Eppure sentire
(Hearing differently) Book not yet available in English
Summary:
It is a rainy, cold January morning. Silvia takes the bus to school as usual. A few minutes later there is a crash: a truck hits the bus, right where she is sitting. Her injuries are minor, but something serious has happened. Silvia has been deaf since a very young age and learned to hear with hearing aids, her beloved and hated giraffes. Now she lives a normal life, attends high school, plays the piano, and goes out with friends. But the accident has meant that the implants are no longer enough, and a new dramatic choice must be made. Above all, Silvia must ask herself whether, so busy fighting her deafness, she has not defended herself against feeling something else. [Publisher’s website]
Edited by: Centro MeTRa - Università di Bologna (Italy)
Comment:
Silvia, 15 years old, has a genetic deafness that requires her to use hearing aids, her beloved and hated “giraffes”. Through her gentle voice, she guides us through the discovery of the world of deaf people. She tells us about her childhood, during which her mother and her sister were great allies in the battle against deafness. She shares the suffering that the disease caused her, and the frustrations, which include being bullied at school. But Silvia does not give up and is committed and passionate about everything she does. She is very good at school, plays the piano, plays volleyball, has friends, one in particular, Aurora, who knows how to be there for her and treat her without pity. Silvia works during the summer as a volunteer in a library. There she meets Mattia, a passionate book lover, whom she becomes fond of because of the kind and affectionate way in which he knows how to be at her side. Mattia can see the extraordinary girl that Silvia is, and go beyond that hateful “imperfection” that has been the cause of great suffering for her. It is Mattia who helps convince her to have the cochlear implant, the operation which, although demanding, would substantially improve her deafness and the hearing in her left ear, which had been seriously damaged after a car accident. We relive with emotion the hesitations and fears of Silvia, who on the one hand is afraid of having made the wrong decision, of not having “accepted” her deafness, but on the other hand feels the need to hear differently. After the operation, the rehabilitation begins, the exhausting listening and speech production sessions. Little by little a whole world of sublime sounds, previously shrouded in silence, begins to reveal itself, and Silvia can also hear the sound of the sea, that beautiful sound that Mattia wished her to hear by giving her a sea drum before the operation. Now Silvia hears differently, she feels that she can “walk” on her own. With the boy at her side who has been able to love her and her diversity, the young woman is ready to start a new life, bringing her own exemplary experience to those who may need it, also through activities to raise awareness of deafness, aware that “perhaps [her] experience could be useful to someone.”