists of taking a walk or exercise in the morning – this always helps me to ground and get started for the day – then I work with a few clients a day on their personal goals offering advice or support on a multitude of things. We meet in person or online or I may offer some feedback to something over email.

Clients may want clarity on their own life ambitions, work on a plan to achieve a long term goal or just simply want to gain self confidence and belief. All of my sessions are bespoke and designed with the individual in mind. I love working in this way because every session is unique.

For anyone else who is deaf and wanting to work in the life coaching field, I would say follow your heart! I knew that this was something I did naturally anyway, so the work was just an extension of my natural abilities. If you’re gifted at something, you should always use it – this is your gift back to the world. Being deaf has never stopped me from doing anything, my clients tend to see past the hearing aids and just honour the quality of the service I give them. Good luck!

If you have an interesting or unusual job and would like to give our readers an anonymous insight into what you do, send me an email on rebecca@rawithey.com

Image courtesy of iStock photos.