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Home My Public Portal AboutNourse, GloriaHearing ear dog links McCall woman to world One in 10 Americans is hearing impaired. It didn't strike home to me until I met Gloria Nourse, of McCall, the other day. It was at a recep- tion after her mother's funeral. I had been visiting with her about her parents, Fred and Lor- raine Drake, longtime Boise res- idents. We talked about her late fa- ther's real estate business and his run for county assessor. We talked about her mother. She communicated well. I didn't notice anything unusual. "I hear with my eyes," she sud- denly said. "I read lips if the per- son can articulate. I have only 10 percent hearing in my left ear and none in my right." "And my dog, Scooter," she said, "has made it possible for me to live in your world." "My dog tells me when the doorbell, shop buzzer or phone rings and alerts me to other things by barking or putting his foot on my leg and looking at where the noise is coming from." "He makes me feel like a com- plete person. He's given me the freedom and independence I wouldn't otherwise have." A birth defect and a childhood accident caused Gloria's hearing problem. In her early years, she was chid- ed, even punished, because no one understood her inability to hear. Her mother maybe never knew she had the problem. She withdrew but learned to overcome. She went through grade school and high school and worked. She tried to become a secretary but the dictation test got her when a boss, trying out her shorthand, told her, "That's not what I said." Many secretaries have heard that but Gloria was sensitive and turned to accounting. She worked at that for six years. She still meets the public and works at her and her husband's bicycle shop at McCall. The idea of a dog to help came when Gloria became pregnant. During the raising of her three girls and one boy, the dog would awaken her if the children woke up during the night and she did not. Her first dog, a poodle, would jump on the bed instead of bark- ing to alert her. Gloria will not learn to sign. She thinks it might cause her to Allen Derr Opinion lose the little hearing she still has by not using it. Electronic de- vices, such as phone amplifica- tion and special lights help. But she relies very much on her dog. Many people don't know it, but Idaho law allows hearing ear dogs, as it does seeing eye dogs, in all public accommodations. Offi- cially, an orange fluorescent col- lar is the signal and they are supposed to be certified. Vanity keeps many people from admitting a hearing handicap. How many do you know who won't wear a hearing aid because someone might know? For the same reason, many hearing im- paired people don't put a collar on their dog. There is support though. Self Help for the Hard of Hearing (SHHH) has reorganized in Boise. For information, call Dorothy or Chuck Hansen, 375 -5697, 2415 El Dorado, Boise, Idaho 83704. Another helpful person is Jack- ie Baxter, Treasure Valley Asso- ciation for the Deaf, 344 -0807. And, before you pay $4,000 or so to train a hearing ear dog, try: Dogs for the Deaf, 10175 Wheeler Road, Central Point, Ore., 503- 826- 9220. Gloria has lived with the fact that people often respond with annoyance to handicaps. She's also overcome it to the extent that a friend of 40 years just learned she has a hearing limitation. It is only now, after her moth- er's death, that Gloria can go out- side the family with her story. She gave me permission to write it. "If it hadn't happened," she said, "I probably wouldn't have the compassion I do." Amen. Allen Derr is a Boise lawyer and journalist. �7ie Mjb)