Some Exciting Updates!

I've been pretty busy with work and work related issues. I haven't posted anything at all since I started a temp job at the beginning of April, but I have good reason to get back into blogging mode... Today I received an e-mail from Nancy Macklin, Director of Events and Marketing for HLAA, and she offered to make me the OFFICIAL BLOGGER for the Hearing Loss Association of America's national convention in Milwaukee next month! Also, I haven't blogged in so long, I never announced that I'd won a scholarship to the convention! I and 5 other young adults each received a complimentary convention package as well as $500 for travel and accommodations. This was in addition to the two Rocky Stone scholarships for this year's convention.

If anyone has never gone to an HLAA convention and is interested in going next year, be sure to apply for a scholarship at the beginning of the year (applications are typically due by the end of March). The scholarships are only for first-timers and HLAA is always trying to encourage more young adults to attend!

I attended a leadership training for the Southern California division of HLAA in March which was fun. A lot of it was for leaders of established HLAA chapters,
but it was informative nonetheless.

Let's see, what else? My hearing aid is working fairly well now. Turns out the beeping noise I thought was some sort of "interference" was just the low battery warning.
My old aid supposedly had that but I never heard it. It just sort of gradually went out. The volume control is awesome. I didn't have that one on my old one. The t-coil for landline phones is a lot better than the one for my old one. I wish I could tell if it works well in looped rooms, but I never come across any. With all this HLAA talk maybe I should actually attend a meeting to try it out. They always have the room looped.

Other than HLAA stuff, I also missed an opportunity to spread the word about the awesome new documentary "See What I'm Saying!" It's about 4 deaf performers and includes spoken words, ASL and captions! It's the first commercial film of its kind in that respect. It was really inspiring and I could especially relate to a lot of what
hard of hearing singer, TL Forsberg, had to say about being hard of hearing in a hearing world with a completely separate Deaf culture. I saw it with some friends in LA
on opening weekend and it was amazing. Seriously, if you're Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, hearing impaired, have fully functional hearing, I don't care what your status
is as someone with a hearing loss or not, go see it! Apparently with help from people like me and my friends spreading the word the film is doing really well and has been opened up for more screenings in LA and around the country! So go see it! Look for local showings and show your support for this amazing film. Tell all your friends. It really is an inspiring flick.

The only other new thing I can think of is the fact that I'm having some issues with a certain job position right now and I'm investigating to figure out if I might have an EEO (equal employment opportunity) or ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) case here, but first I'm going to try to rationally settle the dispute. It's rather personal and I'd rather not get everyone up in arms about equal rights if I can calmly come to a reasonable agreement with said employer. That said, I think I may have covered everything. I'll be sure to post again soon, so if I can think of any other updates I will be blogging about those in the near future.