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!

Directions to Meeting

January 20, 2007

Our guest speaker this month was Jerome Paquette of Canine Companions for Independence. This is a wonderful organization that places service dogs with people who need them. (Of course, hearing dogs are included within the category of service dogs.) Jerome presented a wealth of information on every aspect of hearing dogs, from how to get one to what the owner's responsibilities are to what hearing dogs can do for their owners.

We also took nominations for chapter officers, started our annual membership drive, and talked about 2007 activities. And, as always, we had some social time and a chance for folks to mingle.

February 17, 2007

This was a really fun meeting, because we had several Aud. D. students from San Diego State in attendence. We had a wonderful interaction between the students and the ALDA members. I think everyone learned a little bit about what it's like to be in the other's shoes.

We also held elections and had some social time.

March 17, 2007

Roberta Smith of the California Telephone Access Program (CTAP) gave an entertaining and informative overview of this wonderful program that provides phones and related equipment at no cost for people with disabilities. She discussed currently available equipment, including a variety of phones, separate amplifiers, loud ringers, vibrating alerts, flashing alerts, neckloops, and the CapTel phone. We had a great discussion, with lots of comments and questions from the group!

After a short break for refreshments that included four kinds of cookies and a cake (yes, I was able to sample them all, including two pieces of cake ;-), we reconvened for chapter business. Topics included:

- Outreach - Carol and Iris completed a poster design. Carol suggested having them printed in black and white and having members color in some of the areas as an attention-getter. We'll distribute these to audiologists, senior centers, community centers, churches, etc.

- Refreshments - Carol passes around a signup sheet for people who would like to bring refreshments to future meetings. We got several volunteers for the next few meetings.

- Speechreading - Jane is interested in getting a group together to work on speechreading. She's particularly interested in having some members who are pretty good speechreaders who may be able to help others improve.

- Membership - Those who can easily afford it are encouraged to join ALDA-San Diego for the year 2007. The fee is $10.

- Captioning - People have commented on the poor quality of some TV captioning. It's very important that people complain to the TV station about this. If they don't get complaints, they thing everything is just fine!

April 21, 2007

We had a great turnout for our meeting today and had lots of lively discussion. Larry led a technology discussion that focused on some of the new research on preventing and reversing hearing loss. He talked about drugs that can prevent noise related hearing loss if taken before or shortly after exposure to loud sounds, as well as stem cell research and gene therapy that is working to allow hair cell regeneration. He also discussed open fit hearing aids and the new Bluetooth headpieces that also function as a hearing aid.

Then Carol distributed a survey she created that queried members about the types of activities they would like to see at our meetings. She will tabulate the results and report at the next meeting.

After a break and lots of great treats, we talked about advocacy and what we can do to get communications access in public places. The Americans with Disabilities Act specifies that people with disabilities (including hearing loss) have the right to reasonable accommodations in most public accommodations. Churches are exempt, as are small organizations. Some organizations are good about providing things like assistive listening devices, and others need encouragement. We talked about forming an advocacy group to work with organizations to assist them in getting technology to make their activities accessible to people with hearing loss.

May 19, 2007

We had an unexpected treat today as Bonnie Eggert showed up at our meeting and shared her hearing loss journey with the group. Her story is truly remarkable, from her early hearing loss through her recent very successful cochlear implant. It was an especially relevant story, because several members are considering implants. Thanks to Bonnie for her willingness to tell her story.

After a break with the usual abundance of goodies and chatting, we reconvened to continue with chapter business. Carol led a discussion of the flyers that she and Iris have been working on. The group had some good suggestions that will be incorporated into the flyers before they are reproduced for next month's meeting. We will also a new brochure (with the correct meeting time and place) completed and reproduced for the next meeting.

Carol asked how many people would be willing to help distribute these materials to community centers, libraries, churches, senior centers, etc., and most of the group volunteered! The goal is to get them to post a flyer on their bulletin board and to hand out brochures to interested parties.

Also, Bonnie Eggert volunteered to create a database of organizations and to mail these materials out to them.

June 16, 2007

We started today's meeting with an open discussion of whatever topics came from the floor. We began with a discussion of the SayWhatClub, what they do, and how they do it. Members were especially intrigued with the idea of online lists that accommodated a variety of topics.

Then Joan mentioned that her Deaf sister didn't really accept her cochlear implant when she decided to get it. That led to a very interesting discussion of Deaf folks and Deaf culture, and the fact that their view of deafness is very different from the view of most ALDAns.

We discussed our outreach efforts and encouraged everyone to pick up flyers and brochures and to leave them with audiologists, hearing aid dealers, community centers, churches, etc. Also, Bonnie repeated her request for people to send her contact information for organizations that we should contact, so she can assemble an outreach database.

Next we continued an advocacy discussion that we had started back in April. Ruth mentioned she would like to see her OASIS meetings become more accessible, and we then talked about some of the various systems that can provide accessibility, including FM and loop systems.

After a great break with lots of goodies and lots of socializing, we reconvened to plan our annual picnic. We decided to have the picnic in September at the park where we normally meet, and we decided who would bring what.

July 21, 2007

We had a very interesting meeting today, in more ways than one. The "traditional" meeting was a presentation on cochlear implants by Sandy Mintz of Advanced Bionics, and we were all very interested in this topic. Our audience included several cochlear implant users and several candidates, as well as folks who will likely be candidates before too long. Sandy did a great job of describing how an implant works, what the components are, who is a candidate, etc.

Following Sandy's presentation we took a short break for snacks and socialization, and then reconvened for some chapter business.

OK, but what about the "non-traditional" meeting? What's that all about? Well, we had a couple of unexpected events that presented some challenges for the presenter and meeting facilitators.

The first was a problem with our captioner's laptop. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to get her system working. So Larry brought out his laptop, and the captioner and Larry took turns typing as much as they could of Sandy's presentation. Sandy helped them out by speaking slowly and repeating questions, and it really worked out surprisingly well.

Just as we were getting that problem under control, a very loud alarm sounded. At first we thought it was a fire alarm, and then a car alarm, and then we realized it was the security alarm for the building we were in. An elderly gentleman had come through our meeting room and entered a part of the building that is closed (and on the alarm) on weekends. So that disrupted the meeting for about ten minutes, until we were able to get one of the center people over to turn the alarm off!

We carried on in spite of the disruptions, and had a great meeting in spite of the challenges. I'm hoping for a less "interesting" meeting next month! ;-)

August 18, 2007

Today's meeting had a little bit of everything!

We started with an "open mic", and several members came up and talked about what has been going on in their lives. These discussions are always good, because they give us an opportunity to get to know each other a little better.

Then Joan talked about the national ALDA conference, which is coming up in Rochester, NY at the end of the month. She's especially excited about attending this conference, because her twin sister will be there for part of the conference.

Next we reviewed the plans for our picnic next month. The picnic will be from 11AM to 1PM, and we'll plan to eat at 11:30. The food will be laid out in our normal room, and we'll have some games in there for people to play. We'll also have a couple of picnic tables outside, and some space for outdoor games, for those who want to be a bit more active.

After a short break with some social time and lots of cookies, we reconvened for part two of Larry's technology discussion. He reviewed the topics that were discussed in part one a few months ago, and then moved on to new topics, which included recent developments in cochlear implants, the hybrid cochlear implant, voice recognition technology, internet relay, and internet captioned telephone.

September 15, 2007

Annual Picnic at 11:00 AM - We had an OUTSTANDING picnic this year. The food was yummy, as always, and it was great to get a chance to catch up with folks in a relaxed environment. The "entertainment" was provided by Char and Bonnie, who started with a water balloon fight and ended up wrestling! Fortunately they settled down in time for the bocci ball tournament.

October 20, 2007

We had four newcomers today, including two from the Hearing Loss Network speechreading class. It was great to see the new folks, as well as many of the regulars!

Joan began the meeting by talking about her experiences at the ALDA national conference in Rochester, NY. Her trip was especially significant, because she got to spend some time with her twin sister, who lives near Rochester. Joan explained that both she and her sister began losing their hearing when they were about eight years old. Her sister's hearing loss was larger, so she attended the New Mexico School for the Deaf, while Joan continued in mainstream schools. Joan was happy that her sister had the opportunity to experience and appreciate the support that ALDA provides.

As the discussion progressed, people brought up relevant issues and topics, and we had a really great discussion of the various ways that hearing loss affects everyone, how difficult it is to get appropriate accommodations, and various coping strategies. I think these kinds of meetings are among the most valuable we have!

After a break and lots of goodies, we continued with a discussion of next month's Thanksgiving potluck. The potluck will start at 11AM, rather than our normal start time. If you haven't signed up and will be coming, please let me know (larry@hearinglossnetwork.org) what you'd like to bring so I can keep the list up to date!

Hope to see EVERYONE at the Thanksgiving potluck!

November 17, 2007

We had our Thanksgiving Potluck in November! It was a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I can promise you that no one walked away hungry, and folks took leftovers home for another meal or two. And despite all his boasting, Larry was NOT able to eat all the desserts!

December 15, 2007

We had our Holiday Celebration, White Elephant gift exchange and CAROLING! If you've never participated in a White Elephant gift exchange you've been missing an exciting new experience! And if you haven't heard this group sing, you're REALLY missing something.! 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!