Natasha has all the skills an employer could want. She is experienced, has a positive attitude and a great work ethic. But the one ability she doesn’t have that is vital in the workplace and often taken for granted, is the ability to fully hear, which makes maintaining a job much more difficult. That is, until she found Lutherwood.

For her whole life, Natasha tried not to let her moderate hearing loss hold her back. Born and raised on Bell Island, Newfoundland, she quickly learned to lip read so friends and classmates wouldn’t know until she told them. She tried multiple times to raise funds for hearing aids without any success. Things got more difficult in post-secondary school when Natasha was one course away from graduating with her Office Administration Diploma. Transcription. Natasha had a long battle with the school to prove her disability, before graduating several years late.

After moving to Waterloo Region, Natasha’s family told her about Lutherwood’s Employment Services, so she decided to check it out. “My Employment Advisor, Melissa, is amazing,” she said. “She helped me look for job opportunities and fix up my resume.” One day Natasha brought a letter she had written requesting disability aid to Melissa to edit. “She was surprised; she had no idea I had hearing loss because I hadn’t told her. But after that, she did everything in her power to help me.”

Lutherwood was able to pay for hearing aids through funding from the CLAC (Christian Labour Association of Canada) Foundation, a Steps for Kids sponsor. “I was so excited to finally get hearing aids,” Natasha smiled. “When I first tested them out, I could physically hear my voice for the first time. Before, a car could be coming up behind me and I wouldn’t hear it. Now, not only can I hear cars passing on the street outside, but I can hear birds singing, and the sound of rain on a windowpane is incredible!”

Hearing aids have changed Natasha’s life. Now, she is working with Lutherwood to find an office administrator job in a medical setting where she can now answer phones without issue and check in patients without having to ask them to repeat themselves. “This just means so much to me. For Melissa and Lutherwood to do this for me, I can’t express how happy I am. I want to thank Lutherwood from the bottom of my heart.”