Kelly AlhooiePelviBiz, Pelvibiz · Healthcare Business Strategy Assistant

This is a very personal story, and not even my best friends have heard this. #shorts

8 Jun 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:05

Kelly Alhooie recounts a childhood accident at age three when her head got stuck in a banister while playing with her sister Christine; she tore off her right ear, resulting in about 95% hearing loss in that ear. The video describes downstream effects: being labeled learning disabled in school (pulled into special classes for reading and writing), social stigma from wearing a hearing aid, and feelings of being "less than" peers. The clip is a brief, personal spoken reflection on lasting physical and social consequences of the injury.

Questions this video answers

Three years old.

Right ear.

Approximately 95% hearing loss in the right ear.

Her sister, Christine.

Labeled as learning disabled and pulled from the regular classroom into a special class for extra help with reading and writing.

Chapters

When I was three, I stuck my head through a banister when I was playing with my sister Christine, and I got stuck. I couldn't get my head out. I was trying to pull, pull, pulling my head out. And finally I got my head unstuck and I ripped my right ear completely off. This led me to so many struggles that I could never have imagined. The first one being I had a 95% hearing loss in my right ear. It led me to also being labeled as learning disabled, where I couldn't read, I couldn't write, I couldn't talk, and I couldn't hear. In elementary school, I was being pulled from the normal classroom to be put in this special class to get extra help with my reading and writing. It made me feel so less than, than all those other kids in that class. In addition, I would have to wear a hearing aid. And, you know, back then, like, no one wanted to look different. You had to have, like, the same clothes as everyone to fit in. Like, no one wanted to look different.