Congratulations to President Cheri Perazzoli and HLAA-WA legislative liaison Cynthia Stewart. These two stars were honored with the Golden Hands Award at the Washington State Association of the Deaf Awards on October 18, 2025.

The WSAD also honored HLAA-WA with the WSAD Organizational Award for our efforts to better serve the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard-of-Hearing community.

We love working with the WSAD on anything at all, and we were especially pleased to work closely with them and others on this year’s big legislative victory: The John Waldo Act. Beginning January 1, 2026, this law requires more open-caption movies during prime time at many movie theaters across Washington State. Jim House noted that the collaboration was a big part of why the legislation was passed on the first try.

A special thank you to Jim House and Karen Atwood for their leadership, friendship, and support.