The 2012 London Olympics games begin tonight! As the excitement builds for the opening ceremonies, we take a few moments to review the Olympians in this years games that have role modeled what someone with a hearing loss can do!
The US will be cheering for Chris Colwill, who was born with 60% hearing loss, and though he cannot hear the whistle without his hearing aids, will be diving for the US in this summer’s Olympics. In the above article he says that not being able to hear might just have its advantages when it comes to being able to focus during competitions.
Recently, though he narrowly missed a chance to compete in the 2012 Olympics, Marcus Titus, successfully lobbied US Swimming to allow the use of hand signals at the US Olympic Trials.
There were quite a few Olympic torch bearers with connections to hearing loss. Two volunteers for Action on Hearing Loss in the UK were chosen as torch bearers in Northern Ireland as well as Matt Skinner, another Action on Hearing Loss volunteer in Wales. Also, a young boy named Logan raised quite a bit of money for hearing dogs, with just a desire to help and a paper torch. It is truly a heartwarming story, of the how the excitement surrounding the games can lead to great things for a community.
As you watch the games this year, remember these wonderful stories and the young men and women making history in the 2012 games.
The information above is an exert from an article posted on Stanford Universities Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss!