English: I'd like to start by thanking Mark for raising such an important topic for debate and allowing me to contribute to it. As some of you know, like Mark, I have hearing difficulties, and I wanted to use this opportunity to highlight my own experiences and to impress upon the Government the importance of this issue and the need for it to be seriously tackled. As a child, I was diagnosed with otitis media with effusion, and I hope I've pronounced that correctly, or glue ear, and, sadly, after several hospital operations to try and alleviate this, my eardrums were left weak and badly scarred. A few years ago, they ultimately collapsed, and as a result my hearing, which was always terrible, was made substantially worse and I developed severe tinnitus as well, all of which will only get worse with age. Poor hearing doesn't just affect one's ability to hear. From my own experience, it leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness, disorientation in noisy environments, nausea in quiet environments or when someone is speaking too quietly or softly, and an overall lack of confidence in social situations, with the painful irony being that I can hear people talking, I just can't understand what they are saying. Above all, I think people will never truly understand how embarrassing it is to continually ask someone to repeat themselves, the feelings you experience when they get annoyed with this and the impact it has on you when you are just dismissed as being thick or stupid. You can also forget about learning another language, it took me years of speech therapy just to be able to learn English, and this has made me terribly self-conscious about the way I speak. I was very lucky that I had help and support from my parents, family and friends, but I know this is not the case for a great number of people who suffer hearing loss, particularly the elderly. These are the types of barriers that deaf people face that don't allow them to live to their full potential and don't allow them to maximise their physical and mental well-being. Despite the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act becoming law in 2015, there's no recent comprehensive survey on the health and well-being of the deaf community in Wales. A detailed population-specific survey is therefore needed to assess how members of the Welsh deaf community specifically interact, as Mark said, with public and healthcare services within their respective communities and what the state of their well-being is. Thankfully, there is better public awareness of hearing loss. However, this is still a condition that limits so much of life that is available to others, and it could be made so much better if it was recognised more fully in society and by Government. Thank you, Mark, for raising this debate, and I also want to thank Jane as well for contributing to it. Thank you.
Welsh: Hoffwn ddechrau drwy ddiolch i Mark am godi pwnc mor bwysig i'w drafod a chaniatáu i mi gyfrannu. Fel y gŵyr rhai ohonoch, fel Mark, mae gennyf innau anawsterau clywed, ac roeddwn am ddefnyddio'r cyfle hwn i dynnu sylw at fy mhrofiadau fy hun ac i bwysleisio pwysigrwydd y mater hwn i'r Llywodraeth a'r angen i fynd i'r afael ag ef o ddifrif. Yn blentyn, cefais ddiagnosis o lid y glust ganol, neu glust ludiog, ac yn anffodus, ar ôl sawl llawdriniaeth ysbyty i geisio lleddfu hyn, mae pilenni fy nghlustiau'n wan ac yn greithiog iawn. Ychydig flynyddoedd yn ôl, fe wnaethant grebachu yn y pen draw, ac o ganlyniad, aeth fy nghlyw, a oedd bob amser yn wael, gryn dipyn yn waeth a datblygais dinitws difrifol hefyd, a bydd hyn oll yn gwaethygu gydag oedran. Mae bod yn drwm eich clyw yn effeithio ar fwy na gallu rhywun i glywed. Yn fy mhrofiad i, mae'n arwain at deimlo'n unig ac yn ynysig, at golli cyswllt â'r amgylchedd mewn amgylcheddau swnllyd, at deimlo'n gyfoglyd mewn amgylcheddau tawel neu pan fydd rhywun yn siarad yn rhy dawel neu dyner, a diffyg hyder cyffredinol mewn sefyllfaoedd cymdeithasol, gyda'r eironi poenus y gallaf glywed pobl yn siarad, ond na allaf ddeall yr hyn y maent yn ei ddweud. Yn anad dim, rwy'n credu na fydd pobl byth yn deall yn iawn pa mor annifyr yw gofyn i rywun ailadrodd ei hun yn barhaus, y teimladau a gewch pan fydd hyn yn codi eu gwrychyn a'r effaith y mae'n ei chael arnoch pan gewch eich diystyru fel rhywun twp neu ddi-ddeall. Gallwch hefyd anghofio am ddysgu iaith arall, cymerodd flynyddoedd o therapi lleferydd i mi allu dysgu Saesneg, ac mae hyn wedi fy ngwneud yn ofnadwy o hunanymwybodol o'r ffordd rwy'n siarad. Roeddwn yn lwcus iawn fy mod wedi cael help a chefnogaeth gan fy rhieni, fy nheulu a fy ffrindiau, ond gwn nad yw hyn yn wir am nifer fawr o bobl sy'n dioddef nam ar eu clyw, yn enwedig yr henoed. Dyma'r mathau o rwystrau y mae pobl fyddar yn eu hwynebu sy'n eu hatal rhag gwireddu eu potensial llawn a gwneud y mwyaf o'u lles corfforol a meddyliol. Er i Ddeddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau'r Dyfodol (Cymru) ddod i rym yn 2015, ni chafwyd arolwg cynhwysfawr diweddar o iechyd a lles y gymuned fyddar yng Nghymru. Felly, mae angen arolwg manwl penodol o'r boblogaeth i asesu sut y mae aelodau o gymuned fyddar Cymru yn rhyngweithio'n benodol, fel y dywedodd Mark, â gwasanaethau cyhoeddus a gofal iechyd yn eu cymunedau eu hunain a beth yw cyflwr eu llesiant. Diolch byth, ceir gwell ymwybyddiaeth ymhlith y cyhoedd o fyddardod. Fodd bynnag, mae hwn yn dal i fod yn gyflwr sy'n cyfyngu cymaint ar y bywyd sydd ar gael i eraill, a gellid ei wneud gymaint yn well pe bai'n cael ei gydnabod yn llawnach gan gymdeithas a chan y Llywodraeth. Diolch am gyflwyno'r ddadl hon, Mark, ac rwyf am ddiolch i Jane hefyd am gyfrannu ati. Diolch.