September 11, 2020

Welcome!

At the Washington State HLAA Association, we help people with hearing loss live their best lives. We connect Washingtonians to local and national news, resources, activities, technologies, and ways to advocate for themselves and others.

In this e-news: Gael Hannan at the Whatcom County Chapter meeting, a national coronavirus webinar with Barbara Kelley, better masks for your glasses and hearing aids, a special live-captioned film festival event, and more.

To reach HLAA-WA, submit news, or comment on our e-news, kindly email us directly: webmaster@hearingloss-wa.org.

News From HLAA Headquarters

Connecting and Adapting During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Webinar

Learn about communication opportunities, continued advocacy, the value of local chapter and state associations, and moving forward in the coronavirus era. Barbara Kelley, HLAA Executive Director, hosts this intimate conversation. You can join from your own home. Live captions provided.

Connecting and Adapting During the Coronavirus Era
September 12, 2020
1 pm Pacific Time/4:00 pm Eastern Time
Free, captioned, recorded

HLAA continues to evolve and grow, connecting with people with hearing loss across the country who need help navigating the new "normal." Watch for more programs in the digital space.

A special thanks to HLAA-California for their leadership
in organizing this webinar.

Click Here to Register for the Sept. 12 Webinar

Convention Workshop Videos Now Available

Did you miss the 2020 Experience HLAA convention? Want to re-watch a particularly helpful speaker?

Videos are now available. All are captioned and free. Click below to watch.

The Opening Session with HLAA Executive Director Barbara Kelley
The Potential for Regenerative Medicine to Restore Hearing Loss
Workplace Gain: A Discussion on Self-Advocacy, Marketing, and Navigating the Workplace with Hearing Loss
The Latest on Tinnitus Research (Research Symposium)
Hearing Loss and the Health Care System: A Call to Action

Watch Experience HLAA Videos Here

Veterans Across America Virtual Chapter Meeting

Veterans with hearing loss are invited to the next Veterans Across America Virtual Chapter meeting (VAAVC). The VAAVC is sponsored by Starkey Hearing.

HLAA Veterans Across America Virtual Chapter Meeting
Kate Helms Tillery, speech-language pathologist and CI researcher
Maria Adney, graduate student and military helicopter pilot
September 15, 2020
5:00 pm Pacific/8:00 pm Eastern
Live-captioned. Free.

The HLAA honors its veterans in many ways. Please share with any veterans you know who live with hearing loss.

Learn More and Register for the Veterans Meeting

Advocacy Works! Thank you.

This summer, we've sent two calls for action to support hearing loops, and you responded enthusiastically. You replied with terrific public comments to the Klondike Gold Rush National Park Service and Access Board advocacy campaigns.

In their latest newsletter, the Access Board reported over 200 comments about the new proposed rules, noting, "Many comments supported equipping rail cars with audio induction loops so that onboard communications are accessible to people who are hard of hearing."

The Access Board and National Park Service now know how important hearing loops are to people with hearing loss when they travel and visit museums and parks.

Advocacy WORKS, and it's all thanks to you.

Stay tuned for the next call to action.

HLAA-Washington News

HLAA-Whatcom County Chapter Meeting

The HLAA-Whatcom County chapter welcomes the incomparable Gael Hannan to its virtual (online) meeting. Gael, a public speaker and actor who's known for dealing with her hearing loss via humor, will join the meeting via Zoom from her Vancouver Island home. You may have enjoyed Gael at an HLAA convention--now you can watch her from home.

"Hearing Through Masks: How to Stay Sane During Crazy Times"
Gael Hannan
HLAA-Whatcom County
Saturday, September 19, 2020
10:00 - 11:30 am Pacific Time
Captioned, Free
Email Larry Wonnacott for Zoom information and help:
lwonnacott@symmetryfunds.com

Hearing Aid Coverage Legal Update

Remember the court decision (Schmitt v. Kaiser) that may open the door for hearing aid coverage under private insurance? The attorneys have requested wording under Washington State SHB 2338 stating that treatment coverage for a disabling condition not be denied or limited.

The case has been sent back to trial court to decide if excluding hearing aid coverage predominately impacts people with disabilities. Read more about this potentially significant case from John Waldo and Trevor Finneman.

A public comment period may open up, so keep watching for details.

Washington State Candidate Forum
Shape the Next Generation of the ADA

Have you signed up to chat about disability with Washington State candidates?

What do you feel is needed as the ADA moves into the digital age? How can we ensure inclusion for people with hearing loss during and after the pandemic?

Join Disability Rights Washington and Rooted in Rights for a virtual (online) candidate forum. Candidates for attorney general, secretary of state, superintended of public instruction, auditor, treasurer, and lieutenant governor have been invited.

"The Next Generation of the ADA"
Washington State Candidate Forum
September 23, 2020
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Zoom with captions
Free

Submit a question when you register, and you could be selected to ask it live.

Note: HLAA-Washington is a co-sponsor of this forum.

Learn More & Register For the Candidate Forum

Coronavirus and Hearing Loss

Hearing in Today's School Environment

There's more to hearing than meets the ears. What we hear is influenced by what we see. How can students hear when everyone's masked, distanced, or behind a barrier? Dr. David G. Myers has some suggestions, including stressing clarity in speech, adding PA systems to medium-sized rooms, and hearing loops.

Are Clear Masks the Answer for People With Hearing Loss? Maybe not.

Clear masks can help us speech read, but they degrade sound---twice as much as an N95 mask, and four times as much as a surgical mask.

Some new hearing aids have "mask" settings that boost the higher-pitches that the masks block. But we need more and better technologies, says Shari Eberts.

Better Masks for Hearing Aids and Glasses

All masks aren't created equally, especially if you wear hearing aids, a CI, or glasses that can get tangled with your mask. But there's a better way. The San Francisco Chronicle offers a list of masks that don't go around your ears.

Let's Talk Technology

Alexa, Show Me Captions

Amazon is making it easier for people with hearing loss and with other disabilities to use Alexa, the voice-powered assistant. You can adjust the preferred speaking rate, make captions visible, and pair Alexa with a Bluetooth device.

Learn About Alexa's Hearing Accessibility Features Here

Stay Home, Stay Connected

Until we can attend in-person events again, we have hearing-friendly ways to be entertained and stay connected at home. Most are live-captioned, and all have captions added in the recorded versions. We keep an updated list for you on our website.

New this issue: The Port Townsend Film Festival (streaming online this year) offers a special program, "Feeling Through Experience." The live-captioned, ASL-interpreted program includes the 18-minute film Feeling Through, plus a documentary about making the film, followed by a live interactive panel with the filmmakers and stars. Feeling Through is the first-ever film to feature a deaf-blind actor in a lead role. Watch the trailer here.

Find Other Hearing-Friendly Online Events Here

Join the Hearing Loss Association of America

Let us support you on your journey: Become a member of HLAA and HLAA-WA.

Your dues help to support our hearing loss programs, boost our advocacy efforts, and help you stay connected. Member benefits include product discounts, reduced convention registration fees, help with the latest hearing loss tech, and HLAA's award-winning magazine, Hearing Life.

Your HLAA membership automatically includes a membership in HLAA-Washington.

Join HLAA Now

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Redmond WA 98073-0265

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