Building My Future
By Kayla Conard, West Virginia H&V
I’m deaf/hard of hearing at the same time. I use a cochlear implant and hearing aid. I live in Richwood, West Virginia, and am now working in a childcare center with babies, toddlers, and school aged kids as a caregiver and now a teacher for the past five years. I live with my mom, my brother, and our dog in our house.
My background
I lost my hearing at two years old, and received two hearing aids. My left ear’s hearing loss was severe/profound so I did not receive much benefit from that hearing aid. I had cochlear implant surgery at four years old, and have continued to use one processor and one hearing aid since then. I met my early intervention teacher (Ressie Phillips) in my grandma’s house for the first time when I was identified with hearing loss. She was my Teacher of the Deaf/hard of hearing (TOD) in home intervention, visiting me in daycare, and saw me all the way through my 17 years as a student. She also taught sign language to me and my family. A sign language interpreter worked with my daycare at times and I had a lot of different educational interpreters in school. In addition, I attended speech therapy from early on until through all my school years which helped me a lot with speaking and listening, which I actually enjoyed.
My memories of those early school years revolve around making two best friends in elementary school. I had lost my hearing at age two. I also have been diagnosed with autism, high blood pressure, anxiety, and narcolepsy. Like most people, I have other life challenges, too.
When I was in high school, I met a WV Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) counselor. He helped me to explore careers and to get accepted into volunteer and work experiences. When I was a senior, I volunteered in a nursing home, an elementary school (where I taught kids sign language), and a daycare center. After I graduated, he worked with me on needs related to future employment. We decided I needed a new cochlear implant processor with better functions, and an updated hearing aid that could connect directly to equipment. I learned about and received an alarm clock that vibrates/flashes lights for deaf people. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school.
What would I need to succeed in the work world?
What would I be doing and where would I be working after graduation? Luckily, I met the with the school board special ed supervisor and my TOD, who told me about West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (WVSDB)’s transition program I might be interested in attending. In this program, called Career Academy for Postgraduates (CAP), students who had completed all academic credits for graduation but who wanted to work on job/career training and more advanced independent living skills could attend until age 21. I remember coming on campus for the first time when I joined CAP. I had not been with so many students who were like me before! (I had never attended WVSDB.) I stayed for two years in that program, which helped me so much. I made new friends with deaf and blind students. I learned about career skills and independent living skills, and learned from different experiences like cooking skills, improving my ASL, and learned how to drive a car.
After I finished the CAP program at WVSDB, I volunteered in the library and at a daycare center until I figured out next steps. My DRS counselor helped me apply for and get a job as a daycare provider at Nicholas County Starting Points Center not long after graduation. I love helping children learn concepts, social skills, and more about their world through activities, keeping the center safe and clean, and also teaching children sign language. I am proud to say that I graduated from an Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist program (which is a training program, similar to college) in May of 2022. Rusty Cole, my DRS counselor, was a huge help in guiding me through. He helped me with getting a job and helped me get tools that help me in my job, including a job coach when I needed one.
Plans for the future
Today, I continue to enjoy working with kids… people say I light up when I talk about them. Sometimes, I also help at camps for deaf/hard of hearing students through the contacts I have made in the community. In the future, I hope to help more people in my community and in the deaf community. I hope deaf/hard of hearing kids and adults will have a great deaf community to surround them and help them succeed.
H&V Communicator – Spring 2025