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PRESIDENT'S REPORT
by Katherine Bouton
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September always feels like a time of new beginnings, and that’s true for our Chapter as well. This year we kicked off the new season with the annual Walk4Hearing On Sunday morning, September 17, teams from all over the New York Metropolitan area gathered in Riverside Park to increase awareness about the needs of our community and to raise funds to support HLAA’s local and national programs.
Our chapter team, WalkNewYork (see photo), captained by Toni Iacolucci, surpassed its goal of $15,000 by raising $19,700. (It’s too late to walk but you can still donate.) As always, 60% of funds raised go to HLAA National to support their programs; the remaining 40% go to our chapter. Some chapter members chose to donate or raise funds directly for our chapter. We are off to a good start financially.
How do we use these funds? In part, they support our monthly chapter meetings, including the cost of CART captioning and occasionally a speaker’s fee. But we also sponsor programs and support organizations that provide services to the deaf and hard of hearing. These include TDF Accessibility Programs (TAP) and the Center for Hearing and Communication (CHC). This year we hope to loop a meeting space that will be accessible not only to the chapter but to the larger community. If you know of a centrally located meeting space that can sit 50 people or more, please let us know via info@hearinglossnyc.org.
In September we added a new board member, Marcelo Reda, the parent of a child with hearing loss, which increases the board's diversity. We have not traditionally addressed the needs of family, and Marcelo should help us rectify that.
You can read about our September chapter meeting below, and meanwhile mark your calendars for Tuesday, October 17 at 6 pm for a discussion about cochlear implants. You can read more about upcoming meetings on our website. Our meetings this fall will continue to be virtual, on Zoom, and—as always—captioned. You will receive an email from the chapter with a link to join the meeting, or you can click on the registration link on the website.
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Upcoming (Virtual) Chapter Meetings
Save the Dates
6-7:30pm
CART provided by Lauren Schechter of Total Caption
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October 17: Cochlear implants across the generations. Columbia University audiologist Meghan Despotidis will moderate a panel that will include HLAA-NYC Board member Toni Iacolucci, along with a parent and 16-year-old child with a CI. They will talk about the history of their hearing loss, the considerations involved in deciding to get a CI, the actual surgery and activation, and their progress.
November 21: Accessible Travel. Speakers will include Rachel Cohen from New York City Transit’s Systemwide Accessibility, and David Nelson, Manager, Passenger Accessibility Office, Amtrak. David will speak via an ASL interpreter. We hope to also have an air travel representative.
December 19: The speaker will be Cuban-American composer/arranger/conductor Alex Lacamoire, an associate of Lin-Manuel Miranda. Alex has worked on In the Heights, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen. and other Broadway musicals. He has hearing loss and wears hearing aids.
January 16: Jeff Wax, LCSW-R, Director of the Emotional Health and Wellness Center at the Center for Hearing and Communication will moderate our annual interactive program on the emotional side of hearing loss.
February 20: Barbara Weinstein, CUNY department head and former HLAA-NYC professional advisor, will talk about what’s new in hearing aids. Thomas Powers, an audiologist and expert on over-the-counter hearing aids, will also speak.
March 19: Starting Out in the Workplace. Speakers TBA.
April 16: Captioning, the universal tool for people with hearing loss. This meeting will focus on captioning on IOS and Android smartphones, computers, YouTube, videos, TV, streaming, and so on.
May 21: Diversity in the hearing professions and among patients/consumers. Speakers TBA.
June 18: Our annual awards program. Speakers include the winner of our $5,000 Albert B. Chen Scholarship for a New York City High School senior with hearing loss, as well as a recent graduate or professional with hearing loss who will talk about their hearing loss journey.
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2024 Annual Albert B. Chen Scholarship Award
for a High School Senior with Hearing Loss
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The Hearing Loss Association of America’s New York City Chapter is pleased to announce the fourth annual Albert B. Chen Scholarship, made possible by funds donated by Albert B. Chen. Mr. Chen, who has a profound hearing loss, hopes to inspire younger generations to give back to the hearing loss community at some point in the future. This $5,000 scholarship for a high school senior with hearing loss is to be used toward the pursuit of a college degree.
Applicants must be New York City residents, have applied to a college, be between the ages of 17 and 20, wear a hearing aid or cochlear implant, and have a minimum academic average of 80 or a grade point average of 3.0 or better. The scholarship is a one-time award. Financial need is not a consideration. The award will be presented at HLAA-NYC's June 18, 2024 chapter meeting.
To apply for the scholarship, complete all parts of the 2024 SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION FORM and send to info@hearinglossnyc.org. The application can be downloaded here. Deadline for receipt of applications is April 15, 2024.
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SEPTEMBER MEETING RECAP
Access to New York City Culture
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The speakers at the first 2023-2024 HLAA-NYC Chapter meeting were Lisa Carling, Director of Theatre Development Fund Accessibility Programs; Jerry Bergman, advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing; and Francesca Rosenberg. the Museum of Modern Art's Director of Access Programs and Initiatives. They talked about hearing access in theaters, movie houses, and museums. | |
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In discussing the TDF Accessibility Programs (TAP) that make New York City theaters more accessible to all people with disabilities, including (but not limited to) hearing loss, Lisa mentioned that open-captioned performances on Broadway date back to 1997. That year, TDF sponsored 16 open-captioned performances. "We're now averaging about 40 TDF-sponsored open-captioned performances a season," she said.
Lisa also mentioned GalaPro. a free app that provides captions for live shows. According to Lisa, "In 2018, all Broadway theaters agreed that four weeks after a show's opening they would have GalaPro in place."
To join the TAP mailing list, click here.
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Jerry, a member of HLAA-NYC and past president of the HLAA New York State Board of Directors, was a chief advocate for the ordinance adopted last year requiring New York City to provide open captioning in movie theaters. As noted by Jerry, "Theater owners were reluctant to provide open captioning primarily because they were fearful that showing movies with captions would turn patrons away."
He continued, "But empirical evidence evidence suggests people welcome open captions, whether they have English as a second language, children just learning to read, or they want to be able to distinguish the speech on movie soundtracks from background noise and music." AMC and Regal theaters now show open-captioned movies several times each week. To determine showtimes of captioned films, go to the theater's website.
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During her talk, Francesca confirmed that MoMA is "very much committed to improving communication access for people with hearing loss." All of MoMA's theaters are equipped with T-coil loops. In addition, as Francesca noted, "For all of our public programming, we're happy to provide ASL interpretation or CART captioning with two weeks advanced notice. In addition, we provide assistive listening devices for all public gallery lectures and guided tours."
The museum also does bimonthly programs specifically for people who have hearing loss. As described by Francesca, "These are evening programs that begin with a social reception. Then we head to the galleries when the museum is closed to the public. I hope the participants feel like VIPs because they have the museum to themselves."
A captioned video of this meeting will be available on YouTube soon. For more information go to www.hearinglossnyc.org/meetings-topics.
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Join TDF Accessibility Programs (TAP) for discount tickets to open-captioned performances
at NYC theatres. Here are the latest offerings. Look for an email from TDF TAP with ticket information a month before the show.
Jaja's African Hair Braiding, October 21 at 2pm
Back to the Future, November 1 at 7:30pm
Hell's Kitchen, December 2 at 1pm
Radio City Christmas Spectacular, December 6 at 5pm
Manhattan, December 10, 1:30pm
I Need That, December 12, TBA
Harmony, January 11, 8pm
Spamalot, February 6, 7pm
If you would like to sponsor open captioning for one of these shows, please contact Kate Garst, Associate Director of Individual Giving and Events at kateg@tdf.org.
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You will also find the latest theater information
on the chapter's Facebook Page.
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The Theatre Development Fund's Accessibility Programs (TAP) offer a membership service for theatergoers who have hearing loss or are deaf. TDF/TAP obtains special seating and provides open captioning. There is no annual fee but you must provide proof of eligibility. To see current availability and to join, visit TDF Accessibility Programs.
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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, 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.
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New Hearing Loop at TKTS Booth in Times Square
Going to the TKTS booth to buy discount tickets? Turn on your t-coils and go to Window #1 to purchase tickets.
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Our Favorite Hearing Loss Blogs | |
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Shari Eberts
LivingWithHearingLoss.com
My Least Favorite Things about Living with Hearing Loss
There are positives and negatives to almost anything—including hearing loss. Today’s post highlights the downsides, but don’t worry, next time we will highlight the silver linings. Read more of this post.
Gael Hannan
The Craziness of the New Hearing Aid User
Last week, I had a rare hearing aid catastrophe which, for once, didn’t happen on a weekend. As I wait for the new one to arrive, I got to thinking about previous first days with new hearing aids. Read more of this post.
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Having Trouble with Closed Captioning on TV? | |
Closed captioning (CC) gives people with hearing disabilities access to television programming—and provides a critical link to news, entertainment, and information—by displaying the audio portion of broadcasts as text on the television screen.
If you're unhappy with the quality of the closed captioning on a specific program, make your voice heard by filing a complaint with the FCC. It only takes a few minutes. Click here.
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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 coping with hearing loss. Join online or download membership form.
DONATE: 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 on our website, at hearinglossnyc.org, by credit card or by Zelle (email donations@hearinglossnyc.org for details). Or you can mail a check (payable to HLAA-NYC) to HLAA-NYC Chapter, P.O. Box 602, Radio City Station, New York, NY 10101. Please include your name and address as well as the name of the person you're honoring. An acknowledgement will be mailed. Donations are tax deductible.
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Mention of goods or services does not mean HLAA-NYC endorsement, nor should exclusion suggest disapproval. | |
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Do you have hearing aids
you're no longer wearing?
Consider donating them to
The House Institute
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Hearing Aid Donation Form
Thank you for your interest in donating hearing aids to the House Institute Foundation. Please complete this form and mail to the House Institute Foundation along with the devices you are donating.
Once your donation is processed, you will receive an acknowledgment letter from us. Your donation is tax-deductible as allowed by law, although we will not evaluate the value of the hearing aids.
We only accept hearing aids that are fit behind or over the ear and hearing aids from manufacturers that we work with (see below for the manufacturers we work with). Custom-made hearing aids that fit inside the ear are not accepted. Please be sure to verify that we accept your donation.
We DO NOT accept any other hearing devices, accessories, phones, etc.
If you would like to donate a bone-anchored (BAHA) device or a Cochlear Implant Processor, contact eodonnell@hifla.org. Thank you!
Name of Donor:
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Date of Donation:
Date of BTE/RIC Hearing Aids:
Hearing Aid Manufacturer
(circle): Oticon Phonak Resound Widex Starkey Unitron
Model(s), if known:
Serial Number(s), if known:
Signature of donor:
Date:
For internal use:
Date Received:
Recorded by:
Mailing Address:
The House Institute Foundation
ATTN: Gladys Diaz-Garcia
1127 Wilshire Blvd, Ste 1620
Los Angeles, CA 90017
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