HLAA Convention Overview through Sarah's eyes/ears

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sarah Mosher and I am hard of hearing and wear just one hearing aid. When I first started attending HLAA meetings last fall, I was quite awed at what the Chapter was accomplishing here in Kansas City. It spurred me to apply for a scholarship to attend the convention in Milwaukee this year. I was a lucky recipient of the Starkey Scholarship for Young Adults, and off I went to the convention last Thursday.

I'll admit I didn't think it would be all that awesome of a convention. I kinda figured a lot of the workshops would be rather dull and there wouldn't be that many young people for me to meet. I'll happily confess I was completely wrong! I'll try to hit the highlights of the trip and not write a book here, but it's going to be hard...

Milwaukee itself is a lovely city and the weather during the four days I was there was absolutely gorgeous! I enjoyed the food at several local restaurants and highly recommend Buck Bradley should you ever get out that way. Also, take a chance on the local Cheese Curds - they are quite a hit!

I'll go over two of the many exceptional workshops I attended. These are the ones that really stuck in my head the most. The first was a medical workshop called "Regenerative Medical Therapies for Hearing Loss" by Samuel P. Gubbels, M.D. He went over a wide range of methods, successes and failures, but the gist of the speech is that they are working quite hard on developing ways to regenerate hair growth inside the cochlea. This regenerative hair cell, when done correctly, could eventually re-learn how to hear. While the hair cells have been successfully regenerated in mice, the re-learning to hear aspect has not been consistently successful. Dr. Gubbels believes it is possible, just not in our lifetime.

The second workshop that make a big impression on me was "Taking off the Mask-Strategies to Stop Bluffing (Bluffing 201)" by Gael Hannan. The main thing to be said of Ms. Hannan is this: she is hilarious! She took a subject matter that is quite common and often not funny and turned it into a great workshop where we were able to laugh at ourselves and some of the situations we've all been in. The basic definition of "bluffing" here is: to nod your head or acquiesce understanding when you really have no idea what is being said. She also went through a myriad of ways that we, as hard of hearing people, can kindly but firmly let others know what our needs our in daily conversations. It was a great learning workshop. I would definitely go see her again.

On the social side, there were more young adults in attendance than I had expected. I met many people and left with quite a few new friends. What I found interesting was that each of us was quite different in our hearing losses and our communication methods. There were several people who had severe hearing losses and did not voice for themselves but relied on sign language to communicate. Then there were several others who had had no exposure to sign language at all. And of course, there was quite a variety of people in-between. All of these people hung out together and communicated easily, no matter what method was being used. This show of acceptance and kinship was absolutely stunning. I'm still in awe.

On Friday evening, a small group of us attended the Harley Davidson Museum banquet and tour. The banquet was quite a spread of hearty biker food, and we were treated to the lovely vocals of Mandy Harvey, who sang jazz tunes for us. After satiating our hunger and our ears, we were allowed to travel through the huge, multi-floored museum of motorcycles. I can't say how fabulous they were!

On Saturday night, HLAA set up a comedy club improv night for us to attend. I have never been to a real improv show because, of course, it's quite hard to follow along. In this instance, a CART captioning screen was integrated into the set design. We had two captioners, Lisa and Lisa. I never did know if they were both really named Lisa, but the actors sure had fun with that! The "referee" of the improv had an absolute blast with our CART screen. He made this comment: "I don't even have to remember what I'm saying! All I have to do is turn to the screen and read my own thoughts!!" The captioners did a fabulous job of keeping up with all the actors, and everyone had an awesome time. Even Vic, who was actually up on stage as a volunteer! Just call him the "Curious Monkey" and hopefully he'll blog about his experience ;)

Now I'm far past the blogging mode and well on my way to writing a novel here, so I'll close up just by saying that it was a fabulous experience and I have every intention of repeating it again next year. A shout-out to the lovely Kansans who attended the convention with me: Dennis, Kelly and Vic, and all the wonderful new friends I made in Milwaukee.

Feel free to email me with any comments or questions you may have! Thanks!

Sarah
sarah@moshdesigns.com

Day 2 - 2010

Here in Milwaukee, it sure gets loud. And what I mean by loud is, man, fireworks and lightning shows sure know how to liven up the town!

I headed out to explore the town a bit and came across a fireworks show on the lake for a small gathering. It was fantastic to see the two pyrotechnicians running around with their red flares flaming, hearing the sizzle of the firework fuses lit up and then zooming into the sky to burst nearly directly above me. Meanwhile, in the not-too-distant horizon, there was a thunderstorm building, so much that it was becoming difficult to tell which flashes were of the fireworks and which were from the thunderstorm. But it was a beautiful and inspiring sight!

Yesterday, I got up early to participate in a Gallaudet research study for cochlear implant users and cell phones. For 90 minutes, I was subjected to a wide range of noises and interference sounds while listening to a voice talk about a trip to Arizona. The goal of the study was to identify what kind of impact does interference have on enjoying cell phone calls, and at what loudness or intensity did the noise make it uncomfortable to use. There were three levels of comfort - Excellent for a minimal amount of noise that was able to be easily ignored and listen to the voice; Acceptable, for the level of noise where I could have an extended conversation but would definitely complain about having on a call; and Maximum, where the noise was the loudest I could stand and still be able to have a short call. I noticed that my Excellent and Acceptable levels were close together and fairly low; I think I attribute this to being used to having good cell phone experiences when on a call and thus I'm not willing to deal with a bad amount of interference on a call. It's vital that I hear clearly when on my calls, which are mostly for business, so that I can ensure all information comes across. I hope that this study will help set standards for noise levels with CIs!

I hit up the exhibit hall and checked out the CI booths - Med-El, Cochlear America, and Advanced Bionics were well represented and provided a wealth of information as to what's new with their services. Cochlear America recently came out with a new Nucleus 5 processor, which has some water resistant features and is so thin that it requires a remote to change volumes and programs. Advanced Bionics was still touting their Harmony processor and HiRes 120 channels programming, and the rep let it slip that there were tests being done about a "Clear Voice" software coming down the wire. I'm going to visit the Med-El booth again to really understand this new electrode and processor they were putting out. But that's just the CIs - I should be collecting into about hearing aids too!

The workshops were great - I jumped around and collected info about Hearing Loss and Cochlea Regeneration, then to the Employment and Hearing Loss, and even the Cultural, Family and Personal Causes of Stresses related to Hearing Loss. There was just so much info to collect about those three during the 75 minutes, and I'm still ruminating on it all. I'll have to do a separate blogpost for each, and I'm actually going to invite the other KC chapter members who were present to write up as well. Kelly Rogel and Sarah Mosher both have excellent insights into their respective workshops as well.

At 2:30pm, I hit up the Walk 4 Hearing workshop on "How to Set up a Walk 4 Hearing, from A-Z" with Kelly, and really got a good session in with Ronnie Adler, the HLAA staff member coordinating Walk 4 Hearing, and her assistant Rebecca. For a little while there, we had a 2 on 2 session where we really got some great instruction and feedback on how to set up a walk for the KC chapter. If you're interested in helping out, we're planning on putting some information up here on the KC HLAA blog to kick off a meeting for a KC Walk 4 Hearing. So stay tuned!

The young group here at HLAA rocks! We had about 10-15 people all through the night meet up at Applebee's for dinner then over to Rock Bottom Brewery for some late night beverages. A shout out goes to everyone who came - Kelly, Vic, Sarah M, Sarah S, Rhi, Alex, Sveta, Viral, Nabeel, Rachel A, Rachel M, Daniel, Michelle, Stephanie, and everyone else!

First day of 2010's HLAA Convention!

Hey, all! I really should have blogged about this before coming to the conference, but I'm here now and I figure I should just write while I can!

Today, three KC chapter members have arrived in Milwaukee for HLAA's 2010 convention. Even with about 800 people nationwide converging on the Frontier Airlines Center in downtown MKE, the KC folks stick out as part of the younger crowd of members! Sarah Mosher, Kelly Rogel and I just jumped into seeing the town and making connections right away.

I participated in the State Chapter meeting on Thursday afternoon, that was a good way to get to know other leaders out there and get some support in meeting fantastic people who can help out our chapter with fundraising, Walk for Hearing mentoring, and recruitment. So stay tuned for what help we'll be getting!

I also attended the Cell Phones and Accessibility workshop for updated information on telecommunications access. There was a panel of experts from RIM, Motorola, AT&T and CTIA who shared their insights on how the cell phones are revolutionizing communications.

I'll keep you all informed. Gotta run!

HLAA Coffee and Chat June 19

Let's have coffee and chat!

When: Saturday, June 19, 10:00am

Where: Homer's Coffee House
7126 W. 80th Street
Overland Park, KS 66204

Open to anyone interested in HLAA Kansas City and guests.

KC HLAA Picnic a Success!

It was a gorgeous day for a picnic this past Saturday, May 22, as the Kansas City HLAA Chapter celebrated its 2nd Annual Picnic for Better Hearing.

A highlight was 6 people signing up for HLAA membership and, as a result, Chapter President Dennis Selznick receiving a pie in the face during the HLAA Membership Drive. More than 50 people attended the May 22nd event, which included a free BBQ lunch, hearing loss resource exhibits from a variety of local organizations, door prizes, and a special presentation by Hamilton Relay.

KC HLAA Chapter Treasurer Minda Nelson was selected as Hamilton Relay's Outstanding Individual with Hearing Loss in Kansas Award, with Hamilton Representative Cady Lear making the presentation. There to celebrate with Minda were her husband, Steve, and 3-month-old daughter Vivian (below).



The KC HLAA Chapter leadership wishes to thank the following organizations and individuals for their donations and support of this event:

* Hometown Hearing - Shelia Cockman (Exhibitor and Door prizes: Free set of new hearing aids and $50 Applebee's gift cards)

* Hometown Hearing - Brent Peterson (Sponsorship: $50 worth of picnic food)

* Hamilton Relay - Cady Lear (Exhibitor and Sponsorship: Three BBQ meat platters)

* Midwest Ear Institute - Kristen Lewis (Exhibitor and Door prize: Dri and Store)

* Meniere's Resources - Sherry Mason (Exhibitor and Door prizes: Meniere's book and cards)

* Loop America - Christopher DenHerder (Door prize: Audio loop system)

* Deaf Cultural Center - Sandra Kelly (Exhibitor and Helpful Volunteer)

* KC HLAA Chapter Leadership - Minda Nelson (Membership Drive and Food donations), Dennis Selznick (MC and Drink donations), Alex Vetor (Food donations)

A huge thank you to all who attended the May 22nd picnic and for everyone's support of the Hearing Loss Association of America in Kansas City!

HLAA Picnic for Better Hearing Update!

Join us Saturday, May 22, 11:00a.m. at Shawnee Mission Park, Shelter #9, 7900 Renner Road, Shawnee, KS, for BBQ lunch, games, prizes, and hearing support info from these as well as other organizations:

* Hearing Loss Association of America
* Midwest Ear Institute
* Hamilton Relay
* Hometown Hearing
* Loop America
* The Whole Person
* Meniere's Resources

And don't miss our HLAA Membership Promotion
If 5 people sign up for HLAA membership at the picnic, Kansas City HLAA Chapter President Dennis Selznick will get a pie in the face!

Lip Reader book signing to be held during the picnic, with one person to go home with a free autographed copy!

A map of Shawnee Mission Park is downloadable at:
http://www.jcprd.com/parks_facilities/map_shawnee_mission.cfm

Visit the Official HLAA Web site at http://www.hearingloss.org

Free to Public! HLAA Chapter Picnic May 22nd

What: 2nd Annual HLAA Kansas City Picnic For Better Hearing

When: Saturday, May 22, 2010 11:00a.m.

Where: Shawnee Mission Park (Shelter #9)
7900 Renner Rd.
Shawnee, Kansas

Details: Free to public… Lunch, hearing support info, games, prizes!

Sponsored by:
Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA),Kansas City Chapter
With Support from Midwest Ear Institute, Hamilton Relay, and other local hearing support organizations

For more details, contact:
Shanna Groves - e-mail: sgrovesuss@msn.com