Hi! This is @geomechCooke. I'll start with this thread about my lived experiences that impact my perspective on being disabled in academia. Since today is also #worldMentalHealthDay2020, later threads will for sure talk about sense of belonging & self-advocacy. 1/n

First the medical model of my disability identity: I was diagnosed with moderate-severe high frequency hearing loss in kindergarden when a savvy teaching noticed that I was lip-reading her. This way back in the 70s when early testing & family intervention was not like now. 2/n

A neurologic episode a few years ago reduced my hearing a bit so now I now have 'moderate-profound' loss. 45 db in the low frequency and 80-90 db in high frequency for you audiology nerds. 3/n

If you are not an audiology nerd, this image shows the speech range in yellow and diagrams for various sounds. I'm missing a lot of the speech 'banana' and apparently much of vacuuming noise. Ah that is why my pets scurry when I vacuum - never did understand that. 4/n

The last bit of the medical model: I use behind the ear (BTE) hearing aids & pre-pandemic I used FM systems for meetings. Ironically, I got my new FM system mid MarchMarch 16th, as we shifted to remote work! For remote work, I rely a lot on live transcription software. 5/n

For the social model of my disability, I didn't identify as disabled until graduate school. The skills I developed as an undergraduate (read book -> pass exam) didn't work in graduate school.
Wait, there is no book? You expect me to sit in a dark room and hear you? 6/n

So off I went to disability services (DS) to learn about FM systems, notetakers etc. The most helpful thing that DS did for me was to connect me with other disabled students. That connection was strengthened my self-advocacy skills & transformed my disability identity 7/n

While doing my dissertation research on fault mechanics I also took up ASL classes. I, an avowed hater of history, took a class on History of Disabilities in the US with Paul Longmore. Yes, THAT Paul Longmore. History came alive for me. We students adored him! @LongmoreInst 8/n

So around this time I stopped saying that I was 'hearing impaired', which emphasizes the medical model of disability but started saying that I was part deaf. Hard-of-hearing never felt right to me and I also felt not deaf-enough to use the label deaf. 9/n

Lastly, the culture model of my disability identity. As I learned more ASL I started socializing with the late deafened community in the SF Bay area (kiss-fist them!).I also volunteered as a teaching assistant at CA school for the Deaf Fremont. 10/n

Meanwhile, I was also part of the disabled student group on my campus. Both of these communities were centers of deaf/disabled culture - where access for all was built into our culture, we could safely share our concerns and be our authentic selves. 11/n

This thread was on my disabled identity following the 3 models for disability. Yes, I've done a lot since graduate school. That time was transformative & I want to see academic institutions helping today's students develop their social and culture disabled identities. 12/12

Addendum: Rereading this thread I realize that I didn't give a clear definition of the social model. The social model frames the environment as disabling rather than the person having the 'problem'. Rather than me being hearing impaired, oral lectures are disabling to me.