NEWS & VIEWS
November-December 2015
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THE POWER OF SHARED STORI
ES
Tuesday, December 15th Chapter Meeting
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6-8 PM
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th and 35th Streets)
You're the expert on your own hearing loss. Join us on December 15
to
share one tip, one strategy, one thing you do that helps you
live better with hearing loss. For example:
* What one strategy makes you more comfortable at family gatherings?
* What one tip would you share with
others
about living with hearing loss?
* What do you like best about your
audiologist?
* How do your family and friends support your hearing loss?
CART (real-time captioning) provided by Lauren Schechter of TotalCaption.
Note: CART can be streamed onto any smartphone, computer, or tablet that has Internet access. At the meeting, ask Lauren to send you a link via email, click on the link, and the streaming text will appear. For additional information, see Lauren's website, www.TotalCaption.com.
An ASL interpreter will be provided with two weeks notice. Please send requests to
[email protected]
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NAUGHTY AND NICE HOLIDAY SONGBOOK - DECEMBER 17th
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Where will you be on Thursday, December 17th? Hopefully at Feinstein's/54 Below to see HLAA member Jay Alan Zimmerman's "Naughty and Nice Holiday Songbook." It will be open captioned so you won't miss any of his clever lyrics.
The cost is $32 per ticket, which includes a 20% discount graciously arranged by Jay. There's a food and beverage minimum of $25, which Jay is currently negotiating.
Click here for to learn more about Jay's show and to purchase tickets (using discount code ZIMM20).
Kick off the holiday season with Jay and HLAA friends at Feinstein's/54 Below!
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2015
"Walk New York!" team
Sunday, September 27 was a beautiful day - plenty of sunshine, and just the right camaraderie-enhancing milieu for HLAA-NYC Chapter's eighth annual 5K Walk4Hearing, aimed to raise money to pay for local and national chapter meetings and outreach efforts.
Close to $175,000 was raised by almost 1,800 walkers.
Suzanne D'Amico, the northeast region Walk4Hearing coordinator, thanked the people who made the walk accessible - including CART provider Lauren Schechter of TotalCaption and sign language interpreters Bram Weiser, Lisa Dennett, and Jody Prysock. Suzanne also read a note from HLAA's Executive Director Anna Gilmore Hall that concluded, "Not only are we raising funds for local hearing loss and public advocacy work. We are raising public awareness and letting people know that we are here for them with tools and resources that will help them live lives successfully with their hearing loss."
Before the countdown that launched the walk, City Council member Helen Rosenthal addressed the crowd. Helen told the walkers, "Last year was my first year joining you. And you inspired me to work harder on behalf of those with hearing loss to make sure that you have a role in and access to civic life. I've worked very closely with the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Commissioner Victor Calise. You could not ask for a better advocate."
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On Thursday, October 22, 2015, the City Council held a hearing about new legislation aimed at
making public meetings hearing accessible by installing hearing induction loops, including appropriate signage
in all correspondence about meetings and hiring ADA coordinators for NYC Departments. For the first time, the Council's chamber had an audio loop installed pro bono by
Metro Sound Pros.
Lauren Schechter of TotalCaption
provided CART, also a first, and there was an ASL interpreter. The accessibility arrangements were
made and paid for by the Mayor's Office for People With Disabilities (MOPD).
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| Caption screen at City Council Chambers |
The legislation was introduced by Council Member Helen Rosenthal and co-sponsored
by Council Member Ritchie Torres. Over 30 people attended the hearing. Speakers included MOPD First Deputy Commissioner Robert Piccolo, MOPD Commissioner Victor Calise, Katherine Bouton, Jerry Bergman, Richard Einhorn, Janice Schacter Lintz, and Dr. Barbara Weinstein. Holly Cohen, Ruth Bernstein and Mildred Speiser attended.
If you haven't written or called your City Council member to urge adoption of Int. 881, 882, and 883, please do so as soon as possible. Click
here for a list of City Council members by district, with contact information
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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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OUR FAVORITE HEARING LOSS BLOGS
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Katherine Bouton
Invisible Hearing Aids' Misguided Message
The ads call them "invisible hearing aids," describing them as "discreet," "well-hidden," and "virtually undetectable." Perhaps that sounds appealing, but it also sends an unintended and damaging message:
Hearing aids are shameful and something to be hidden. You might as well wear a bag over your head.
Read more of this post.
Shari Eberts
Six Hearing Aids, Two Cochlear Implants, and a Roger Pen Walked into a Bar
Dining out at a restaurant can be problematic these days. Noise levels have grown, tables are stacked closer and closer together, and glass and hardwood are all the rage for decor, leaving even less cushioning or carpet behind for sound absorption. Layer hearing loss on top of all this, and dining out can be quite a challenge.
Read more of this post.
Gael Hannan
How to Bluff Like a Pro
People with hearing loss bluff. It's what we do, a basic fact of our lives. We pretend to understand what's being said and what new direction the conversation is heading (if we got it in the first place), whereas in reality we have lost the connection and so we fake it.
Read more of this post
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THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE
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On November 16, HLAA-NYC Board member Ruth Bernstein wrote the following letter to the Public Editor of the New York Times:
I noted with approval the NYT made digital access free during and after the Paris tragedies. French was translated into English on some videos.
I'm profoundly hard of hearing. I'm upset because the NYT doesn't provide captions for the videos they present for their regular digital editions. Those videos are as unintelligible to me as the ones where people speak French. Although I'm paying to read the NYT, I'm not able to access parts of it. Why is that?
Here is the response she received:
Dear Ms. Bernstein,
Thank you for writing. I am sympathetic to your concerns here, and have let the appropriate Times editors know of your complaint. (As you may know, The Times
pledged to introduce closed captioning to its videos soon, and this is an issue of interest to our office.)
Thanks again for writing, and for reading The Times.
Best regards,
Joumana Khatib
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times
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FREE CONCERT: BROADWAY'S FUTURE SONGBOOK SERIES
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Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts
Dorothy and Lewis B Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium
W. 65th and Amsterdam Avenue
Monday, December 14th
6 -7:30 PM
Holiday Show
Featuring HLAA Member Jay Alan Zimmerman
A concert of new music by Broadway composers and lyricists sung by Broadway vocalists, presented by Arts and Artists at St. Paul and directed by John Znidarsic.
Come early. There are no reserved seats.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR 2016 SHOWS
THE LAST MONDAY OF THE MONTH
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DISCOUNT PRICES FOR CAPTIONED
THEATER PERFORMANCES
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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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Hear these musicals through your hearing aids/cochlear implants
at the following theaters:
Gershwin Theatre:
Wicked
Richard Rodgers Theatre:
Hamilton
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre:
Finding Neverland
Vivian Beaumont Theater:
The King and I
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SAVE THE DATES FOR UPCOMING CHAPTER MEETINGS
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No January Meeting
February 16 - Cochlear Implants
March 15 - Top 10 Tips for Coping with Hearing Loss on the Job
April 19 - What Technology Can Do for People with Hearing Loss
May 17 -
O
n the Outside Looking In
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OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER CHAPTER MEETING RECAPS
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Ask the Audiologists - October 20
HLAA-NYC's October chapter meeting featured a question and answer session with three audiologists: Dorothy DiToro, co-coordinator of the City University of New York's Graduate Center Clinical Education Program in Audiology; Karen Siegel, director of audiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Center for Hearing and Balance; and William Shapiro, supervising audiologist at NYU's Cochlear Implant Center
In responding to inquiries about t-coils - tiny wires within hearing aids and cochlear implants that, in rooms equipped with an electromagnetic loop, transmit sound directly into the ear - the audiologists said that they routinely tell patients what a t-coil is and how to use it. Long in vogue in northern Europe, t-coils have only recently become popular in the United States. According to Bill Shapiro, "It's kind of back to the future." To read other questions and answers, click
here.
Aural Rehabilitation - November 17
The November chapter meeting opened on an upbeat note courtesy of Jay Alan Zimmerman, an award-winning composer who lost his hearing, but not his musical agility. Jay, who sang a very entertaining - and holiday appropriate - song about compulsive shopping, will be doing a captioned performance on Thursday, December 17. For more information, see the second article in this newsletter, "Naughty and Nice Holiday Songbook."
The remainder of the meeting focused on aural rehabilitation, which is essentially patient-centered hearing health care. The first speaker, Peggy Ellertsen, a member of the HLAA Board of Trustees, pointed out that aural rehabilitation utilizes a client-oriented scale of improvement (COSI). In utilizing COSI, the client identifies areas - such as face-to-face, media, or telephone access - where he or she wants to experience improvement. The ensuing needs assessment leads to the development of a communication assess plan that the person with hearing loss puts together with the help of the hearing health care professional.
The evening's second speaker, Jaclyn Spitzer, a professor of clinical audiology and speech pathology at Columbia University College of Surgeons, talked about barriers to communication, including noise, poor lighting, distance, and poor articulation on the part of the speaker. She then stressed that listeners with hearing loss, instead of using the word "huh," should repeat what was heard and ask conversation partners to reword what was missed. "This is a terrific strategy," she said, "because it's a give and take. You're working together collaboratively."
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HONOR SOMEONE WITH A GIFT TO THE NYC CHAPTER
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Searching for the perfect present for the holidays or to honor a loved one's birthday,
anniversary
, or special occasion OR in memory of someone special? Please consider making a gift to HLAA-NYC Chapter to support our efforts.
You can make a donation by sending a check payable to HLAA-NYC and mail 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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The Hearing Loss Association of America exists to open the world of communication
to people with hearing loss through information, support, education, and advocacy.
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HLAA is a volunteer association for people with hearing loss, their relatives, and friends. It is a nonprofit, nonsectarian educational organization devoted to the welfare and interests of those who cannot hear well. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. We are a 501(c)(3) organization. Mention of suppliers and devices in this newsletter does not mean HLAA endorsement, nor does exclusion suggest disapproval.
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Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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