Meetings

by

Technology Meeting Saturday the 15th

 

technology

Technology makes our lives easier – especially when we have a hearing loss. We read ads for new products, new features in hearing aids and cochlear implants, apps for your smart phone, etc. Do you ever wonder what we, the consumers, think about these new things? For that matter, what do we think about the stand-by technology that we’ve had for years? Come and see.

This Saturday is our regular HLAA chapter meeting at 10 AM at the Sanderson Center. Hope you’ll be there. We’ll have refreshments, too!

by

Merry Christmas 2016!

dec-10-2016-b

The HLAA Salt Lake City chapter had its winter social last weekend.  It was another wonderful potluck social and our now traditional white elephant gift exchange.

dec-10-2016-d

dec-10-2016-c

dec-10-2016-e

dec-10-2016-a

There’s nothing like socializing with others who are hard of hearing also.  We enjoyed each others company immensely.

HLAA-SLC has two potluck socials a year; one in July and another in December.  Our 2017 meeting schedule is posted to the left.  There are some topics yet to be announced (TBA) and we’ll update as soon as we can.  All our meetings are captioned and most of our meetings in 2017 will be in the looped room at the Sanderson Center to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

We have two very special events in 2017.  Mark calendars!

The Better Speech and Hearing Expo on May 20th from 9 Am – 5 PM at the Sanderson Center.  Loop Utah and HLAA-SLC are coming to together to create a day of learning and fun.  Stay tuned for more information.

The national HLAA convention will be here in Salt Lake City June 22-25.  All workshops are captioned  and have hearing loops.  The exhibit hall has many wonders and that part of the convention is free to all.

by

Assisting Individuals With Hearing Loss Who Experience Auditory/Listening Fatigue

Whether an individual has had hearing loss their entire life, or their hearing loss has been slowly progressing for years, focusing auditory attention to the task of understanding speech can be an exhausting experience. Add a difficult listening situation such as noise, and the experience is made worse.  Despite the marvelous benefits received from hearing aids and cochlear implants, listening continues to be “work” for most individuals. Aural rehabilitation therapy consists of therapy that assists individuals in developing their listening skills, but, also, provides counseling tools and compensatory strategies to aid in reducing auditory or listening fatigue and maximize the listening experience.  This session will discuss these tools and strategies for reducing listening fatigue, as well as, problem-solving examples of difficult listening situations. 

fatigue 1

Susan Naidu, guest speaker, is presenting on: Assisting Individuals With Hearing Loss Who Experience Auditory/Listening Fatigue.  Susan has been a practicing audiologist for over 30 years.  At the U of U, Susan teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in pediatric audiology and aural rehabilitation therapy for children and adults.  Additionally, Susan is a clinical supervisor at the U of U Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic and supervises graduate audiology students in aural rehabilitation therapy for children and adults with hearing loss, as well as, the assessment of auditory processing disorders in children and adults and hearing evaluations with children.

When?  August 20, 2016

Where? Sanderson Center to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, 5709 South 1500 West, Taylorsville, UT  84123 in the Conference Room.

For more information email: hearinglossutah@gmail.com

by

June Meeting a Success!

Thanks to those who showed up at our meeting on the 18th. Hearing loss and humor was a good draw!  There were a lot of good shares in the meeting, perspectives on humor and fellowship.  Usually we stop presenting around an hour but this time we stayed on topic for the whole two hours of the meeting.

Laine Waggoner said, “Humor is essential when living with hearing loss and the inevitable communication breakdowns we experience.  My own sense of humor has served as an invaluable antidote to the endless stress, frustrations and anxiety that I encounter every day.”

laine book

Laine’s work made into a book available at the Sanderson Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

We discovered humor can be tricky.  Sometimes we can laugh at the moment and sometimes it takes us time, as in years, to add the humor to the story.  Then there is humor which is inappropriate such as someone saying “Huh?  What?” repeatedly to us thinking they are being funny.

kathy

Kathy Buckley is a comedienne who created the autobiographical comedy Now Hear This! about her life which is centered around her hearing loss.  She has fun with her hearing loss but she also inspires people to push limits.  She’s one we decided who probably didn’t enjoy the things she now talks about when they happened but could apply the humor later.

gael

While Gael Hannan often applies humor in her blog posts.  On her website she says: “Hearing loss isn’t funny – but a sense of humour makes living with it easier.  OK, there are few laughs in being left out of conversations, not understanding what your child (or your partner, or your boss, or your mom, or your doctor) is saying.   In truth, other people find our hearing loss funnier than we do—especially when we say the wrong thing at the wrong time. But take it slow. If you can’t laugh, how about starting with a smile? Then, start learning how to live better with communication challenges.  I have grown up with a hearing loss that is now severe to profound, and I’ve been talking and writing about hearing loss for many years.”  She has recently published a book called The Way I Hear It.

We had accommodations at the meeting.  Julia captioned our meeting and several of us needed those captions.  Thank you Julia, we appreciate what you do.

2016-06 g

Here are some random pictures taken at the meeting.

 

by

Humor in Hearing Loss

“People who live successfully with hearing loss must develop the ability to laugh at their mistakes.  This helps to make family, friends and coworkers feel more at ease.  Using self-deprecating humor to relieve tension and laughing with others is an expression of kinship or social bonding.”  Laine Waggonerlaughter 1

Our next meeting is June 18, 2016 from 10a-Noon at the Sanderson Center in the conference room.  Our topic is Hearing Loss and Humor.  We will take a look at Kathy Buckley’s book If You Could Hear What I See.  Kathy grew up with a severe hearing loss and though her childhood must not have been easy, she looks back over it with sense of humor.  She is a stand up comedienne, actress, writer, producer, and humanitarian.  She is also a motivational speaker, traveling all over sharing inspiration.

if you could hear

Laine Waggoner dedication a section in her book to humor and hearing loss.  The quote at the beginning is from her book, Imperative Information for People with Hearing Loss and their Partners written with her husband Rex Waggoner.  We will share some of her insights at the meeting as well.

Laine

We cannot leave out Gael Hannan the Better Hearing Consumer from Hearing Health Matters Magazine.  She keeps an updated blog writing about the issues those with hearing loss face daily and she often does it with humor.

gael

Afterwards the discussion of these three ladies, we’ll open up the meeting to share our own funny stories.  There will be a light lunch and drinks at the meeting so come join us!  We’d love to see you.

 

by

Vocational Rehabilitation

The Hearing Loss Association of America, Salt Lake City Chapter will have their bi-monthly meeting on February 20th from 10a-noon at the Sanderson Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in classroom A.  Our guest speaker is Cheri Lachenmeier. Cheri is a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor serving a general caseload in the Layton Division of Rehabilitation Services. She has been with USOR for 17 years.  Cheri will be providing a short and general overview of what Vocational Rehabilitation does for us.

20150107_191

Cheri on the left at one of our past book clubs.

Come learn learn about vocational rehab.   After Cheri’s presentation is done, we will have an open discussion so bring any concerns you have about hearing loss.  We hope to see you there.

by

January 17th Meeting: Self-Advocacy

Our next meeting is just 10 days away on January 17th from 9am-11am at the Sanderson Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  The meeting is hearing accessible with CART and a hearing loop.  Our topic this month is Self-Advocacy.

I (Chelle) attended a Deaf Advocacy Workshop last October and we can apply a lot of that to hard of hearing advocacy. Here’s some of what I’m going to share with you during my presentation:

  • How to advocate
  • Ways to self-advocate
  • Self-esteem and self-determination
  • Preparing for Self-Advocacy

Bring your family and friends or come because you know someone who is hard of hearing and could use a little help.

by

Meeting Notes from Sept. 20, 2014

Karen, our new HLAA chapter president, began the meeting just a little after 9:00 last Saturday morning.  Our meeting was set up with CART and the hearing loop making for easy hearing access for everyone.

Our guest speaker was Jared Allebest who has a specialty in Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  He gave a short presentation on the ADA featuring the different aspects.  Title 1 applies to businesses with 14 or more employees.  Title 2 which applies to places like city hall, court, prison and the police.  Title 3 covers public places such as apartments (flashing door bells) and businesses we may go to (flashing fire alarms) and other businesses such as movie theaters with captioning access.

Jared Allebest

Jared Allebest

He took questions from attendees ranging from park and recreation services (if they take money from the federal government they need to comply with the ADA), tenant laws, jury duty, renters rights and using captioned phones to document conversations.

He coached us on writing  letters of accommodation to businesses:

  • Ask about their policy and then proceed with knowledge
  • State your disability
  • state your need
  • write it at least 3 days in advance though 7 days is best

You can email questions to Mr. Allebest about ADA concerns at jared@allebest.com and he will answer within a week or so.  If you need help writing a letter for reasonable accommodation, he can help with for a small fee.

For more on the ADA, try this link: http://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm.  It lists phone numbers, addresses and websites.

During the meeting Karen also told us about the HLAA Convention last June in Austin, TX.  She shared her experiences and the workshops she attended.  Chelle later shared her experiences with the SayWhatClub Convention in Madison, WI last July.

Thanks to all who attended!  Our next meeting is Nov. 15th and the topic will be holiday depression.

by

Our Last Meeting March 8th

We had a great meeting on Saturday the 8th of March.  We talked about self-help books and then second half was about hearing loss books in particular.  Helen reviewed  “A Quiet World” by David Meyers.

a quiet world

 

Kathy reviewed “Odyssey of Hearing Loss: Tales of Triumph” by Michael Harvey.

odyssey of hearing loss

I reviewed “Missing Words: The Family Handbook on Adult Hearing Loss” by Kay Thomsett and Eve Nickerson.

missing words

Perhaps the best part was us sharing why our chosen book meant so much to us.  Those are best part of our HLAA meetings.

  Helen provided us with a long list of books, fiction & nonfiction, that center around hearing loss and deafness.  Robin gave us a list of books about hearing loss available at the Sanderson Center for us to check out.  Yes, the Sanderson Center has a great library of books for us to check out when we want.  Take a look someday.
  Utah-CAN members filled us in about captioned plays coming to Utah.  Keep your eye on their website for place and time.
April 5th The Blueman Group
April 25th Warhorse
May 31st Memphis
July 26th Wicked
  Loop Utah updated all their recent activities which included attending the Utah Speech-Language and Hearing Association’s conference in Park City a few weeks ago.  There was a counter loop at the booth through which they played a sound clip showing people the difference between hearing in a church with hearing aids only and then hearing with a provided loop.  A lot of people ‘got it.’  Dr. Anne Lobdell gave a presentation for the audiologists about hearing loops, the ADA requirements and then a panel of 5 hearing aid users talked about their experiences with the loop which was well received.
  Near the end of our meeting we decided not to meet on our regular Saturday in May which would have been the 17th.  National HLAA is sending their Loop advocate, Juliette Sterkens to us on May 3rd to talk about looping Utah and how we can work on having more hearing-friendly places in Salt Lake to attend.  Loop Utah is heading this up in the looped room, classroom B/C.  A light lunch will be served and there will be a raffle as a fundraiser.  Stay tuned for more information.
 Thanks to those who attended the meeting.  It was great seeing everyone!
by

March 8th is our Next Meeting

Our next meeting is March 8th instead of the typical third Saturday of the month. (I could not get the looped room scheduled on our regular day.) Our topic is Hearing Loss Books. In the first half of the meeting Susan Chilton will tell us what to look for in self-help books and how to use them. There will be a break with refreshments then we will continue the meeting with some of us reviewing the hearing loss books we’ve read. If you have a favorite hearing loss book, bring it along for discussion. We will also be passing out a list of books  related to hearing loss.  We hope to see you there.

selfhelp