September 2016 e-News
Hello Hearing Loss Association of America – Kansas City Readers,
We took a summer break! The weather is cooler and families have stocked up on school supplies. That must mean September is around the corner full of activities to celebrate Deaf Awareness Week. Please join HLAAKC in celebrating on Saturday, Sept 24th. That Saturday is our day to entertain. Come visit with others at our ICE CREAM SOCIAL, EXHIBIT & FUNDRAISER. We accepting volunteers for the event. We also hope to have an AMC OC movie event on Saturday and Alamo will have OC movie on Sunday, the 25th.
The good folks at the HLAA headquarters are working hard for us. See This Week in Bethesda. Also, sign up for the free, online HLAA e-News. It is published twice a month with one issue focusing on HLAA advocacy work (“HLAA in Action”) and one on general news.
Hearing Health Professionals reading this, please tell your clients about HLAA-KC! You are our first connection to finding people who can learn about HLAA – Kansas City Chapter. After you have prepared your clients to go home with their new listening devices, let them know we are here to support, educate, advocate, provide information and network for those with hearing loss, their families and friends. If you need some business cards for your office, please let us know by replying to this email. We have so much to share with your clients.
Hearing Loss Association of America- Kansas City Chapter NEWS
HLAA-KC Committee is in need for two more committee members. We also would appreciate if there is any graphic artists that could volunteer for a nominal fee. No experience needed to be a committee member. If you have any questions and looking for a way to share some of your skills, please contact us at hlaakc@gmail.com.
HLAA-KC’s 8th Annual Social, Exhibit & Fundraiser Facebook Event
Saturday, Sept. 24th, 1-3:30pm
We are switching from picnic in spring to Ice Cream Social during Deaf Awareness Week with all the familiar fun of sponsors/vendors and our popular lucky drawings for our fundraiser! We also won’t be at the park, but at the Olathe Community Center. If you get lost, the Community Center’s phone number is 913-971-8563. Another plus of this day is an Open Caption movie at AMC before or after this event. AMC movie title and time TBD.
The ice cream social is FREE, however, participants are welcome to optionally purchase a day pass for $7 (Olathe resident) or $8 (non-plate resident) for use before during or after the event. Passes include access to all amenities including the aquatics area (leisure pool with zero depth entry, lazy river, 25-yard lap lanes, hot tub, rock climbing walls with four waterfalls and diving platforms, two water slides).
We are inviting people with hearing loss, their families, friends, coworkers, and health professionals from all over Kansas City. It is a great way to network! As always, we’d like to invite you along for the ride — here are a few ways you can be involved:
ATTEND
Join us to socialize, network and enjoy ice cream during this event. Please bring your favorite ice cream topping (syrup, fudge, sprinkles, etc) or accessory (cake, brownies, fruit, etc) to share. We supply the ice cream and bottled water. And for every purchase of Ferro’s Gourmet popcorn we earn a small percentage for our fundraiser.
We will have a Sign Up Genius to ask for volunteers and anything else we might need. Watch for that on hlaakc.com and facebook.com/hlaakc.
SPONSORS and VENDORS
If interested in becoming a sponsor or vendor, please email hlaakc@gmail.com for more information by Sept. 9th. Please include your company’s name, service/product and contact information. Note: You must be present to host a booth. Vendor booths are still at our low price. Booths will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis and will be assigned.
RAFFLE
We will be holding a raffle to raise money for our chapter. Would you consider donating a product or small service to our raffle? Ideas include but certainly are not limited to: hearing aid accessories, a free hearing test, hearing assistance accessories (such as a vibrating alarm clock, doorbell flasher, etc), gift certificate to an assistive listening devices vendor, gift basket, passes to live theater or movies where either closed or open captions are available, restaurant gift certificates, etc. The possibilities are endless! If you are interested in donating an item(s) for our raffle, please send email to hlaakc@gmail.com. Please include your name, service/product and contact information. Please note that you do not have to be present at the picnic in order to donate a raffle item.
If planning to attend, please RSVP Deadline: Sept. 17th
Kansas Turn On the TV Captions Now Petition
Please share our petition to educate public businesses to turn on the TV captions now in Kansas because we care about accommodating people with hearing loss! We have 138 supporters who have signed. Won’t you share this with others and help us reach 200! Metro KC MO area businesses are also encouraged to participate to turn on their TV captions.
The petition can be found on Change.org and searching for:
Kansas: Turn On the TV Captions Now
Or go directly to the link: http://bit.ly/KansasTurnOntheTVCaptionsNow
Our mini campaign cards is your advocating tool. When you patronize a business whose TV does not have on the captions, you can hand the mini campaign card(below) to business person and politely explain why you feel the TV captions should be on. Then ask them to sign our petition on Change.org because it is an honor to have businesses support our plight to caption Kansas. Our cards can be printed 8 per sheet. Cut them out. Place in your own business lobby, purse, wallet or car. Have them handy because you will find a business every week and with your help, we can caption Kansas and Metro KC! See sample of card:
 |
| 1 in 5 people or 48 million (20%) of Americans have some degree of hearing loss making it a public health issue third in line after heart disease and arthritis. People with this invisible disability may be in denial, inherited at birth, late deafened with progressive loss, or sudden loss from an accident or returning veterans. Captions also improve literacy. Access to information is a basic civil right.
Please support captioning – sign & share Change.org petition:
Kansas: Turn On the TV Captions Now
http://bit.ly/KansasTurnOntheTVCaptionsNow
|
Click on link below to get your own mini campaign cards:
Kansas: Turn On the TV Captions Now Mini-Campaign Cards
Thank you for all your help in playing this forward!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Captioning and LOOPing News
Alamo Drafthouse KC runs OC movie every Sunday afternoon and every Tuesday afternoon. There has been some Tuesdays combined with Baby Day so deaf/hoh parents can bring their infants to enjoy (OC) with house lights up to help look in the baby bag for items and the sound is lowered. Check it out while enjoying food/beverage ordered from your seat. No hassles of leaving to get popcorn refills.
————————————————-
SEARCH FOR UPCOMING (OC) MOVIES WITH ALAMO APP
————————————————-
Download ‘Alamo” from the Play Store or iTunes. Set the LOCATION to “Main Street” and EXPERIENCE filter to “OC”. Then you can flip through the scheduled OC movies EVERY Sunday afternoon AND EVERY Tuesday afternoon.
—————————————————–
SEARCH FOR UPCOMING (OC) MOVIES WITH AMC Theatres APP
—————————————————–
Download ‘AMC Theatres” from the Play Store or iTunes. Watch for OC movies on Saturday afternoon AND EVERY Tuesday afternoon.
AMC Theatres is introducing open captioning on some Saturday afternoons and soon a weekday (not Tuesdays), but will find a different weekday afternoon. They will also be trying to show (OC) at AMC two locations. One location will be AMC Olathe 28. The other location is to be determined, Independence or at BarryWoods. AMC often runs surveys to find out what titles you would like to see in (OC) . Please “Like” our Facebook for future (OC) surveys and (OC) event details.
PLEASE NOTE: AMC cancelled the OC movies scheduled for Saturday, Sept 27th Due to an unexpected incident. The General Manager been out of the office since Monday through Thursday and unfortunately this will cause a delay in the planned event Sept 27th. AMC is very sorry for the short notice and are discussing a potential alternative for the foreseeable future.
Sometimes we post (OC) movies on hlaakc.com. We try to inform you how to use the movie theater’s mobile apps to look for (OC) movies. Alamo’s app is searchable for (OC) by changing the Experience filter to OC, however, Alamo’s website is not searchable for OC.
AMC’s app and website are not searchable for only (OC) movies. If you would like to advocate for movie theaters to change so we can search for (OC) movies, please consider messaging them on their Facebook pages. See example of how to advocate.
OPEN Caption LIVE Theater –
VISIT the HLAA-KC’s Facebook Closed Group!!! Don’t miss out and be involved!
Metro KC for OPEN Caption LIVE Theater closed FB group
HLAA-KC’s Sign-Up to Advocate for OC LIVE Theater
Missing out on LIVE theater because there is no captioning? Please join our new Facebook group and share and Invite your friends to our new page!
This closed group is to network:
- LIVE Theater (Admin/Managers/Stage Crew/Actors)
- Stenographers
- Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing/Hearing Advocates for OC in Metro KC LIVE Theaters.
Advocating can be writing emails (preferred method), phone calls or visiting a LIVE Theater in person or with a group. No membership required. No experience needed. No need to be a resident of KS or MO. Open to all states.
While you are at our new Facebook closed group, check out the first post pinned at the top. Open it all the way up to read how the group works. Then open up the DESCRIPTION on the right to read about our mission. Joining our new Facebook group is great, but does not let us know you want to advocate for OC. If you would like to join our mission, please sign-up to help advocate at(see link above). After HLAA-KC committee receives your sign-up from we will inform you how to advocate, answer your questions and discuss where you would like to advocate!
OPEN Caption Live Theater HLAA-KC has Eyes on Trilogy Cultural Arts Centre
12480 Blackbob Road, Olathe, KS 66062 https://www.trilogyculturalarts.org/ Triology Facebook
Catherine Pestinger, a former performer at Trilogy, installed OPEN Captioning at this theater for her grandfather who had hearing loss. Her OC project was her initiative for her final Girl Scout Gold Award. She is an inspiration to HLAA-KC’s Metro KC for OPEN Caption LIVE Theater group. We welcome her advocacy in our captioning goals for KC.
Please save the dates!
Sat, Oct 15 at 2PM Disney The Lion King Jr. The Lion King Jr. Facebook Event
Sat, Nov 12 at 2pm Les Miserables Les Miserables Facebook Event
Mark your calendar! Trilogy Cultural Arts Centre is producing TWO great shows this fall! BOTH with an open caption performance!
The open captioned performances are the Saturday show at 2pm for both shows!
First is Lion King Jr. being performed in October on the 13th through the 15th!
Second is Les Misérables school edition. The performances will be November 10th through the 12th!
Contact Trilogy Cultural Arts Centre at 913-254-4444 or online at info@trilogyculturalarts.org.
See you this fall!
Outside HLAA-KC Events for Deaf & Hard of Hearing
FROM the Kaplans – – – Free Sign Language Classes
Hello friends!
We are excited to offer FREE sign language classes again! Please consider signing up AND please spread the word to your family and friends. The classes are free but students need RSVP by contacting Carol Cox, class coordinator, by email to coxjc2@gmail.com. We must have a minimum of ten students to offer the classes.
My wife, Christie, and I co-teach both sets of classes. I am Deaf with over 15 years of experience with ASL instruction in a variety of settings. Christie is a certified interpreter. We have been teaching these set of classes at OPCC since Summer 2015.
ASL beginner
This introductory class focuses on basic vocabulary, ASL grammar, and Deaf Culture. Vocabulary lists will be provided with supplementary YouTube videos for at-home practice. Games and activities included.
Monday evenings: September 12th – October 24th (6 weeks, skip Oct 10)
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 (Doors open at 6:30pm)
ASL intermediate
This class is meant for anyone who has a basic knowledge of ASL structure. It expands on vocabulary, grammar usage and Deaf Culture etiquette. Supplementary YoutTube videos, games and activities provided.
Thursday evenings: September 8th – October 13th (6 weeks)
Time: 7:00 – 8:30 (Doors open at 6:30pm)
At Overland Park Church of Christ (Room 104)
13400 W. 119th street
Overland Park, Ks 66213
*main entrance, room is left of lobby
Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the class structure. Thanks!
-Joseph Kaplan, Instructor
The Whole Person – Emergency Preparedness Workshop
TWP Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services is hosted a free workshop about Emergency Preparedness.
For more information, see below or see the links below. RSVP is required.
The Whole Person Are You Ready?
TWP Are You Ready flyer
ASL Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avw1iSyGDGQ
Clark H.Corogenes
Independent Living Advocate – Deaf Services
The Whole Person
3710 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
Direct 816-527-8334 (Sorenson VP)
Direct 816-336-1115 (Purple VP)
Main 816-561-0304 | Fax 816-931-0529
mailto: ccorogenes@thewholeperson.org | thewholeperson.org
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheWholePerson
Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Week
Second Annual MCDHH Deaf Awareness Day at “The K”
Sunday, Sept. 18th
Must order tickets and T-Shirts by August 31st! http://mcdhh.mo.gov/files/royals2016ad.pdf
Let’s get together for the second annual MCDHH Deaf Awareness Day at “The K” sponsored by MCDHH & Able Hands Interpreting Services! First come, first serve! Get your tickets before they run out! Please click on the above link for more details.
HLAA-KC Past Events
(left blank for future use)
IMPORTANT NEWS
The Hazards of Driving While Deaf by Katherine Bouton raises awareness of protecting yourself if stopped by police. There has been incidents recently associated with miscommunications between police authorities and D/HH drivers all over the U.S. If you do not have a Visor Card for your car, please do not hesitate and select your state below to start the process.
Missouri Visor Card
Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MCDHH) is collaborating with law enforcement agency in Missouri and has received the endorsement of the Missouri Sheriff’s Association to produce Visor Communication Cards to increase better understanding and improve communication between Police Officers and the Deaf and Hard of hearing people in Missouri. MCDHH is now releasing the Visor Communication Cards for the Deaf, Oral Deaf and Hard of Hearing. This card can be kept in vehicles and shown to Police officers whenever a Deaf or Hard of Hearing Missourian is stopped on the road.
If you would like a Visor Card, please fill out the form here: http://mcdhh.mo.gov/files/VisorCardForm.pdf.
Also, please remember, YOU MUST fill out a Deaf Census form available at: http://mcdhh.mo.gov/files/DeafCensusForm.pdf. You may send both forms to us by email or regular snail mail on the address provided on the forms. Please, note that these cards are only available to residents of Missouri. The cards are also available if you do not live in MO, but pay MO property taxes.
If you would like to view an ASL video regarding the Visor Communication Card, please click on the link.
Kansas Visor Card
Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (KCDHH) offers a visor card. Please print off this information brochure/application for the Kansas Safety Communication Visor Also please note the address on the application is incorrect as KCDHH moved in May. Please send the forms to KCDHH, 555 S. Kansas Ave., Topeka, KS 66603.
You may print this form off and make copies or an individual can contact KCDHH for information.
Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) NEWS
HLAA 2017 Convention
If you have not considered becoming a member, now is a good time to join so you get all the up-to-date information on next year’s International HLAA 2017 Convention in Washington DC. Join us in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 22 – 25, 2017! Stay tuned for more information.
Last June, HLAA was honored to host the Congress of the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People (IFHOH). There was over 20 different countries in attendance. Stay tuned to this link for updates on registering for the HLAA 2017 Convention.
HLAA membership gives you discounted registration for the HLAA Convention. Sign up for the FREE online HLAA e-News at hearingloss.org and find out how HLAA fights for your rights in addition to all the breaking news important to you. When you join HLAA, you automatically become a member of HLAA-KC. Get involved in your Kansas City Chapter as the number of memberships shows accountability of how many are supporting advocacy to make Kansas City more deaf & hard-of-hearing accessible and gives national HLAA a membership count when they advocate for things like insurance coverage for hearing aids! Search for “Hearing Loss Association of America – Kansas City Unified Membership” in this e-News to learn how to join today or give membership as a gift to someone you love.
HLAA – We are Fighting for Your Rights
Sign up for the free, online HLAA e-News. It is published twice a month with one issue focusing on HLAA advocacy work (“HLAA in Action”) and one on general news.
Hearing Loss Association of America – Kansas City Unified Membership
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 HLAA 2_2015.pdf
Top 10 Reasons to Join HLAA.docx
Top 10 Reasons to Join Your Local HLAA Kansas City Chapter HLAAKCTop10ChapterReasons.pdf
Cover of Hearing Loss Magazine July/August 2015 Issue
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:
Membership Form-KC.pdf
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.
We want to hear from YOU!
Do you have ideas for topics you would like to have covered? Suggestions for a location for informal social meet-ups? Maybe your favorite coffee house? We’re always looking for new event ideas. Interested in volunteering a little or more often? Interested in helping with presentations or be on our committee? Contact a committee member or email us at hlaakc@gmail.com.
Mention of goods or services in advertisements does not imply Hearing Loss Association of America endorsement, nor should exclusion suggest disapproval.
We hope you had fun and safe summer! We hope to see you soon at an upcoming local HLAAKC event!
If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, please reply with “UNSUBSCRIBE” in the Subject Line.
Your Hearing Loss Association of American Kansas City Team
The Kansas City Chapter is a Public Charity Status non-profit 501(c)(3) providing information, education, support, advocacy and networking for people with hearing loss, their families and friends.
Support captioning & sign our petition! Kansas: Turn On the TV Captions Now!
hlaakc@gmail.com. | https://hlaakc.com/ | 913-904-0242 | Follow us: 
Support HLAA-KC through AmazonSmile or Donate through PayPal
Are you a member of HLAA? Join Now
Like this:
Like Loading...
Download ‘Alamo” from the Play Store or iTunes. Set the LOCATION to “Main Street” and EXPERIENCE filter to “OC”. Then you can flip through the scheduled OC movies EVERY Sunday afternoon AND EVERY Tuesday afternoon. (Awesome – twice a week!)
1400 Main Street
Alamo Victory is a completely Free rewards program. You can choose to Join Alamo Victory on the Payment page by signing in or creating account at: 
HLAA - Kansas City Chapter 