Dee Bolemon, author of the website, The Introverted Advocate, spends her time inspiring others to “create a kinder, more compassionate world” through advocating for self-care. She does so in various ways, including podcasts, blogs, meeting new people, taking outdoor adventures, eating healthy, living the best version of herself, and by simply offering kindness to strangers as often as she can.
“Each of us has the capacity to give and receive kindness. In my opinion, this ever-present energy provides a unique and universal understanding of the importance of looking out for one another,” Bolemon stated on her website.
Bolemon, who suffers from hearing loss, lost her hearing at 4 years old when her ears became affected by faulty pathways to her brain. To better communicate with her loved ones, Bolemon taught herself how to lip read, and later, how to read body language. While there is an abundance of guidance available to those who suffer from hearing loss, Bolemon’s hearing loss went undiagnosed until she was 52 years old. She was diagnosed with Bilateral Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss, in November 2013.
Since her diagnosis, Bolemon has chosen to become an advocate for not only people with hearing loss, including both adults and children, but people with all sorts of disabilities. Three communities which Bolemon is devoted to and pays homage to on her website are people with disabilities, animals and their friends, and a plant-based lifestyle.
As a person with a disability herself, Bolemon doesn’t let her hearing loss slow her down. On her website, The Introverted Advocate, she states, “Having a disability is just one small part of my big life. It’s not my identity.”
While each of Bolemon’s podcasts (https://theintrovertedadvocate.com/category/podcasts/) are informative for different reasons, she elaborates about how she became an advocate, as well as, who and what led her to take this new adventure as an advocate in EP005 “So It Begins.” She elaborates further into her hearing loss and offers some insightful tricks she has picked up over the years in EP018 “Wow! Hearing Loops!”
For more information about hearing loss, or to learn more about the three communities Bolemon holds dear to her heart, visit her website at https://theintrovertedadvocate.com. She has a handful of blog posts and podcasts that can help guide you through your own journey with a disability or how to become more familiar with becoming an advocate for a cause you’re passionate about.
While navigating through the website, be sure to read or listen to Bolemon’s podcast EP014 “Marc S. Wood: The Power of Plant Based Living,” which was transcribed by Rita Meyer, owner of All Good Reporters.
All Good Reporters provides CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) services for classrooms; courtrooms; conventions and conferences; doctor appointments; business functions and more.