Washington State Hearing Loss News
Advocate Spotlight: Meet Brent Bowden
Advocates quietly change the world for people with hearing loss.
We recently met Brent Bowden, who’s working on behalf of people with hearing loss and other disabilities, both on his own and in his work with New Leaf, Inc.
Get to know him in this interview on our blog.
Help for People with Hearing Loss Across Washington State
Thankfully, people who are deaf or who have a hearing loss can find case management services all across Washington State. We encourage you to visit these offices for help and services.
Note: As of October 1, 2023, the Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ODHH) is providing services in Vancouver and southwest Washington, serving Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Pacific, Skamania, and Wahkiakum Counties. In this office, the ODHH staff will transition case management work from the Washington Advocates of Deaf & Hard of Hearing.
Special Free Screening of
Crip Camp in Seattle
What happens when a group of teen campers joins the fight for disability rights? A grass-roots movement is born. Crip Camp tells their story.
Join a free screening of Crip Camp, a movie produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 1:00 pm at Town Hall Seattle. This special event celebrates the 33rd anniversary of the ADA and honors activist Judy Heumann (1947-2023). A Q&A with the film’s co-director James LeBrecht and ArtsFund’s Michael Greer will follow the movie.
Town Hall Seattle has loops in all three event spaces. ASL and captions will be provided.
The screening is co-presented by the Seattle Cultural Accessibility Consortium, Town Hall, and the Seattle International Film Festival.
Reminder: Chapter Leader Workshop Offered: Social Media for HLAA Chapters
We are proud to announce that JoAnne Dyer, HLAA-WA’s communications person, will be leading an online workshop on social media for HLAA chapter leaders. At this year’s HLAA convention, JoAnne won awards for her work on our social media and the new HLAA-WA website.
This online Zoom event will take place on October 26, 2023, at 11:00 am Pacific/2:00 pm Eastern. The webinar is free and will be live-captioned.
Register for Social Media for Chapters and State Organizations.
Hearing-Friendly Entertainment at Village Theater in Issaquah and Everett
Each of Village Theater’s locations in Issaquah and Everett are LOOPED. Open-captioned and ASL performances are also available at specific performances. That means you can enjoy hearing-friendly live theater at both locations.
Now in Everett: Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, October 21 – November 12, 2023.
Coming up in Issaquah: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, November 14 – December 23, 2023. Open-captioned show: December 16, 2023, at 2:00 pm.
Visit the Village Theater’s webpage for more information and to buy tickets. You can watch trailers for Village Theater performances on their YouTube channel.
Participants Needed for a Google Meet Study
If you have a hearing loss and you’ve used Google Meet, you may qualify for a study that pays $200.
The study lasts 90 minutes and will be held at Google’s offices in Seattle. Participants will pick one day between October 30th and November 3rd that works for them.
Find out if you qualify via this study eligibility form. To complete the eligibility form, you’ll need to have a Gmail or Google account and be signed in.
Next HOPE Meeting: Wednesday, November 1, 2023
What technology might help me hear better when I’m traveling? How far in advance should I schedule an audiology appointment? These are a couple of the topics we discussed at our October HOPE meeting.
Our Hearing Other People’s Experiences (HOPE) meetings are a safe, welcoming space where you can ask questions from your peers about anything and everything hearing loss and hearing tech.
Facilitated by a caring, compassionate HOPE Crew, these monthly virtual meetings are free, live-captioned, and open to everyone with hearing loss and to their friends and family. You’re welcome to relax, listen, and simply spend time with people who understand what it’s like to live with hearing loss.
Note: You can read summaries from past meetings on our blog.
National Hearing Loss News
Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids Right for You?
New over-the-counter hearing aids are now available. What are they like, and will they work for you? Find out at this HLAA webinar on November 1, 2023, 11:00 am Pacific time.
Also, let HLAA know about your experience with OTCs by taking this survey.
Football Helmet with Augmented Reality Helps Deaf Players at Gallaudet University
The helmet uses 5G technology to send an image from the head coach’s tablet computer to the quarterback’s helmet. The quarterback sees the display above his right eye, then relays the play to the team.
High-tech for a higher purpose. We like it.
Accessibility Tips in Honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month
How can you make sure your communications are accessible to everyone, including employees and customers who might have a disability? Here are some tips from the U.S. Department of Labor.
- Write social media posts informally and in plain language. Avoid abbreviations and spell out acronyms.
- Use @mentions to tag other organizations on social media and use relevant hashtags on keywords and phrases to categorize posts.
- For multi-word hashtags, capitalize the first letters of each section of a compound word (#LikeThisExample).
- Provide closed captioning for YouTube videos. You can do this automatically, or you can add and edit captions manually.
- Add captions to Facebook video posts. Make sure captions are turned on for live videos.
We’re Here for You
Thank you for your interest in HLAA-Washington State and in all things hearing health related. As always, let us know how we can help you: info@hearingloss-wa.org.
HLAA-WA does not endorse any technology, nor does exclusion suggest disapproval. We support the full spectrum of hearing technologies for everyone. As an all-volunteer run organization, 100% of every dollar donated is directed to our programs. HLAA-WA is an IRS non-profit 501(c)(3) organization; all donations are tax-deductible as allowed by relevant IRS code.