[Mountain Xpress’] issue of May 4 has articles about many local nonprofits. I’m writing for the Asheville chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. I wish we could have been included. Fundraising is an enormous problem for us, as is securing an adequate number of volunteers, even though we have an excellent group of core organizers.
May is Speech and Hearing Month. Our chapter is still very young and small, having met for just over a year. We’d love to see or hear from you, and we’d love your help in maintaining a productive schedule for education and support.
Those who have attended our meetings (third Saturday most months — not October — at 10.30 a.m. at Seymour Auditorium, Care Partners, 68 Sweeten Creek Road) will agree that we have had some excellent presentations by noteworthy speakers.
Among the topics have been hearing aids, cochlear implants, services offered by the state’s Asheville office serving deaf and hard-of-hearing people, assistive listening devices that help in hearing alarms as well as speech or music in various personal and public settings, captioned telephones and communication tips. We’ve also had some good supportive discussions, including a panel about family communication when one member has hearing loss.
On May 21, Ethel Meadows, our deputy president, will present on “Closed Captioning for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.” On June 18, Charles Spencer, loop installer, will speak on “Assistive Listening Devices: Getting More from Your Hearing Aids.” On July 16, Dr. Holly Godfrey, AuD, VA Medical Center chief of audiology, will discuss “Veterans and Hearing Loss” and on Aug. 20, attorney Holly Stiles will address legal rights of the hearing impaired.
For more information, contact me at akarson57@gmail.com.
— Ann Karson,
President, HLAA-Asheville
Candler
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