I’ve been trying to become more active in the Young Adult Movement among the hearing loss community for the past couple of years. For the longest time after I got my first pair of hearing aids I had felt major self-pity about my hearing loss. “Only old people wear hearing aids,” I thought. “The hard of hearing community is made up of grandparents and people who were born deaf,” I thought. That is, until the people in my lip-reading class (all at least forty years older than me) encouraged me to seek out other young hard of hearing adults. Since I set off on this journey a couple of years ago I’ve made some progress, though I still don’t quite see myself as a major leader in the young adult movement. I’ve made friends, and I’ve realized that each of us has our own story. Everyone’s hearing loss journey is different. I don’t feel so alone anymore. Some of the people I’ve met are older people from the HLAA. Some are young and hard of hearing like me. I’ve joined a social networking site specifically for hard of hearing young adults called Hearing Loss Nation (http://hearinglossnation.ning.com). I’m getting there, but something big is coming up that I think may have a major impact.
The HLAA’s Southern California Walk for Hearing will be held next month on November 8th in Long Beach. Certainly this is a great opportunity for the HLAA to spread its message of access, education and advocacy for the general hearing loss community. This year, however, it’s our turn as young adults to bring attention to our presence, issues, and needs.
Why is our presence at the walk important?
1. Visibility- Raise awareness about the impact and existence of hearing loss.
We are here (hear) now!
2. Support- Provide a space to share our common experiences in a world dominated by the black and white division of deaf and mainstream hearing.
3. Communication- Talk about issues with technology and the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009
4. Networking- Meet other young hard of hearing adults.
5. Advocacy- Speak up for yourself, your hearing loss community and hard of hearing people across the nation.
The Walk is a starting point for future discussion and collaboration on long term issues that affect today's young adults with hearing loss who are faced with rapidly evolving technologies that can support our needs. Taking advantage of social media networks and passionate interpersonal encounters with other young adults creates opportunities for us to merge our ideas to facilitate real, sustainable change in accessibility and communication technologies in education and the workplace. Please join us at the walk. The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) is currently working on initiatives that will involve more young adults at the national level. Your donations will be funding these efforts in the state of California and at the national level.
I'm part of Hear YA Now, the young adult team. If you are interested in joining my team, or donating, go to: http://www.walk4hearing.org/ Under the list of “2009 Walks” find Long Beach, CA at the bottom and click on it. When the next screen comes up click on the foot print marked “join a team” and search for “Hear YA Now.” When you get to the team page click the link that says “join team” one more time and fill out the information on the pages that follow. You do NOT have to make a personal donation, but you should set a personal fundraising goal. If you would like to join our team, please contact either Team Captain Rhianon Gutierrez (rhianon.elan@gmail.com) or myself (mccal106@mail.chapman.edu) so we can send you more information and a basic fundraising letter to send to friends and family.
The HLAA’s Southern California Walk for Hearing will be held next month on November 8th in Long Beach. Certainly this is a great opportunity for the HLAA to spread its message of access, education and advocacy for the general hearing loss community. This year, however, it’s our turn as young adults to bring attention to our presence, issues, and needs.
Why is our presence at the walk important?
1. Visibility- Raise awareness about the impact and existence of hearing loss.
We are here (hear) now!
2. Support- Provide a space to share our common experiences in a world dominated by the black and white division of deaf and mainstream hearing.
3. Communication- Talk about issues with technology and the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009
4. Networking- Meet other young hard of hearing adults.
5. Advocacy- Speak up for yourself, your hearing loss community and hard of hearing people across the nation.
The Walk is a starting point for future discussion and collaboration on long term issues that affect today's young adults with hearing loss who are faced with rapidly evolving technologies that can support our needs. Taking advantage of social media networks and passionate interpersonal encounters with other young adults creates opportunities for us to merge our ideas to facilitate real, sustainable change in accessibility and communication technologies in education and the workplace. Please join us at the walk. The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) is currently working on initiatives that will involve more young adults at the national level. Your donations will be funding these efforts in the state of California and at the national level.
I'm part of Hear YA Now, the young adult team. If you are interested in joining my team, or donating, go to: http://www.walk4hearing.org/ Under the list of “2009 Walks” find Long Beach, CA at the bottom and click on it. When the next screen comes up click on the foot print marked “join a team” and search for “Hear YA Now.” When you get to the team page click the link that says “join team” one more time and fill out the information on the pages that follow. You do NOT have to make a personal donation, but you should set a personal fundraising goal. If you would like to join our team, please contact either Team Captain Rhianon Gutierrez (rhianon.elan@gmail.com) or myself (mccal106@mail.chapman.edu) so we can send you more information and a basic fundraising letter to send to friends and family.
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