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Monthly Archives: August 2015
UPDATE for CDC Ignores Hearing Loss as a Disability —Express Your Outrage (posted 21 days ago)
Thank you for signing our petition on Change.org or e-mailing/mailing a copy of this letter. You are one of more than 8,000 individuals who have joined our movement requesting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rethink their methodology of data collection and conduct a new survey that includes individuals with hearing loss.
The Board of Directors, volunteers, and staff at the Hearing Health Foundation are overwhelmed by your support. By taking action, you are representing the 48 millions of Americans living with hearing loss who were excluded from partaking in the CDC’s survey. This is because the report is based off data collected through The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a telephone survey that doesn’t reach people with hearing loss.
We want to share with you a recent letter from the CDC that was sent to Ms. Ingrida Lusis of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), addressing concerns regarding the survey methodology and the steps being taken by the CDC to include the deaf and hard of hearing in their future telephone surveys. HHF will continue to monitor the CDC’s progress and inform key decision makers if more headway can be made in this area. We will also be mailing all petitions to Maria Town, White House Office of Public Engagement, on September 1st.
Thank you again for your support. If you have not already done so, please forward our petition to your friends, families, and colleagues and encourage them to take action!
If you would like to receive our monthly e-newsletter that includes the latest hearing and balance research updates, read stories of people directly impacted by hearing loss, and learn about hearing health, sign up here.
Thank you,
Claire Schultz
Chief Executive Officer
Hearing Health Foundation
P.S. Please consider giving a gift to help us find a cure that will allow everyone the opportunity to enjoy life without hearing loss and tinnitus.
Let the FCC Know Your Experience with Local News Captioning!
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Read the Latest e-News from National Hearing Loss Association of America
Hearing Loss Association of America e-News
Check out some membership benefits when you join HLAA and our local KC chapter:
Top Ten Reasons to Join the National HLAA in two different formats:
Top 10 Reasons to Join Your Local HLAA Kansas City Chapter
To Join, Renew or give a Gift Membership, please choose one of the three ways to pay by following the directions on the Membership form. HLAA headquarters will be processing all transactions using this Membership form:
or visit www.hearingloss.org/content/join and use your credit card online (this is a secure website) and place their “Kansas City” in the box provided.
Survey to help plan HLAA-KC 2016 Calendar
The HLAA KC steering committee is starting the plan our 2016 meetings and we would appreciate your input. Please complete the short survey monkey survey to give your input on what topics you would like to see covered as well as what day of the week works best for meetings. We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you!
The HLAA-KC Steering Committee
CART Assistant Volunteer Needed
Illustration provided by Great Plains ADA Center!
HLAA-KC chapter is in need of a volunteer to help manage Computer Assisted Real-time Translation (CART) for meetings approximately 3 times a year and most likely on Saturdays at a local public library. No experience or skill is required, as all that is needed is a PC laptop and interest to help.
You will be trained by the CART provider on how to help her deliver this service at chapter meetings. Our CART provider is at remote location and sends her CART transcriptions of what is said at our meetings in real time via the Internet. In the illustration, the CART assistant is at the desk with the laptop.
Once you set up your PC laptop to receive CART for a meeting, all CART will be automatically sent. It is a relatively easy task, but is a most critical volunteer post as we cannot have effective meetings without CART for those of us who need the support to “hear” all that is said at meetings. At this time, we need a volunteer to continue receiving CART. Please contact Terri Shirley or email us at hlaakc@gmail.com if you would like to learn more about this volunteer job to determine if it is a fit for you.
Your Response Was Overwhelming! CDC is Listening
| HLAA in Action informs you of what HLAA is doing for people with hearing loss. Please direct any questions or news to Lise Hamlin, director of public policy. |
| Advocacy Updates |
| Your Response Was Overwhelming! The Centers for Disease Control is Listening On August 7, 2015, Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) issued an action alert regarding a recent study, Prevalence of Disability and Disability Types Among Adultsconducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That study excluded people with hearing loss. Read the HLAA media release for our reaction to the CDC study that ignored people with hearing loss.Your response was overwhelming! Consumers and professionals alike are aghast at the exclusion of people with hearing loss in a study administered by CDC. The responses we received were compelling, heartfelt stories of what it really is like living with a hearing loss:
CDC itself notes in this study, “Understanding the prevalence of disability is important for public health programs to be able to address the needs of persons with disabilities.” In a call with CDC, HLAA discussed that the study is part of a collaborative project among all the states in the country and CDC, and is administered and supported by CDC and conducted via phone. The objective is to collect uniform, state-specific data on preventive health practices and risk behaviors that are linked to chronic disease, injuries and preventable infections diseases that affect the adult population. HLAA made it clear to CDC that we had received a strong response from our community. We told them that it’s vital that public health programs have access to data that includes people with hearing loss. CDC heard our message. The door has been opened, thanks to your overwhelming show of support. CDC is listening. HLAA will continue to talk and to listen to CDC as well. We appreciate that CDC has been responsive to our request and has opened up a dialog with us. HLAA will continue to work with CDC. We know that data regarding the health needs of people with hearing loss is sorely needed. We see this as just the first step to ensure that people with hearing loss are counted and there are voices heard. New York City Applauds Council Member For too long, people with hearing loss have been essentially left outside the meeting room doors, because they were unable to hear the proceedings. Even when announcements were made that hearing accommodations would be provided, we were often left to guess whether they would be in place, or working when we got there. It’s long past time that an ADA coordinator position was established to help all people with disabilities get the access they need in New York City. Taken together, these three bills go a long way toward ensuring equal access for people with hearing loss. Twenty-five years after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with hearing loss have still not been able to become full partners in city government. Passage of these bills will rectify that inequality. We applaud Council Member Rosenthal and thank her for her leadership in promoting equal access for people with hearing loss. Here is the Council member’s press release. The news was also picked up by Politico. Advocates for people with disabilities included:
Advocates worked with Council Member Rosenthal to promote equal access for people with hearing loss.
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WEBINAR: What a Person with Hearing Loss Needs to Know Before a Medical Encounter
Guest Speaker: Valerie Stafford-Mallis
Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Time: 8 p.m. – 9 p.m. Eastern Time
Join us next Wednesday for a free captioned webinar featuring Valerie Stafford-Mallis, who will be presenting What a Person with Hearing Loss Needs to Know Before a Medical Encounter. Webinars are recorded for playback on our website.
Valerie Stafford-Mallis is an oral, late-deafened adult who earned her master’s degree in Business Administration from Webster University, after losing most of her hearing. In 2009 she underwent bi-lateral cochlear implantation, and utilizes many types of assistive technology in her activities of daily living. As a person who lost her hearing over thirty-five years of age, Valerie has experienced first-hand the struggles faced by all persons with disabilities to maintain employment, independence and full-participation in life.
Summary
Are you going to the hospital or doctor’s office? Are you apprehensive about being able to communicate with your healthcare providers? Would you like to know what you can do ahead of time to set the stage for more effective communication when it really counts? If you are a person with hearing loss, there are things you can do ahead of time that will prepare you to let your treatment team know you have a hearing loss and increase your chances of getting the communication assistance you need. Tune in to this webinar to learn more.
How to Join the Webinar
Go to the Webinar Schedule page and click on the Join Webinar button.
Java is no longer a requirement to access our webinar platform, Blackboard Collaborate, but there is a series of steps required for first time attendees; we recommend spending a few minutes well in advance of the webinar making sure you are able to access Collaborate. Should you have any questions, please contact Nancy Macklin, HLAA Director of Events, at nmacklin@hearingloss.org or 301.657.2248 Ext. 106.
CDC Ignores Hearing Loss as a Disability —Express Your Outrage
A recent study, Prevalence of Disability and Disability Type Among Adults, US, 2013, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examines vision loss, cognition, mobility, self-care and independent living. Hearing loss is the third major public health issue after diabetes and heart disease, yet this study fails to make any mention about hearing loss, or even explain why the study failed to examine the prevalence of hearing loss.
HLAA will not sit quietly by while CDC relegates hearing loss to an invisible disability. We are taking action, contacting both the White House and the CDC to ensure that they rectify this huge error. See our letter to the White House. See our news release.
You can take action too! Contact:
Maria Town, White House Office of Public Engagement, Maria_M_Town@who.eop.gov
Tell Ms. Town:
- People with hearing loss cannot be ignored and must be included along with other disability groups in all studies that impact public policy and programs
- CDC must do a study on prevalence of hearing loss in the states
- CDC must partner with HLAA on future projects regarding people with disabilities to ensure that people with hearing loss are included and studies are presented in an accessible way
“People with hearing loss have been denied communication access in hospitals and doctors’ offices, and by public programs such as Medicare which does not currently cover the cost of hearing aids,” said Anna Gilmore Hall, executive director of HLAA. “The release of the report comes on the heels of celebrations surrounding the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and we are stunned they failed to understand the impact of excluding hearing loss as a disability that needs to be addressed.”
Send your email today!
Let us know if you hear from them. Send all comments and questions to Lise Hamlin, HLAA director of public policy.
HLAA - Kansas City Chapter 