If you looked at me you wouldn’t necessarily notice anything different about me

MY name is Chaya Pessi, and I live in Cleveland, Ohio.

I’m 12 years old, and I enjoy everything creative, like painting, graphics, dancing, music, and writing. I also like to schmooze with my friends. I am the second to oldest in my family; I have one older brother and four younger sisters.

When I was three years old, my parents realized that I wasn’t hearing well. After getting everything checked out, I was fitted with two hearing aids to help me hear. When I was six years old, I got a different kind of hearing aid in one ear, called a cochlear implant. A cochlear implant is implanted surgically. The doctor puts a small magnet into the patient’s head. Then there is a hearing device that goes on the outer part of the head, and when the magnets attach, it helps the person hear just like a regular person. It’s pretty amazing! Three years later, when I was nine years old, I got a cochlear implant in my other ear as well.

The truth is that I am a completely regular kid, just like every other kid in the world, and if you looked at me you wouldn’t necessarily notice anything different about me. If anything, I’m extra cool — just ask my friends! I’m not shy or embarrassed about my cochlear implants (though I don’t like when little kids pester me with questions about them). They can even be helpful sometimes — when I’m davening or don’t want to hear something, I can just take them off and tune everything out!

That’s not to say that I don’t ever have to think about them. I need to change the batteries every day, and before Shabbos and Yom Tov. Sometimes the battery dies when I’m in school, which is annoying!