July/August Announcements

We had a wonderful turnout at the July 24th meeting at the KCMO-Plaza Branch Library. A special thank you to KC HLAA Chapter President Dennis Selznick for the interesting presentation on the 2010 HLAA National Convention, held last month in Milwaukee.


Chapter President Dennis Selznick with Wendy Mentzer


Chapter Vice President Alex Vetor (left) with attendees at the July 24th meeting


New Chapter Members Rob and Betty Jefferson of Belton, Missouri

CHAPTER ANNOUNCEMENTS:

* We need Walk4Hearing fundraising volunteers! We are forming an exploratory committee to consider organizing a future Walk4Hearing benefit event in Kansas City. Walk4Hearing is an HLAA-nationally sponsored event to raise funds and awareness for local chapters. These funds allow chapters to pay for services at each meeting, such as transcripts/CART currently provided pro-bono by 20/20 Captioning. The attached transcript will explain more about what CART is. To learn more about Walk4Hearing, visit www.hearingloss.org. Contact me (Shanna) if you are interested or want more info about the KC Walk4Hearing Exploratory Committee, sgrovesuss@msn.com.


* Per Dennis -- Visit HLAA National's Advocacy Blog! http://hlaa-advocacy.blogspot.com. There they have several initatives going on:

a) Classroom acoustics - Write to the U.S. Access Board ASAP! Give your feedback on how classroom acoustics need to be modified so that people like YOU can understand better!

b) HR 3101 - a bill on the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act" includes accessibility such as no limits on captioning internet videos, TVs smaller than 13" must include caption decoders, and funds set aside for deaf-blind accessibility.

* We need social ideas! A number of you have expressed an interest in meeting together more often socially. Your ideas and interest will help us in determining how, where, and when we can meet. Please contact me if you would like to serve on the KC HLAA Social Committee.

* Next HLAA Event: Coffee Social - August 21! Join us Saturday, August 21, 10:00am at Black Dog Coffee House, 12815 W. 87th Street Pkwy, Lenexa, KS, for a Chapter Chat and Coffee Social.

July 24th meeting - HLAA convention presentation

On Saturday, I had a chance to present to an interesting audience about my experience at the HLAA Convention in Milwaukee. Sarah and Kelly, two HLAA convention scholarship recipients, were unable to attend but already provided a write up of their experience on this blog site.

Before we opened the presentation, I mentioned a couple of things for the audience:

1) Various new events will be posted on this blogsite via the calendar on the right-hand side:

2) HLAA's national blog is at hlaa-advocacy.blogspot.com. There they have several initatives going on:
a) Classroom acoustics - write to the U.S. Access Board ASAP! Give your feedback on how classroom acoustics need to be modified so that people like YOU can understand better!
b) HR 3101 - a bill on the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act" includes accessibility such as no limits on captioning internet videos, TVs smaller than 13" must include caption decoders, and funds set aside for deaf-blind accessibility.

3) Walk 4 Hearing - please volunteer to participate in a committee that will work with the St. Louis HLAA Chapter and help make their Walk 4 Hearing in May 2011 a success!

I'm going to post the meeting presentation and transcript shortly. Stay tuned!

Executive Board meeting

On Sunday 7/18/2010, the KC HLAA board had a meeting to kind of catch up what's going on with the chapter.

Newer members of the HLAA KC chapter, I was wondering if there's some people willing to write a bit about your hearing loss journey or experiences with hearing loss. I think I'll post my journey before this weekend so that people get a sense of what I'm looking for, but I'm interested in showcasing 1) How'd you lose your hearing, 2) What struggles have you faced, 3) How have you addressed those struggles, and 4) What is your life like today with your hearing loss?

You can write a book or a short blurb, and kind of speak to your heart. Let me know!

KC Chapter Meeting July 24

Want to learn more about the Hearing Loss Association of America convention held in Milwaukee last month?

Join us Saturday, July 24, 10:30a.m. at the Kansas City Public Library-Plaza Branch in the library's Great Meeting Room, 4801 Main St., Kansas City, when KC HLAA Chapter President Dennis Selznick presents "Highlights from the 2010 HLAA Convention."

Admission is free and the public is invited. Hope to see you there!