Month: September 2013

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Rice-Eccles Stadium Now Captioned

Written by Joshua Jackson of Utah-CAN

Did you have a hard time hearing those refs with all that cheering and boos during the games, or game plays, or announcements that go on throughout the games? I do and many people at the games do. It is not only the deaf and hard of hearing that struggle, there are hearing folks who struggle as well! I am happy to announce the University of Utah Stadium/Venues are now offering captions!

I am a season ticket holder for the Utah football games and am proud that I have had captioning for the first 3 games. They are using a mini tablet for the time being and plan to add a small LED board just for captioning on the northeast corner of Rice-Eccles Stadium midway of this season. After that, they are hoping to see a brand new Jumbotron in the next year or 2 that will also have a permanent spot for captioning. Exciting news!

As far as the tablet, there have been some issues and I am working closely with the folks at Rice-Eccles Stadium with any problems I come across with them. They have been very responsive and I feel like they are working their hardest to get it working flawlessly. When the captions work, it is incredible to know exactly what is going on and it has turn out that the fans surrounding me have found the tablet useful when they do not hear something going on during the game, they would be asking me what was said on the tablet! This is a big deal for us and I am excited to look forward to the big changes when the install the new LED boards for everyone in the stadium to be able to follow what’s being said throughout the games. So be sure you try to get a chance to go to the Utes football game with captions available and get your tablet from Guest Services on the east or west side of the stadium.

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Fun at the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Festival

The HLAA table was ready to go in the morning.  Lots of people stopped by and gathered information, people seemed to be especially attracted to the magazines.

HLAA

 

Right behind the HLAA table was the Listen Tech table which had a loop system set up in front of it so people could try the technology.  Many people stopped, were surprised with the difference.  They added their names on a list to be updated on future loop information in our community.

Tired of being out of the loop?

Tired of being out of the loop?

Jodi Goodenough, hard of hearing assistant , gave the presentation of the day on tinnitus.

tinnitus

She also had a table set with technology to help tinnitus and lots of information.

tinnitus booth

All presentations had CART available thanks to Julia, she’s the best.

CART

The area in front of the stage was also looped.  People could go into t-coil mode on their hearing aids and get a much clearer sound for the presentation.  One man who experienced loop for the first time said, “That’s a big difference!”

At 4:00 was the Loop Utah kickoff with Cory Shaeffer.

Cory Shaeffer

 She talked about ADA requirements and how to go about requesting loops at venues we’d like to attend.  Some loop users talked about their experiences with the loop.

Kathy Evans

 

Mike Shelton  Another of Utah’s hard of hearing assistants, Jenefer Reudter, was at the festival helping people at the technology table.  She showed people how assistive listening technology could help.

Jenefer

 

Here’s our hard of hearing specialist, Robin Traveller, with Julia taking time out for a picture.

Robin and Julia

 

There were captioned phones services, the Utah Health department, relay services were represented and even a few financial services.  There were lots of activities for kids, some beautiful craft booths and food available outside. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

 

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The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Festival

Come to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Festival Saturday, Sept 21, 2013 at the Sanderson Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing located at: 5709 South 1500 West in Taylorsville, UT.  Here’s a link to their flyer:

http://deafservices.utah.gov/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/dhhf_flyer.pdf

Below is the schedule of presentations that will be held on the stage inside of the gym.  We will have raffle at every hour.

11:15-12noon – Coping with Tinnitus by Jodi Goodenough
12:15-12:45 – Med-El by Louise Loiselle (Bronze sponsor)
1:15-1:45 – Need a job? by Pamela Mower
1:45-2:00 – (vacant slot but will be filled)
2:15-2:45 – Cochlear Americas by Joe Pelatt (Bronze sponsor)
2:45-3:00 – Beehive Gallaudet Alumni Association
3:13-3:45 – Hamilton Relay by Katie Anderson (Gold sponsor)
3:45-4:00 – Belly Dancing by Hillary LaFrance
4:15-4:45 – Loop Utah! Kick-off by Kristin Rector (in-kind)
4:45-5:00 – Utah Association for the Deaf
5:15-6:00pm – Hearing Aids 101 by Dr. Enoch Cox
6:15-6:30 – Sego Lily Abused of the Deaf (SLCAD) quilt raffle
6:30-6:45 – DSDHH quilt raffle
Robin Traveller, the hard of hearing specialist says: All presentations will be held in the gym and an area (where the chairs will be located) will be looped.  CART and assistive listening devices will be available.  There will be 5 information booths scattered about on our property.
We will have a free hearing test booth provided by Advanced Hearing Center.  Plus, we will have Noisy Planet booth.
Bring your children and grandchildren!  We will have face painting, bouncing house, Tennis, various food vendors, arts and crafts, information booths, Henna painting, Hat making (using paper sacks), ASL story telling, etc

Due to limited parking space around the center, they are putting shuttles to use.  Here’s instructions for parking via pictures:

D-hoh festival parking 1

D-hoh festival parking 2

D-hoh festival parking 3

We hope to see you there!

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Sharing Information From Our Last Meeting

Last Saturday morning we had our meeting and it’s topic was Don’t Be a Victim. Dr. Susan Chilton led the discussion and Julia Stepp provided CART.  Our discussions ranged from not getting the punchline, not hearing alarms, to relatives who refuse to repeat and how we are treated at businesses. We talked about drive thrus, staying safe at home and pre-boarding on planes. Coping skills were discussed afterward, working to improve our situations. Our topic discussion lasted about an hour.

Susan Chilton

Dr. Susan Chilton with a CART backdrop and our favorite CART person, Julia.

attendees meeting 9-14-13 3

Later we discussed the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Festival being held at the Sanderson Center Saturday, September 21st from 11-7. HLAA will have a booth at the event and we are hoping to attract more hard of hearing people to our chapter. Tomorrow I will post a schedule of presentations on our website (www.hearinglossutah.com) as well as parking instructions. CART will be available during presentations and Listen Tech is looping a portion of the gym for us as well. If you haven’t experienced a loop yet, Saturday is your chance. Crafts will be on sale made by our own community. Be sure to join us, it will be a fun, fun day. Stop by our HLAA table and say hi.

Utah-CAN successfully got captions in the Rice-Eccles stadium. The first captioned game was August 29. Users picked up a tablet which relayed the captions. More about this later on our HLAA website.

Loop Utah, a new movement here in Salt Lake is underway. The official kick off will be at the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Festival at 4:00 pm. Learn more about loops, how they work, what we hope to accomplish and you can help.

There are officially 18 hard of hearing assistants in Utah spread throughout the state. They will provide their areas with classes such as Living With Hearing Loss, CASE, Hearing Aids 101 and more. They hope to reach out to many people who feel lost and isolated. The Sanderson Center works hard to spread support.

Our next meeting will be November 16, from 9am-11am at the Sanderson Center in classroom B/C. Our topic that morning will be Stress Management for the Holidays.  Refreshments provided.  We hope to see you there.

Thank you.

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September 14, 2013, Our Next Meeting

The second half of the HLAA mission statement says, “We strive to improve the quality of lives of people with hearing loss through education, advocacy and self help.” We strive to meet these standards and the Salt Lake City chapter has also reformatted it’s meetings to include emotional and social needs as well. Our next meeting is September 14, 2013 from 9 a.m. to 11:00 at the Sanderson Center in the conference room. Our topic will be, “Don’t Be a Victim.”

Don’t be a victim of crime, abuse or isolation. Learn to be aware and advocate for yourself then get help as needed. We don’t have a guest speaker but Dr. Susan Chilton* will be there to help guide the discussion. We all have our personal stories to share and with our combined years of hearing loss experience, we make quite the expert. Together, we will develop information and make connections.

Refreshments will available and we will mingle before the meeting, during the break and afterward. We look forward to seeing you there so please mark your calendars.

 

*Dr. Susan Chilton received her Ph.D. in Educational Administration with an emphasis in Educational Psychology. She worked in the Jordan School district for 34 years. She has taught special education classes and help hundreds of students with various learning disabilities. In 1984 the district asked her to head the department and create a program to provide help and resources for at-risk students. She taught parenting classes, formed a drug prevention performance team, initiated a suicide prevention crisis line, developed teacher and student trainings on drug prevention, depression, gangs, eating disorders, crisis intervention, etc. And she organized a district crisis team that was first on the scene of any crisis that affected students and teachers. Her department became the place to which all JSD educators, students, and parents turned for answers and interventions. She has served on many boards in our state, including Suicide Prevention, Parents Helping Parents, Wasatch Canyon Hospital, and others.

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University of Utah Football Games Now Captioned

From everyone’s friend Kathy Evans….

 

Football fans, you are invited! Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah will now have captions to help people follow the game. Announcements, officials’ calls and videos will all have real-time captions. We can now feel that we’re part of the action! Read the U’s announcement of this a http://utahutes.cstv.com/genrel/082813aaa.html.

 

Notice the tab for tickets at the top of the page . . . You can be a red-blooded Utah fan and enjoy the games in person!

 

First game is today (Aug 29), against Utah State.

 

Next game is Sept 7, against Weber State.

 

 

 

Utah-CAN’s Sports Venue Chairperson is Mike Shelton, and he has spent many hours working out details with the people at the U to make this happen. The U jumped right on it when Mike first approached them – we’re grateful to them and congratulate them for making this happen.