By Cheri Perazzoli, HLAA-WA President

You know how nice it is to be able to relax with your tribe, with the people who understand you?

For people with hearing loss, finding that welcoming place might mean a hearing loop assistive listening system is available. Or finding others who share your daily challenges. Or talking with someone and knowing it’s OK to ask them to repeat themselves several times.

That’s what we do at our picnic and our other events: Build a welcoming, inclusive community where it’s really and truly OK to be hard of hearing.

We learn from one another at these events, too. For example, I learn so much about cochlear implants every year, this time from Kirsten, who’s looking at a new processor and programming for her cochlear implant. Later, Heidi taught me about the HeardThat app and how she uses it with inexpensive microphones. Heidi had learned about HeardThat from Tina Childress at the HLAA convention in June. And then from Dean Olsen, I learned about the history of our picnic and how he found us “our spot” in Lake Boren Park.

Thank you to everyone who attended as part of our community on a warm summer day. Big kudos and gratitude to our members who stepped up to make the picnic happen when they knew Glenda Philio couldn’t be there, especially to the folks who arrived early to set up, who stayed late and helped clean up, who loaded and unloaded cars, and who brought with them a can-do attitude and a spirit of collaboration.

See you next year!