Q&A with Diane Lisanti

Travel is filled with memorable sights, sounds and tastes, but it is challenging!

- Angela Lynn

Diane is a resident of the bustling metropolis of New York, New York, a proud member of the Hard of Hearing community and a true Hard of Hearing Traveller.

Her journey with hearing loss began when she was diagnosed at just four years old (believed to be caused by a high fever at 14 months). She started wearing a hearing aid at the age of five, and by 1960, at eight years old, she had embraced binaural hearing aids.

Throughout her life, Diane has shown immense resilience and determination. Between the ages of five to 20, she engaged in speech therapy, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to improving her communication skills. She pursued her education in hearing schools, with the exception of her second graduate program at Gallaudet University from 1993 to 1995, where she embraced a unique educational experience. "At Gallaudet, Ieperienced an immersion of ASL in an educational setting which was beautiful and the first time where information/thoughts were visual and understood," she shared. "On a personal level, it was the first time I met intelligent, Hard of Hearing people who were comfortable with their identity and sharing our stories with friendshi[and acceptance of everyone."

For Diane, lip-reading has been an integral part of her communication toolkit. The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its mask requirements, made adapt even more to the world around her, highlighting the importance of controlling her environment, be it lighting, acoustics or the size of social gatherings. In the days before closed-captioning became widely available for television and movies, Diane's determination shone bright as she quite literally watched and pieced together the storylines. Her passion for instrumental music remained a constant source of joy, as she found the simplicity of musical tones to be a welcoming and accessible aspect of her life.

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