ALDA Meetings

People sometimes ask me which are good meetings for a new person to attend, and I always give the same reply - the next one! We realize that it's often hard to attend your first meeting, but we promise you'll be happy you did. And if you put it off, when you finally do attend you'll be kicking your self for all the great meetings you could have attended, but didn't.

As you can see in the following schedule we do a variety of things throughout the year. But we always make sure to allow time to socialize; we believe that getting to know others with hearing loss is the single best thing a person with hearing loss can do for herself!

January 21, 2006

Our guest speaker this month was Evelyn Cherow, Executive Director of National University's Institute for Persons Who Are Hard of Hearing or Deaf. This federally funded program provides two Internet-based training programs for people with hearing loss: the Children and Family Program and the Career and Leadership Program. Evelyn provided a very entertaining and informative discussion of online education in particular and the National University program in particular!

We also took nominations for chapter officers, talked about the speecreading classes that begin next week, and tossed about the idea of starting a regular group to discuss various aspects of hearing loss.

And, as always, we had some social time and a chance for folks to mingle.

February 18, 2006

Because of a "perfect storm" of conflicts involving all the officers, the February ALDA meeting is CANCELLED. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

March 18, 2006

This was our main organizational meeting for the year. We conducted elections, discussed what kinds of programs people would like, who we'd like to invite to speak, etc. We also had a half hour discussion of hearing loss issues. This activity was so popular that we will be including similar activities in many of our meetings!

April 22, 2006

Note that we postponed this meeting until the fourth Saturday (rather than the third) to avoid conflicting with the holidays. Our speaker this month was Larry Sivertson, and he spoke about what's happening in the world of hearing loss technology. Everyone learned so much about hair cell regeneration, medications that prevent hearing loss, how Bluetooth will affect hearing aids, and much more! We also had an open discussion of hearing loss issues, a short class on beginning sign language, and some social time! It was a GREAT meeting!

May 20, 2006

Caridad Fleites from the California Telephone Access Program (CTAP) discussed their program and the various phones that might benefit people with hearing loss. As always, this was a popular presentation, and a great opportunity to learn what new telephone devices are available. People were especially interested in the CapTel phone from Ultratec. We learned some more beginning signs, and had some time to chat.

June 17, 2006

We had a lively and informative group discussion on a variety of timely hearing loss issues. We also discussed upcoming activities, including Deaf Awareness Day in September and the ALDA National Conference in October. And we planned our picnic for next month! Oh, and perhaps most important of all, we had plenty of social time!

July 15, 2006

Our picnic was on Saturday, July 15 from 11 AM to 2 PM at the home of one of our members. ALDA provided the BBQ ribs and chicken, plus potato salad. We asked that everyone bring his or her drink of choice and a side dish (vegie, salad, or dessert) to share. The food was great and the weather was perfect!

It was really wonderful for everyone to have more time to socialize than we normally have at our monthly meetings. Many of us were able to chat with everyone who attended.

August 19, 2006

Our presenter for the August meeting was Jonathan Lowe of the San Diego Police Department. Jonathan discussed a variety of topics, including officer training for dealing with folks with hearing loss and what to expect during a traffic stop. He also very patiently answered the many questions we had, whether they were related to the presentation topic or not!

We also had Cordelia Brown, a masseuse in training giving free massages. She was willing to stay past the end of the meeting, and we were, of course, willing to accommodate her. Cordelia gave massages until she just couldn't massage any more! For those who didn't get one at this meeting, she will be back next month to work more of her magic.

September 16, 2006

One of the great things about support groups is the feeling of understanding and comaraderie that happens when they get together! We believe that the single best thing a person with hearing loss can do for herself is toget involved with a hearing loss support group. A person with hearing loss usually likes to share her story and hear the stories of others.

We took the opportunity today to hear and tell our stories. We have been fortunate to get a lot of new members the last few months, and it that provided a good opportunity for sharing. Several people commented that this was one of our best meetings! And it was a great reminder that we should do this more often!

October 21, 2006

We had a very interesting presentation on massage by Cordelia Brown. And then many of us enjoyed our FREE MASSAGE! Sadly, after this week, Cordelia will have fulfilled her internship hours, so I think the free massage will end. ;-( But we're encouraging her to encourage the folks in the next class to intern with us!

We'll practiced our speechreading, watched a hearing loss video, and had a great discussion on how to deal with hearing loss. And we planned our November and December holiday meetings!

November 18, 2006

We had our Thanksgiving Potluck in November! Note that this meeting was at 11AM, rather than our normal time! We had a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. No one left hungry, and folks were able to take leftovers home for another meal or two. And despite all his boasting, Larry was NOT be able to eat all the desserts!

December 16, 2006

In December we had our Holiday Celebration and White Elephant gift exchange. If you've never participated in a White Elephant gift exchange you've been missing an exciting new experience! We topped it all off with caroling! I'm serious! We do that every year!! Those who have attended our holiday celebrations in the past know to turn off their hearing aids , bring earplugs, or do whatever else they can do to protect themselves from the truly horrible sounds we produce ;-) Oh, yeah, and lots of holiday goodies!