Georgia Fleischer Wins Marcia Dugan Advocacy Award

Members, News
Great news from a member of our chapter! Georgia Fleischer is being awarded the Marcia Dugan Advocacy Award by HLAA National (http://www.hearingloss.org/sites/default/files/docs/Award_MDAdvocacy.pdf). The award will be presented at the HLAA Convention in June.
Lisa Yuan shared below what she wrote on the nomination form. There was a word limit – otherwise Lisa would have gone on even further about Georgia’s accomplishments!

Congratulations, Georgia…we are very proud to have you as our Advocacy Chair, on our Steering Committee, and as part of our HLAA-LA family!

From Lisa

I am nominating Georgia Fleischer for the Marcia Dugan Advocacy Award. Georgia joined our Steering Committee several years ago and soon became the L.A. chapter’s first-ever Advocacy Chair. As this was a new position, we had no preconceived notions about it, but Georgia has far exceeded our expectations.

One of her first projects was getting the Pantages Theater to provide captioning for live shows. And she succeeded. The theater ended up providing captions for select shows, but usually on weekday nights. Through Georgia’s continued efforts, she convinced them to make captioned shows available during weekend matinées.

Georgia then tackled the Hollywood Bowl, another legendary venue, arranging for a meeting with Hollywood Bowl staff and HLAA-LA members. As a result, the Hollywood Bowl now offers live captioning for requested performances. This past summer, DHH patrons were able to enjoy shows at the Bowl, and at highly discounted prices! Georgia is also working to ensure that the Bowl’s marketing materials for next season include visible mention of the services provided to DHH patrons.

Georgia’s latest endeavor has been with the Los Angeles Music Center (LAMC), home to the LA Philharmonic, and whose venues include the Walt Disney Concert Hall. After months of correspondence, Georgia again arranged for an in-person meeting. The LAMC has now agreed to caption select performances and create an accessibility page on their website to include information about services available for the DHH.

These are just a few of Georgia’s achievements as Advocacy Chair. She has created an Advocacy Committee, whose collaboration with the Pasadena Disabilities Commission has contributed to the looping of several city facilities. The Advocacy Committee continues to meet bimonthly, and Georgia keeps it vital by always having a new project to work on.

I believe Georgia’s success is due to her positive outlook, sweet demeanor, and fierce commitment to hearing loss issues. She is a true example of the tenet that “You’ll never know unless you ask.”  When she does ask, it is always with a smile on her face, while emphasizing the importance of considering the needs of people with hearing loss. We are lucky to have her on our Steering Committee and as an integral member of our Los Angeles Chapter