Let’s Make Happiness Accessible™ Podcast

You did everything expected—and nothing changed by Rob Cookenour “StepDeaf” creator of Let’s Make Happiness Accessible™

The appointments, the medications, the exercises, the careful tracking of symptoms… all the things we’re told to do, and we do them as expected. And yet, sometimes the progress never comes. Hi let's chat. I'm Rob sharing this emotional truth from the POV of a deaf guy who sees you as hoping someone still cares, ho...

In this special bonus episode of Let’s Make Happiness Accessible™, I sit in a rocking chair outside Lowe’s and reflect on a lifelong pattern I never fully understood—until now. I share how discovering my lunar-geared creativity and empathic flow gave me permission to stop forcing productivity in the sunlight and start honoring how I’m wired. This episode is a raw, voice-recorded moment of breakthrough—recorded right there in the mo...

Ever had one of those deaf moments where technology made things worse? In this short episode, I share a funny real-life story that happened at a pizza buffet. I had my cochlear implant and hearing aid set to "streaming focus" mode, enjoying some 80s music while eating alone. But when a staff member started talking to me, I realized too late I couldn't hear a word she said. Just a lot of smiling and nodding while totally guessing. R...

Welcome back to the Let’s Make Happiness Accessible™ podcast. I’m your host, Step-Deaf, and in this episode, I’m talking about a smart little device that often gets overlooked—the Cochlear Monitor Earphone Adaptor with Earphones, item number Z544578.

This tool allows you or a caregiver to hear what your cochlear processor is picking up, directly through earphones. It’s a great solution for audiologists, teachers, or anyone who need...

If you’re disabled, you know what it feels like to be seen only for what you need—not for what you feel.

Yes, ramps matter. Captions matter. Accommodations matter. But what about joy? What about belonging? What about the emotional kind of happiness that doesn’t come from a checklist—but from simply being seen and valued?

I wasn’t born deaf. I lost my hearing overnight after the COVID shot, and suddenly I became “the guy who needed ...

In this deeply personal episode, I share the two life-altering events that collided within two years — the sudden loss of my hearing in 2021, and the death of my daughter, Stephanie, in early 2023.

I open up about the chaos of going deaf, the emotional and financial toll, and the silence that settled over my world just as I was beginning to navigate life again. Then came the message that changed everything — a stranger on Facebook,...

What would you do if you woke up one morning and the world had gone silent?

In this gripping first episode of Let’s Make Happiness Accessible™ Podcast, I share the raw, unfiltered story of the day I lost my hearing — just days after receiving the Pfizer COVID vaccine. From confusion to crisis, from holding out my phone for voice-to-text conversations with strangers to eventually receiving a cochlear implant, this episode captures t...