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STEP UP for PEOPLE with HEARING LOSS!
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Registration remains open for the ninth Annual NYC Walk4Hearing, which will take place on Sunday, September 25, at 10 AM in Riverside Park (Riverside Drive and West 97th Street).
The Walk is a Call to Action, as we ask you to Step Up for People with Hearing Loss.
Advocate for accommodation for yourself and 48 million Americans with hearing loss, while joining the NYC hearing loss community for a day of celebration and festivities.
Invite friends and family to participate, send them the link to contribute, and encourage them to walk with us whether or not they have hearing loss. It's time to raise awareness for this invisible disability, which affects one in five Americans of all ages.
Participants in the New York City walk include teams from all over the metropolitan area. Join the New York City Chapter's team -
Walk New York!
- or form your own team.
Beautiful Riverside Park is easily accessible from the 1, 2, and 3 trains and many bus lines. If you're driving, several parking garages are nearby. Expect a big turnout, with treats, good will - and entertainment by composer/author Jay Alan Zimmerman.
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CHAPTER MEETING
Disaster Preparedness & Recovery: Tips for New Yorkers with Hearing Loss
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Tuesday, September 20
6-8 PM
CUNY Graduate Center,
Segal Theater
365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th and 35th Streets), first floor
Hurricanes, floods, and blizzards create special challenges for those with hearing loss. We may not hear warning sirens. Power outages may sever communication links that keep us connected and safe. We may feel anxiety and confusion if we don't know what's happening during an emergency.
Learn how to prepare for disasters, both natural and man-made. Experts from NYC Emergency Management (NYCEM) will lead a discussion about practical steps to take for emergency preparedness.
Speakers from NYCEM:
Jeffry Adelman
, Disability Advisor and member, HLAA-NYC
Elizabeth Angeles, Emergency Preparedness Specialist
Matthew Puvogel, Emergency Preparedness Specialist
CART (real-time captioning) provided by Lauren Schechter of
TotalCaption.
An ASL interpreter will also be provided.
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SAVE THE DATES
For Upcoming 2016-2017 Chapter Meetings
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October 18: Call to Action
November 15: Top Tips from the Trenches
December 20: Advocacy: What HLAA Does and How You Can Be a Part of It
February 21: What HLAA Is Doing for You - Four Board Members Reveal All
March 21: Hearing Aids and More: Practical Solutions
April 25: Cochlear Implants, Present and Future
May 16: Music Appreciation 101: How to Hear Music Better with Hearing Loss
June 6: Awards Presentations
The October and June meetings will be at the Muhlenberg Library, 209 W. 23 Street. The meetings from November through May will be at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th and 35th Streets). There is no January meeting.
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HLAA-NYC RECEIVES AWARD FOR ADVOCACY EFFORTS
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Each year, to commemorate the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (it went into effect on July 26,1990), the New York Yankees host a Disability Awareness Night at which the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) presents an award to an organization that has helped to improve the lives of New Yorkers with disabilities.
This year, the Hearing Loss Association of America's New York City chapter was honored for its advocacy work. Before the Yankees took on the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, September 6, HLAA-NYC Chapter President Katherine Bouton accepted a Certificate of Recognition from MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise. In the letter announcing the award, Commissioner Calise wrote that, in addition to advocating for communication access with legislators, public agencies, and private corporation, HLAA-NYC "works to develop options for people with hearing loss and open doors for them . . . allowing people with hearing loss to participate effectively in all aspects of society."
During the award ceremony the Walk4Hearing icon was featured on the Yankee Stadium jumbotron (see photo above) for all to see.
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From left: Katherine Bouton (President, HLAA-NYC), Toni Iacolucci (Board of Trustees, HLAA), Kleo King (Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel, MOPD), Victor Calise (Commissioner, MOPD)
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HLAA-NYC PREMIERS NEW WEBSITE
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The URL is the same - hearinglossnyc.org - but the look and content have been
updated
. In addition to the latest Chapter news, the site includes chapter meeting information details, advocacy updates, and specifics about hearing-loss-related resources and the upcoming Walk4Hearing. Also new is the opportunity to make donations to the chapter online. Every donation is much appreciated.
Special thanks to Max Cove of
Max Cove Design, who designed the new site. HLAA-NYC members Gail Weiss and Ken Marion will serve as Website Editor and Content Manager, respectively.
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ADVOCACY WORKS!
The Latest NYC Looped Venues |
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A hearing loop is a wire that circles a room and is connected to a sound system. The loop transmits the sound electromagnetically directly to the telecoil in a hearing aid or cochlear implant. Thanks to advocacy efforts by HLAA-NYC members, more and more venues in the metropolitan area are now looped. Click
here
to see the updated list of looped sites. The list was compiled by HLAA-NYC member Ellen Semel, with the tireless help of Alexandra Lutz, who in addition to making numerous telephone calls, visited many of the venues to confirm the loop's location and effectiveness.
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| SIX NYC THEATERS ARE LOOPED |
Hear performances at the theaters below through your
hearing aids/cochlear implants.
From the Nederlander Organization:
Richard Rodgers:
Hamilton
Lunt-Fontanne:
Finding Neverland
From the Shubert Organization
Bernard B.Jacobs:
The Color Purple
Lincoln Center
Vivian Beaumont: Oslo
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. . . that the captioning that has long been required on television is available at AMC and Regal theaters? AMC offers CaptiView, a goose-neck device that fits into your seat's cup holder and displays all of the movie's dialogue in text. Regal provides Sony Entertainment Access glasses, which resemble 3-D glasses. Captions are projected onto the glasses, and appear to float about 10 feet in front of the user.
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CENTER for HEARING and COMMUNICATION
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T
he Center for Hearing and Communication (CHC) and the New York City chapter of HLAA are pleased to enhance their collaborative relationship in order to best serve both CHC clients and HLAA-NYC members.
CHC will provide a 5 percent discount on all purchases of hearing aids and FM systems (and a 15 percent discount on the purchase of two hearing aids), along with an extended trial period of 60 days following a purchase of hearing aids by HLAA members in their New York City and Broward County locations.
In order to obtain the discounts, you must show written documentation of your HLAA membership. For more information, call the CHC appointment secretary at 917-305-7766, or email
appointments@chchearing.org.
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| OUR FAVORITE HEARING LOSS BLOGS |
Katherine Bouton
Driving While Deaf: Not Taking My Own Advice
I am not d
eaf and not a
sign language user, but I am extremely hard of hearing and I know how frightening it can be when the police pull you over and you're unsure you'll be able to understand them - or be able to make yourself understood. I also realize, thanks to my own recent traffic stop, how easy it is to make the kind of common mistakes that can get you in trouble.
Read more of this post.
Shari Eberts
Why Hearing Loss Advocacy Is So Important
Advocacy is defined by Merriam-Webster as the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal. Dictionary.com defines it as the act of pleading for, supporting or recommending, but my favorite definition is by Wiktionary, which says that advocacy is the practice of supporting someone to make their voice heard. What is more important than having one's voice heard? Read more of this post.
Gael Hannan
Do you use captioning? On TV, perhaps, or in the theater, or on internet videos? Perhaps you enjoy CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) at live events? It's not easy to explain the simple power of turning the captions "ON" for people who have difficulty hearing the spoken word. It's the difference between dark and light, confusion and clarity, misinterpretation and understanding.
Read more of this post.
Ken Marion
A Message from a Unicorn
Traveling as a HoH in a foreign country can be complicated and it can have its sad moments. Paris, which I recently visited, is a beautiful city with much to offer although not always so much for people with hearing loss. In my six days in Paris and two days in Normandy, I encountered only one hearing loop (in Normandy). It didn't seem to be working and the staff didn't have a clue on how to fix the situation.
Read more of this post.
Mary Whalen
Women with Hearing Loss: Going it Alone
A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor "Margo" passed away. Margo was in her nineties, had a successful career in the corporate world, independently survived her husband by three decades, and was still driving just a few months ago. "She couldn't hear, she was losing her vision, and she was getting grumpy," was all a neighbor had to say about her when hearing the news. Was this Margo's legacy after living in this apartment complex for over five decades?
Read more of this post.
Nancy Williams
My son and I strode into Riverside Park for the annual Walk4Hearing in Manhattan on a crisp September day. A little girl with a purple cochlear implant had her face painted. A man spoke in expressive sign language, his hands raised in the air like doves. A team with yellow matching t-shirts milled together. Near an arch festooned with balloons, I saw
Richard Einhorn, the composer with hearing loss who has become an avid spokesperson for
hearing loops.
Read more of this post.
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SUPPORT HLAA - BECOME A MEMBER
As the nation's leading organization for people with hearing loss, we provide information, education, support, and advocacy for the millions of Americans
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DISCOUNT PRICES for
CAPTIONED THEATER PERFORMANCES through TDF |
The Theatre Development Fund's Accessibility Programs (TAP) offers a membership service for theatergoers who have hearing loss or are deaf. TDF/TAP obtains special seating and provides captioning. There is no annual fee, but you must provide proof of eligibility. To see what shows are available - and to join - visit
TDF Accessibility Programs
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WEBSITE for THEATERGOERS WITH DISABILITIES
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Those who are hard of hearing or deaf, have low vision or are blind, who cannot climb stairs, who require aisle seating or wheelchair locations, who are on the autism spectrum or have other developmental or cognitive disabilities, now can find out everything they need to know to choose a show, buy tickets, and plan their trip to Broadway by visiting Theatre Access NYC.
IS NEW WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION OF THEATRE
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| HONOR SOMEONE with a GIFT to the HLAA-NYC CHAPTER |
Searching for the perfect way to observe a loved one's birthday, anniversary, or special occasion, OR to honor the memory of someone special? Please consider making a gift to HLAA-NYC Chapter to support our efforts.
You can donate online or by mailing a check (payable to HLAA-NYC) to HLAA-NYC Chapter, P.O. Box 602, Radio City Station, New York, NY 10101. Include name and address. An acknowledgement will be mailed. Donations are tax deductible.
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Hearing Loss Association of America - New York City Chapter
The Hearing Loss Association of America exists to open the world of communication
to people with hearing loss through information, education, support, and advocacy.
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