(Meeting transcripts can be found here)
WOW awards to Teri Brier, for arranging the March guest speaker (Gary Dorf of Oticon, who will discuss cognition and hearing loss) and Tim Browning, for winning National’s “Best Chapter Website” award (to be presented at the convention)
Walk4Hearing coming up on June 9; more details to follow, including volunteer opportunities. One is a carpool organizer to get to Long Beach.
It’s rare that our chapter moves to a new location. As a matter of fact, this move to the Sherman Oaks Library for our March meeting will only be the second time since the founding of the chapter over 13 years ago! But times change and our chapter needs to adapt. The Huntington Hospital served our needs and we thank them, but there were challenges, as many of you know, with the location. We hope you’ll find this new location to your liking.
| ACTION ALERT Save the ADA! HLAA Opposes Misguided, Damaging H.R. 620 |
Big business is trying to bamboozle the House and the American public into supporting an unnecessary law misleadingly titled the “ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017” (H.R.620) that would make it even harder for people with disabilities who have been waiting to listen to the same programs, use the same restrooms, shop at the same department stores, and eat at the same restaurants as our non-disabled friends and family members, for almost 30 years!
ASHA, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, has launched a new campaign called the Healthy Communication & Popular Technology Initiative. The program was designed for parents, educators and young people to promote safe use of popular technology and discourage its overuse in the interest of protecting and fostering healthy communication. Read more.
A very interesting subject of interest to us all will be presented at this years 2018 HLAA Convention Research Symposium. Please see below for more information and a link to the speakers for each presentation.
Friday, June 22
9 a.m. – Noon
Hearing and listening in noise is often identified as the number one difficulty for people with hearing loss. A great deal of research has been done on this topic by hearing aid manufacturers, audiologists, psychologists, neurobiologists, audio engineers and others. This symposium, presented by top professionals in the field, will focus on noise reduction/cancellation circuitry in hearing aids and cochlear implants. The speakers will discuss the current and future direction of solving the issue of hearing in noise.
Take a look at our speakers and a summary of each presentation.
Love is in the air! And in honor of Valentine’s Day, we are doing a moderated panel on coping with hearing loss featuring: married couples, single and dating, and parent-child challenges! Note these panel participants will come from a mixed environment – one hearing and other hard of hearing.
It’s going to be an awesome love-fest, so come prepared with any questions you may have regarding your own communication/relationship issues, and please invite hearing family members and significant others to attend!
Networking starts at 9:30am with the meeting starting at 10:00am and going until 12:00pm. As always, the meeting will be CART captioned and looped for tele-coil users; coffee and refreshments will be served. You are welcome to bring breakfast potluck items to share.
We are meeting at the Huntington Memorial Hospital. Directions here. See you on February 24th!
Chapter member Michael Thal is offering an American Sign Language (ASL) course for beginners starting Tuesday, February 6, 2018 from 6:00-7:00 PM to be held at 18344 Clark Street #205, Tarzana, CA. The course costs $15 per class for 11 classes; the first class is free. If you pay up front, you will save $50, costing you only $100. Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to learn sign language! Even if you miss the first class, you are welcomed to join any class.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
• ASL Alphabet
• Counting from 1-30 on one hand
• Basic vocabulary: family, colors, food, prepositions, pronouns, verbs, etc.
• Deaf Culture
• Baby Sign
• Any words you need for work or home
If you’d like to reserve a space, please email Michael Thal at michaelthal@sbcglobal.net.
Space is limited. You can also text only at 818-398-1805.
Our January 2018 Meeting
(Click here for our meeting transcript)
We had a great meeting for January focusing on catching up with each other after the holidays and not seeing each other for some time. We capped it off with our guest speaker, Dr. Ray Goldsworthy, who provided an in-depth discussion about Cochlear Implants (CI) and optimizing how they are used (see more below). The presentation was more of a free form and open discussion to ensure immediate questions people had were addressed. We also had a great surprise that Lisa was able to join us as she is visiting here all the way from Washington D.C.!
LOS ANGELES COCHLEAR IMPLANT SUPPORT GROUP- LA CIS GROUP Meeting: Saturday, January 20, 2018, 11:00am to 2:00pm.
(Important Note: If you plan on attending this meeting, consider adding extra travel time. The Women’s March is in central Downtown L.A. that day. Last year, freeways and subways were jam packed.)
Hello everyone,
Happy New Year! We hope your holidays were especially happy ones, with some memorable CI moments. We will celebrate our annual Cochlear Americas “Ringing in the New Year” meeting, and social.
The Newswire has been delayed due to some changes that have taken place. St. Vincent Hospital has been sold, and is now called: St. Vincent Medical Center—Verity Health System. We will no longer be able to have our meetings at the Mark Taper Building Board Room. It was demolished.
Don’t miss this WEDNESDAY’S free captioned webinar featuring the HLAA staff for A Glimpse at 2018, a discussion of the year ahead. The HLAA brand refresh, launch of a new website, Convention, Walk4Hearing, advocacy initiatives, and special projects – all will be the focus of this webinar. It’s going to be an exciting year ahead!
