Author: Chelle

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Looping News for Salt Lake

Loop

 

Great news! Classroom B/C is now looped for our listening pleasure.  If you have a t-coil in your hearing aids, come experience this incredible technology at our next HLAA chapter meeting on November 16th.

I tried a loop system for the first time a few years ago at the HLAA Convention in Rhode Island.  I could not believe how well I heard with the loop.  I didn’t think I could ever hear that well again.  I’m so very happy to have this available to use at the Sanderson Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and I’m excited to share it with you.  (If you’re not sure if you have t-coil, you’re audiologist can help you.  Most hearing aids have them but the program might need to be turned on.)

Loop Utah is Getting the Word Out

Last Thursday, Loop Utah met in the Salt Lake County Government Center giving two presentations on Loop Technology to area architects, technology managers and facility managers.

county meeting

county meeting 1

Cory Schaeffer led two presentations, giving an overview of assistive listening devices available for public venues, legislative compliance and talked about what hearing loss is like, giving visual and auditory examples.  An auditory sample of what a New York subway booth sounded like to a hearing user normally and the huge difference it makes through a loop system.  Here’s the link to see for yourself: Hearing Loop Demo on YouTube.

The presentation concluded with how the loop works, what are the considerations for venues, best practices for hearing loops and the estimated cost of hearing loop systems.  A question and answer session followed along with letting people try the loop themselves with a receiver.  People took note and the information was well received.

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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.

 

 

 

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News from the National Office

Awards Nominations Due October 31 HLAA Chapter and State organizations find unique and special ways to serve member needs as they reach out and make an impact. National awards acknowledge these achievements and contributions. Nominate your chapter or state organization, members, employers and others who make a positive difference to people with hearing loss. The nomination packet will be mailed to all HLAA leaders later this month. If you would like to receive it sooner, please send an email to  Chapters@hearingloss.org and place 2014 AWARDS in the subject line.

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Our Ranks Are Growing There are now 48 million people with hearing loss in the United States, a 30% increase from the previous estimate of 36 million. The number is based on research conducted by Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D. at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

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 Barbara Kelly, HLAA Magazine Editorwould like to hear from you: Whether you’re working nine to five or doing shift work, we want to hear about your experiences on the job as a person with hearing loss.

 

Answer any of the questions or all of them. (Or add anything you wish.) Does your employer and/or co-workers know you have a hearing loss? Do you use any special accommodations like assistive listening devices or CART? What are your experiences interviewing for a job? Have you had to ask your employer for a “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act?

 

Have you been successful at work? Have you felt you had to give up a job because of your hearing loss? Have you felt discriminated against because of your hearing loss? Are your co-workers sensitive to your communication needs? What positives have come from having a hearing loss?

 

We would like to hear about your workplace experiences for possible use in an upcoming Hearing Loss Magazine and/or on the HLAA website. Please send your remarks in 600 words or less to Barbara Kelly: bkelley@hearingloss.org. Please include your full name, email address, and where you live.

 

All comments are welcome here by September 10th.

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Hearing Loss and Interviewing

At the 2012 HLAA Rhode Island convention, Malik B. El-Amin presented a workshop called Hard of Hearing and Exceptional – Landing the Job and Achieving Career Success. In today’s world it’s tough finding a job and having a hearing loss on top of it doesn’t makes us feel any more secure in the process. The American Disability Act (ADA) backs us up but doesn’t guarantee we will have a job. Malik went over the ADA, what it covers and what it doesn’t. Here’s his overview:

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) –Title 1

•Covers private, state & local govt., employment agencies, and unions with more than 15 employees

•Covers job application procedures, hiring, firing, advancement, compensation, and training

•Must have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, have a record of such an impairment, or be regarded as having such an impairment

•Must meet legitimate skill, experience, education, or other requirements of an employment position that you hold or seek, and be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation

•Reasonable accommodation is any modification or adjustment to a job or the work environment that will enable a qualified applicant or employee with a disability to participate in the application process or to perform essential job functions. No “undue hardship”

•Employer cannot make any pre-employment inquiry about a disability or the nature or severity of a disability

•An employer is not required to reallocate essential functions of a job as a reasonable accommodation

Some of what he shared is common sense; look professional, arrive early and leave behind or turn off phones and gadgets. Keep your current job or do some volunteer work to fill time. Go to industry related events and check out the local chamber of commerce.

For those of us with hearing loss, he had a few more tips like controlling your hearing loss. Rehearse talking about your hearing loss before hand, be comfortable with it. Don’t fake it or bluff your way through. Use your typical accommodations. Provide accommodations if you can, ask for the rest. Don’t be afraid to ask for adjustments in the interview, like lighting (if I can see you better, I hear better). This shows you in charge of your hearing loss.

We don’t have to disclose our hearing loss on applications or at interviews but it might be better to be upfront so no one is surprised. (Personally, I don’t list my hearing loss on applications and I don’t talk about it on the phone. I wait until I’m in front of the person so I’m not prejudged.) There are some positive aspects to hearing loss he reminded us.

We are good about accepting others as they are.

We listen because we have to.

Adversity is no stranger to us.

Malik is a member of the HLAA Los Angeles chapter.  His convention presentation can be found here: (cut and paste might work better than clicking)

http://www.hearingloss.org/sites/default/files/docs/El-Amin_friday.pdf

 

Here are some helpful links to other websites on hearing loss and job interviews:

Employment Toolkit for the Hard of Hearing by HLAA http://hearingloss.org/content/workplace

Managing at Work http://www.hearinglink.org/managingatwork

CapTel has suggestions: http://www.captel.com/news/hearing-loss/how-to-handle-a-job-interview-with-hearing-loss/

blog by Gael Hannan http://hearinghealthmatters.org/betterhearingconsumer/2012/getting-hired-a-hohs-perspective/

Another bloggers personal perspective: http://livingwithhearingchallenges.com/2012/11/27/job-interview-with-hearing-loss/