Zebras I highly doubt anyone here would judge you! From the many posts I’ve read through over the years you are a wonderful writer, very precise and clear.
I had what was called speech therapy back in the late 1980s to middle 1990s but that only happened a few years after my diagnosis. I truly cannot remember all the details but I’m adamant both my ENT and Audiologist referred me at my parents urging not my GP.
Have your approached your Audiologist or ENT about this issue? While a GP may feel your speech is okay by their check point standards parhaps your Audiologist or ENT consultant may have more leeway in gaining a referral if they wrote to your GP on your behalf stating this is an issue that ultimately led to a job loss.
In my case speach therapy was more to help modulate my
speech volume leval as well as correct some issues pronouncing words due to my hearing loss. Truthfully despite extensive therapy to this day I’m still quiet spoken, various friends always comment how quiet I am and family have said that hasn’t changed even at almost 40! I have to constantly remind myself to speak louder as what’s loud to me is often quiet to others. The occlusion from moulds always makes this an ongoing issue
Communication skills I rarely have an issue BUT if I speak without my hearing aids in I tend to develop a distinct nasally sound and I do notice it is worse when I’m tired, sick or having one of those overstimulated by noise days.
The main result of the therapy was to give me confidence speaking and articulating my thoughts with others, I was always accused of not being a talkative person as a child or a introvert often in my late teenage years. I’m better now but I am known as the listener of my friend circle I listen more than I speak, but in the right situation I’m an absalute chatterbox Funnily enough for being the quiet person I excelled in my Speaking and Listening part of my English exam which has over the years resulted in a lot of confused looks when they see my grade as usually deafness impacts that area the most…I credit that to my parents and speech therapy.
The main comment which often irks me to this day is when I tell someone I’m deaf/hearing impaired it’s often, well I couldn’t tell you speak as if you have no hearing loss. I choose not to comment further but many fail to realise it was years of practice both with the therapist as well as my parents to get to that place where it wasn’t noticable. .it can help but at the cost of time and in some cases money, while it helped me gain confidence I still consciously have to think about volume and speech speed. I find my American friends/family are very shout talky, loud and then there’s me quiet soft spoken but it has it’s benefits everyone will stop to listen versus continuous talking. I think it also gave me more patience towards those with speech issues themselves where most would be frustrated, rush to finish words for them I delibrately wait for them to finish.
Do I still fluff up, most certainly and since moving to the states I have an ongoing war with how to pronounce/speak or communicate without flip flopping between the way Americans or English say things, it got that bad a few years ago I’d end up fluffing constant words up entirely and stuttering because my brain, mouth and ears fighting on how best to say something clearly. I now refuse to say UK aluminium anymore US Aluminum as for the life of me it comes out as a complete mess now. This stems from my American husband telling me I’m saying it wrong because he didn’t realize we spell and say it differently in the UK until he heard another British person on a linguistic difference video spell and say it both ways.
So it isn’t always a you’ve said something badly issue in my case it’s because I was judged for not speaking the way someone thinks is acceptable or in what is deemed the right way. I as almost 40 year old stand my ground and say do you want me to write that down? If you have an issue with my accent, words or how I speak then that’s a you problem not a me problem. I did speech therapy for 10 years and if you think you can say it better go ahead and try. Or How would you have said it then? Usually stumps the person whomever it is. I’ve used that line on several teachers in my high school years who used me as a case study trying to teach about deafness/hearing impairment and point out slight speech/communication issues. I now don’t tolerate being disrespected in that manner and advocate if they want to teach/learn about deafness or communication skill issues surrounding deaf/hoh/hearing impaired and what can be done to improve that they should seek out a speach therapist or an audiologist or ask the person’s permission beforehand
Lastly zebra I applaud you for wanting to improve an area you feel is a weakness for you. Take some deep breaths, as much as the job was one you wanted and felt achieved your ultimate goal they were NOT the right fit for you. Any employer worth their salt will go above and beyond to accommodate a employee. Unfortunately most do such a sub par job on accomdations for disabilities it’s abysmal and they have the audacity to then act like they did their absalute “best” to meet the requirements deemed by law that’s needed.
The reality of it is no they did the absalute bare minimum to meet disability requirements and most of the time it’s always blamed on well we couldn’t accomodate the employee in that situation it’s not always the full truth. I’ve been on the receiving end of this treatment twice and to be honest I’m glad because it made me truly appreciate the employers who look beyond the hearing loss or those who do their absalute best to work with you without using it’s too expensive to do xyz I’ve heard that one so many times and believed it until university and then it was eye opening to see how true disability accomdations should be utilized. My whole world opened and in a great way and that’s when I realized just how piss poor most employers utilize it for disabled employees or even clients blaming costs ultimately.
Unfortunately I haven’t lived in the UK in 10 years, so my guidance wouldn’t be much help but others have pointed out some good areas to start. I came across this while googling for alternatives
Parhaps approach your jobseekers office asking for a list of possible courses they can recommend for communication skills as well…they may have a guide of courses explicitly for certain things. It’s overwhelming to decide where to start I wish you luck.