John Newton

John Newton was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire in 1938 and studied engineering at Manchester University. He is now retired and single (divorced) with two adult children. He was first diagnosed as deaf as a teenager and suffered a slow decline in his hearing since then and is now profoundly deaf. His working career was spent in engineering and metallurgy, eventually as a Director of Human Resources.

He had virtually no contact with any sort of support group until quite recently. Never much of a joiner, he was for a long time put off the idea of getting involved with deaf groups by some discouraging experience of what we now call Deaf Culture which arose coincidentally from his professional work. Although the company he worked for were by the standards of the day an enlightened employer, this did not extend to providing any sort of support to a manager experiencing deafness and he was forced to give up work around 1990. Up till then he had managed by lip reading and with increasing difficulty.

Discovering the NADP, a group catering specifically for the late deafened and profoundly deaf was a revelation for him and a great encouragement. He was pleased to be co opted onto the EC because he has a keen desire to do something about the widespread public ignorance of the nature of deafness. He also gets simple pleasure from the contacts with others with similar experiences to himself. He was fitted with a Cochlear Implant in December 2008 and is getting increasing benefit from it.

John used the years of his enforced retirement in exploring the world by sailboat. He still likes to spend the summer months sailing although he has, (for the time being anyway), lost the urge to cross oceans and visit distant continents. He finds plenty of adventure in and around the UK.