Over the years, technology has been advancing and with it hearing tests. When Irati Erauskin was born in 1996, not so many tests were done, so it is not clear when she has hearing impairment: “At five years old I started hearing a bit bad of the ear and at ten I discovered that I didn’t hear anything from an ear.” He hears little by the left ear and only vibrates by the right.

He was educated in the world of listeners, and at first he was especially “very hard” because he had “a huge complex”: “I have spent years without saying so. Worse still, it was because I didn’t follow the dialogues.” That’s why people think it’s shy, but it’s “very open”: “I don’t know if it’s just a matter of character, or also an instrument to survive.”

It reads the lips and for this it is necessary that people look at the face, pronounce well, “a little slowly” and in a “proper” tone. However, it is a “great effort” and loses “a lot” of information: “For example, on the table I had a very bad time, because it was impossible to follow the thread and I have often finished crying”.

In addition to the effort to read the lips, people do not know how to act: “If you are not disabled or you are not a stepped person, you live in a privileged bubble and meet a person who is not there asks you to leave it. This makes you uncomfortable, so it’s easier to remove.”

Networks as a means of empowerment

The Pantoi! (@agobixu) on platform X. Through social media, it usually denounces machismo and obesity, but since there is still “great stigma”, until the pandemic did not dare to talk about capacitism: “In some sessions in which I participated I said that I did not refer to the ear because I feared stigmatizing”. As COVID-19 was mandatory the use of masks, I could not read the lips: “I couldn’t communicate with anyone.”

He has experienced “frustration” and “anxiety” in the shadows, but in the end he felt the need to go abroad: “Otherwise my mental health would disappear.” He also believes it helps to get in: “People in my situation can see that they are not alone.” He adds that the anti-crisis movement must be “strengthened”.

He recently visited 20,000 bee films and reported via social media, as with many others, that he had no subtitles. In the information of the film, it was an original version, but in practice it had few texts in Basque and only the parts in Basque had subtitles. In the original version, 70% of the characters' conversations are conducted in Spanish and 30% in Basque. “The films are not made for the deaf, they are made for those who do not know Euskera,” he said. He adds that Castilian is prioritized over the Basque: “Society works according to the norm: if you enter the norm all for you, if not, you stay out. Hearing impairment and Basque knowledge are not included in the standard”.

It is not an isolated case, it is a practice that is repeated many times, and according to Erauskin, subtitling with current technology is “the minimum” to do: “I go to the movies very rarely, because I have very few opportunities”. At home he puts headphones and subtitles to watch television.

Jealousy and non-educational conformities

He has also criticized network education, because the education system does not address the needs of deaf people: “People with other disabilities will surely also be ignored.” Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education were “very hard” for her. He sat in front of me and tried to follow the class reading his lips: “The teachers didn’t understand that I was tired and lost much information. Then I was called to disconnect.”

He had some tests on him, for example, he did not listen in English: “Instead of thinking it was logical, people looked at me with jealousy.” To perform the hearing in Basque, a speaker was placed in the ear: “That is not sensible, I cannot follow the hearing”. As a result, I was in the “excluded group”: “They did not persecute me very much, but they came with me.”

I thought things were going to change in college, but the situation didn't improve. She has studied psychology and in college times a group of girls treated her “very badly.” In addition, I had difficulty working as a team: “People accused me of doing nothing, but they didn’t understand that I couldn’t follow the dialogue and didn’t know what to do.” When they changed tests, they also felt jealous in college: “I didn’t expect that from my psychology colleagues.”

However, its network has been woven and has managed to make its way in leisure, work and other spaces: “Everything varies a lot according to the situation, but if I know people individually, it is easier”. Today, it doesn't calm down and networks help it empower.

A PART OF THE BODY?

"The heart for mental health and emotions. I really like working emotions, but I think we don't work emotional education. From school, they don't teach us how to manage emotions, and we have a lot of deficiencies. Depression, anxiety and many more are coming out, and it's OK to go to the fishing ground, but as a society we have to look for an alternative."