Cape High senior spearheads awareness event

More than 300 Cape High students and staff signed up to experience what hearing loss feels like during a day-long awareness event spearheaded by senior Ethan Shuttleworth, who has bilateral hearing loss.

“That’s pretty cool knowing that many people care,” Ethan said.

On March 25, participants wore earplugs Ethan purchased that simulate moderate or less hearing loss in both ears.

Senior Mikey Jarrell, who participated in the challenge, said it was a great way to show what people with hearing loss go through on a daily basis.

Ethan said it takes a lot more energy for him to listen to others, even with aids. 

“Hearing loss is an invisible disability,” he said.

Ethan said he has to focus intensely on the speaker, which can be a struggle. Writing notes is difficult because reading lips and writing at the same time poses a challenge, he said. 

Although relatives on both sides of Ethan’s family have hearing loss, it’s not always hereditary. Ethan said he was born with hearing loss, which was later realized when he was not pronouncing words properly. Once as a child, he walked to the mailbox and a car whizzed by that he could not hear.  

Since kindergarten, he has worn a hearing aid and had speech therapy. Cindy Farrell, a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, has also been with him since kindergarten.

“Whatever I need, she’ll be there to help me,” he said. “She’s amazing.”

In turn, Farrell said, it has been wonderful watching Ethan grow into a great advocate for himself. 

“After we held a similar challenge for our teachers prior to the pandemic, Ethan started planning a student version and then the schools shut down,” she said. “When we started back this year, he shared that he really wanted to make this happen before he graduated.”

Ethan planned the event himself and needed very little assistance, Farrell said. He created a Google form so participants could sign up for the challenge, take a survey about their experiences, and be entered into drawings for gift cards donated by Thrasher’s, Dolle’s and Grotto’s. 

“I am so proud of how it all came together for him and to see how many students showed up to get their ear plugs on Friday for the challenge,” Farrell said. “I can't wait to read through the results and what the students took away from it. Ethan is destined for great things in the future.”

Farrell said she thinks the challenge will have a profound effect on participants. 

“I am thrilled that he has been able to spread awareness of the challenges people who are hard of hearing face daily,” she said.   

In the fall, Ethan plans to dual-major in special education and elementary education at University of Delaware, where he will be on a 504 plan ensuring he will receive accommodations, such as a personal FM system that will transmit audio signals from a speaker’s microphone to a receiver within his hearing aids.

Ethan said he is looking forward to receiving his new hearing aids in May; the assistive devices will have Alexa, Bluetooth and a language translator. 

Although having hearing loss poses challenges, Ethan said there are benefits as well.

“It makes you endure,” he said. “It’s viewed as a weakness because you don’t want to have it, but it makes you have feelings for others. You understand what it feels like to be an outsider. It gives you empathy and makes you a stronger person.”