James Kelly
James Kelly was born in 1982. He was diagnosed with a mild to moderate hearing loss shortly before his first birthday and was given his first hearing aids at this time. When he was three, his hearing deteriorated to its current moderate sloping severely to profound hearing loss.
James has worn hearing aids in both ears since he was diagnosed.
James was enrolled in The Shepherd Centre, an organisation which teaches young deaf children how to speak effectively, from 1983 to 1986. After this, James started school at the age of 5 and always attended mainstream schools, including an academically selective high school.
After school, James enrolled in Engineering at university, but soon decided to switch to Information Technology (IT), both at the University of Technology Sydney. On the basis of his academic results in the first year of his IT degree, he was the recipient of the 2002 ASX Scholarship. He ultimately graduated in 2004 with First Class Honours, including a submajor in advertising.
In 2005, having decided to pursue medicine as a career, James successfully applied for the 2006 intake at the University of Sydney’s graduate entry Medical Program. He graduated at the end of 2009 and has not found his hearing loss to present any insurmountable difficulties during his medical studies.
In terms of his career as a doctor, he is currently interested in surgery (particularly orthopaedics), which is a career path that would represent some considerable additional challenges in the context of being deaf. James doesn’t intend to allow that to stop him!
Outside of his education, James has been involved in a number of activities, including team sports such as cricket and hockey. In particular, he enjoys rockclimbing and snowboarding. While he is currently busy with his medical studies, in the past he has worked in customer service jobs, including bartending.
Knowing just how valuable good preparation and support are, James strongly supports the work being done by Hear For You to help teenagers with hearing impairment prepare for the future. He does not believe that being deaf should ever be considered a barrier to achieving a goal and encourages young deaf people to always pursue their goals.
