Middle-ear disease

Making the situation even more complex for educators, most APD testing does not realistically replicate normal challenges to hearing, like background noise, and so then the results are not realistic.

Support funding for students hinges on these results, and, at best, tests cannot provide an accurate measure of the fluctuating loss at any other point.

For Daniel, education support funding - even at a specialist deaf education unit, was scrapped for those with a fluctuating loss and APD, despite available room, staff and resources when his unit coordinator changed.

Consequently, he began tertiary education at 14, with intensive academic help at home because the large mainstream school classes were too noisy for him.

Due to continued poor health and long travelling distances he could not complete his course straight away, and his delayed developmental benchmarks further impacted on his impaired self-esteem.

Teaching Daniel to tenaciously deal with discrimination, bullying and adversity, was heart wrenching – the tears and desperation at the end of every school day were as wearing for me as they were for him.

He only once dared to dream about what he could be one day and that was while he was receiving educational support, surrounded by kids who were also hearing impaired and deaf.

Finally at 20, he is getting close to being able to go to university and fulfilling his early goal of being a doctor.

Research results consistently show in regional areas, infants and toddlers are worst hit with middle-ear disease, approximately 80-90%, and a marginal dissipation in rates is likely by the end of year seven.

Recent tests debunked more age-old glue-ear myths, proving the disease isn't limited by age and doesn't adhere to regional boundaries - almost 50% of Indigenous inmates at Perth's Bandyup Women's Prison were found to have middle-ear disease, and, at Alice Springs, that figure among male prisoners was an incomprehensible 95%.

Education, employment, health and social outcomes for sufferers of long-term chronic middle-ear disease will be poor if they are expected to use government services only appropriate for those who can hear. ###