In this webinar, we talk to Cochlear implant user and advocate, Dr Lewis Williams, whose paper 'Untreated severe-to-profound hearing loss and the cochlear implant situation: how policy and practice are disabling New Zealand society' was published last year in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

Lewis discussed the importance of advocacy in a time when funding for cochlear implants for adults is at crisis levels in New Zealand, and what her own experiences of severe hearing loss taught her.

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About our speaker.

Dr. Lewis Williams PhD.

Lewis grew up on Tāmaki Makarau’s Northshore. She recently returned to Aotearoa after many years of living in Canada and today lives in the Tauranga Moana. She is of Ngāi Te Rangi descent. Initially diagnosed with a progressive hearing loss 22 years ago, today Lewis lives with severe to profound hearing loss. Initially qualifying as a social worker and community developer, she went on to work in the public health and tertiary sectors. Her Ph.D. was in empowerment theory and focused on issues of identity, culture, and power. Today she is an Independent scholar-practitioner and the Founding Director of the Alliance for Intergenerational Resilience. She loves hiking, meditation, yoga, drama, te reo Maori and spending time with friends and family.