About Us


We are under the umbrella of the national organization of Hearing Loss Association of America which is located in Bethesda. Maryland. http://www.hearingloss.org



HLA-RI’s primary function is to educate it members, their families and friends about the causes, nature and complications of hearing loss and what can be done to better cope with that loss. We hold monthly meetings between September and June at which we may have guest speakers on a variety of topics relating to hearing loss. We may also have informal meetings where the members share their experiences and knowledge relating to hearing loss. We also have two socials a year as well.


We are able to provide CART –Computer Aided Real Time Captioning which is projected on to a large screen so that the participants can “hear what is being said in the meetings”

Some meeting topics include Accessibility, hearing aids, legislation, cochlear implants, tinnitus, captioning, relay system, assistive devices, state services, coping tips many more topics! We also have social events.


Before HLA-RI, many of the members felt isolated, found communication a struggle, were confused about technology, didn’t know their rights and hid their hearing loss


And now HLA-RI is a place to find answers, ask new questions, and meet people who understand. HLA-RI is a resource for information and friendship.

The monthly meetings are held at different locations within Rhode Island. To be placed on the email distribution list for notices and other important announcements, send an email to hearinglossri@gmail.com This email list is not shared with any organizations or individuals and each HLA-RI ‘s member is blind copied on each email.


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

June Meeting

HEARING LOSS ASSN OF AMERICA
RHODE ISLAND STATE AND CHAPTER MEETING
June 8, 6:30
WARWICK PUBLIC LIBRARY

AGENDA

1. Introductions which include a one sentence sharing on our personal relationship to hearing loss (we are still getting to know each other!)

2. Brief report on activities for the month of May: our meeting, the EXPO, David's presentations on looping

3. Report on our treasury and voting on RISD donation, subscriptions

4. Finalize plans for: movie night, sail, outing, walk.  Pass out calendars.  

5. Discussion on outreach and marketing: website, Facebook, calls to contacts from the EXPO

Be sure to attend and bring your questions and thoughts and suggestions!

There will be CART (Computer Aided Real Time Captioning) so that everyone can "hear" what is being said.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

May 18th Meeting @ Warwick Library

Next Meeting: Monday May 18th, 6:30-8:30 PM                        

Where: Warwick Public Library, Sandy Lane, Warwick, RI

Facilitators: Betsy Beach and George "Herk" Herchenroether

This meeting will be an informal discussion with time to talk about:

First of all: 

An brief informal discussion with time to talk about:

Your experience as a person with hearing loss
Your hopes for our RI HLA Chapter

Secondly: 

Group brainstorming about our informational and social events throughout the next year!  

Decide on the speakers we want

Finalize the calendar for the year

Thirdly:

Outreach to new membership and other issues of concern


Be sure to attend and bring your questions and thoughts and suggestions!

There will be CART (Computer Aided Real Time Captioning) so that everyone can "hear" what is being said.


Movie Captioning News

FROM RI CDHH News email 

FYI
In a message dated 4/21/2015 3:54:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, CDHH.News@cdhh.ri.gov writes:

MOVIE ACCESSIBILITY IN RI
These two (2) vlogs are captioned, conducted in American Sign Language, and spoken English.
Part I - Providence Place Mall Movie Theater - Accessibility/Equipment
To see vlog (Part 1 of 2) - please click here
Part II - Movie Access Commission

To see vlog (Part 2 of 2) - Please click here

About RICDHH

The Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (RICDHH) is an advocating, coordinating, and service providing entity committed to promoting an environment in which the deaf and hard of hearing in Rhode Island are afforded equal opportunity in all aspects of their lives.

Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Department of Administration Building
One Capitol Hill, Ground Floor
Providence, RI 02908
401-256-5511 - TEL/VP
401-222-5736 - FAX
Email: cdhh.main@cdhh.ri.gov 
URL: 
www.cdhh.ri.gov

Hearing Loss Awareness Month May 2015

PLEASE HOLD THE DATES!

FROM RI CDHH News email

HEARING LOSS AWARENESS MONTH SCHEDULE - MAY 2015
Please visit www.cdhh.ri.gov/events/schedule for updated information about each event
Please note:  The postcards for Hearing Loss Awareness Month event schedule in May 2015 have already been mailed.  If you haven't received your postcard for last year's events and would like to have a postcard for upcoming events to be mailed to you, please email tocdhh.main@cdhh.ri.gov with your mailing address.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, April 29th, 5:30pm – 6:30pm (free)* RISDeaf’s 125th Birthday Kick Off Celebration * Rhode Island School for the Deaf will host 125th Birthday Kick Off Celebration at Rhode Island State House, 82 Smith Street, Providence, RI.  ASL Interpreters and CART will be provided.  RSVP is required. This event is sponsored by Board of Trustees - The Rhode Island School for the Deaf.  For more information, email: Celebrate@rideaf.net.
Birthday Kick Off Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, May 2nd, 9am
* RISDeaf's 5K Walk-Run * Rhode Island School for the Deaf will host a 5K Walk-Run at Lincoln Woods State Park, 2 Manchester Print Works Road, Lincoln, RI. Money raised will help send RISD students to summer camp. For more information, contact Michelle Florio at
mflorio@rideaf.net.
RISD 5K Flyer - please click here
Registration - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, May 3rd, 12pm - 3pm (free)
* Ice Cream Social & Make Mosaics with Artist/Teacher of the Deaf Peter Geisser *

Ice cream social and activities for children who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held at the Providence Children's Museum, 100 South Street, Providence, RI 02903.   ASL Interpreters and CART will be provided. For more information, contact Cathy Saunders at
saunders@childrensmuseum.org.
Children's Museum Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday, May 9th, 10am - 11:30am (free)
* Making Connections for Families with Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing *
Rhode Island Parent Information Network will host a group meeting for families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing at 1210 Pontiac Avenue, Cranston, RI.  ASL interpreter will be provided. Child care is available and refreshments will be served.  RSVP is required. For more information or RSVP, contact Elsbeth Brown at 
brown@ripin.org or 401-277-3690.
Making Connections Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, May 12th, 10am – 12pm (free) 
* Advocating for Hearing Assistive Technology at Public Places * Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing invites you to attend a presentation given by David Abell at the Newport Public Library, Program Room, 300 Spring Street, Newport, RI.  The presentation topic is Advocating for Hearing Assistive Technology at Public Places.  ASL Interpreters and CART will be provided. For more information, contact Pamela Zellner at 401-256-5511 or email:pamela.zellner@cdhh.ri.gov.
Presentation Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, May 13th, 6pm - 8pm (free)
* Technology and Communication Strategies for Persons with Hearing Loss *
Technology and Communication Strategies for Persons with Hearing Loss, TechACCESS, 110 Jefferson Boulevard, Suite I, Warwick, RI. Program: 5pm to 6pm - view and demonstrate ATEL equipment ONLY and 6pm to 8pm - Technology and Communication Strategies for Persons with Hearing Loss. For more information: email at 
denise.corson@ors.ri.gov or call 401-463-0202 or visit ATEL's website: www.atel.ri.gov.  
Demonstration Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, May 15th, 8am - 3:30pm
* RIHAP's 21st Annual Seminar *
Rhode Island Hearing Assessment Program will host 21st Annual Seminar, "Creating Positive Environments for Children with Hearing Loss" at Crowne Plaza at the Crossing, 801 Greenwich Avenue, Warwick, RI.  ASL Interpreters and CART will be provided. For registration or information: Sherri Lee Moniz, 401-277-3604 or email: 
Slmoniz@wihri.org.
Seminar Brochure - please click here
Online Registration - coming soon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, May 19th, 10am – 12pm (free)
* Advocating for Hearing Assistive Technology at Public Places *
 
Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing invites you to attend a presentation given by David Abell at the Warwick Public Library, Meeting Room, 600 Sandy Lane, Warwick, RI.  The presentation topic is Advocating for Hearing Assistive Technology at Public Places.  ASL Interpreters and CART will be provided. For more information, contact Pamela Zellner at 401-256-5511 or email:
pamela.zellner@cdhh.ri.gov.
Presentation Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, May 19th, 2pm - 4pm (free)
* RISHA's Annual Better Hearing and Speech Month *
 

Rhode Island Speech-Language-Hearing Association will celebrate Annual Better Hearing and Speech Month by having a display event at the Rhode Island State House, 82 Smith Street, Providence, RI. RSVP by May 14th. For more information or RSVP, contact RISHA Past President, Ellen Connery at 
Ellenconnery@verizon.net or visit RISHA's website: www.risha.info.
RISHA Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, May 20th, 6pm - 9pm (free)
* RICDHH Public Meeting *
RICDHH Public Meeting will be held at the Department of Administration Building, Conference Room A, 2nd Floor, One Capitol Hill, Providence, RI. The meeting is open for public. ASL Interpreters and CART will be provided. For more information, contact Pamela Zellner at 401-256-5511 or email:
pamela.zellner@cdhh.ri.gov.
Public Meeting Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday, May 21st, 11am - 3:30pm (free) 
* Hearing Loss Awareness EXPO *
The Hearing Loss Awareness EXPO will be held at the Department of Administration Building, Atrium, 1st Floor, One Capitol Hill, Providence, RI. The EXPO will have more than 20 exhibitors to share beneficial information and resources with people who have different levels of hearing. Everyone is welcome to come and see what's new! ASL Interpreter will be provided. For more information, contact Pamela Zellner at 401-256-5511 or email: 
pamela.zellner@cdhh.ri.gov.
EXPO Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, May 27th, 12pm - 2pm (free)
* Lunch and Learn, Removing Barriers to Independence*

Lunch and Learn, Removing Barriers to Independence workshop will be held at Ocean State Center of Independent Living, 1944 Warwick Avenue, Warwick, RI.  Pizza and light refreshments will be served.  Registration is required one week prior.  CART will be provided.  To register, or for more information: call 401-738-1013, Ext. 13 or visit ATEL's website: 
www.atel.ri.gov
Lunch and Learn Flyer - please click here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PARTICIPATING AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS:
Adaptive Telephone Equipment Loan Program
Hamilton Relay
Hands & Voices
Hearing Loss Association of RI
Ocean State Center for Independent Living
Providence Children's Museum
RI Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
RI Hearing Assessment Program
RI Parent Information Network
RI School for the Deaf
RI Speech-Language-Hearing Association



Monday, April 13, 2015

Next Meeting

Next Meeting: Monday April 20th6:30-8:30 PM                         

Where: Warwick Public Library, Sandy Lane, Warwick, RI

Topics:  Informal Discussion as a Person with a Hearing loss

Facilitator: Betsy Beach

This meeting will be an informal discussion with time to talk about:

Your experience as a person with hearing loss
Your hopes for our RI HLA Chapter

Secondly: A chance to work together to plan for:

The May Hearing Loss Expo at the State Offices Building
Informational and social events throughout the rest of the year
Expanding our membership
Other topics of interest to the group

Be sure to attend and bring your questions and thoughts and suggestions!

There will be CART (Computer Aided Real Time Captioning) so that everyone can "hear" what is being said.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Next Meeting March 7th 2-4PM Warwikc Library

Please join us on for a special strategy and planning meeting for HLA-RI:

Saturday March 7th,
2 – 4pm
Warwick Public Library, Sandy Lane, Warwick, RI,

We have been working with Ed Ogiba, the Director of Chapter Development for Hearing Loss Association of America, to better understand how we can operate as both a state entity (influencing hearing access throughout Rhode Island) and as a chapter (organizing activities for our members).  At our strategy and planning meeting we will redesign HLA-RI to be more effective as an organization, brainstorm ideas on how to solicit more participation, and plan our 2015 program.

Below is some background on how we can operate as a state organization and as a chapter.  If you have ideas on how we can do both of these, please join us at the meeting.  If you cannot attend, please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with the steering committee by sending an email to HLARhodeIsland@aol.com

--- State Organization ---
As a state entity, we want to support the 4-prong mission of HLAA:
1)    Advocacy: select  HLAA policy initiatives to implement in RI
Previously we have been successful in implementing initiatives related to hearing aid insurance, newborn screening, T-coil awareness, and requiring political ads to be captioned if a candidate uses state funding for their campaigns.  We will review the current HLAA advocacy agenda and decide which area to focus on.  The top issues currently include hearing health care awareness and affordability, hearing accessible venues, captioning quality, hearing aid compatible and captioned telephones, hearing assistive technology, emergency preparedness, and communication access in the workplace.  Do any of these topics resonate with you?

2)    Awareness: make hearing loss an issue of state-wide concern
Previously we have coordinated efforts with state organizations and state agencies to make sure that hearing loss issues are part of the state-wide agenda.  We have staffed tables at town and state health fair events, made presentations, participated in committees, and many other activities to promote awareness about hearing loss and HLAA.  We will review what we are currently doing and decide if there are additional ways that we can promote awareness about hearing loss throughout RI.

3)    Education: provide information on how to improve the quality of life for people with hearing loss
Previously we have provided information on our website and through our email list.  We have also used educational programs at meetings to provide information about technology and coping strategies.  HLAA has an educational program that includes webinars and course offerings.  We will review how we currently doing and decide if there are additional ways that we can provide education about hearing access.

4)    Fundraising: raise money to support planned programs
Previously we have raised funds through generous donations from our members and our participation in the New England Walk4Hearing.  As we develop plans for 2015, we will also identify fundraising needs and opportunities.

--- Chapter Organization ---
As a chapter, we want to organize meetings and activities for our HLA-RI members.  We have had many chapter meetings with interesting and informative speakers over the last 25 years since our Self Help for the Hard of Hearing Sargent Chapter was formerly recognized in 1989 when we were located in Providence and later moved to Warwick.  We have also organized social events including dinner socials and the annual sailing trip. 

If we transition HLA-RI into a state organization and a chapter, will this make it easier for people to engage in the activities they are interested in?  Will this help us both advance hearing access throughout the state and organize activities of interest to our members?  Come join us to brainstorm our future.


We hope to see you on March 7th!

There will be CART.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Webinar


If you are unable to view the message below, you can view this message on our website.  
WEBINAR: MFi (Made for iPhone) and Telecoil Technology: A Winning Team
January 19, 2015
photo of presenter
Guest Speaker: Juliëtte Sterkens, Au.D.
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Time: 8 p.m. - 9 p.m. Eastern Time
Join us this Wednesday for a free captioned webinar featuring Juliëtte Sterkens, Au.D., who will be presenting MFi (Made for iPhone) and Telecoil Technology: A Winning Team.

Juliëtte Sterkens, Au.D. took a leave from her audiology practice to take on the position of Hearing Loop Advocate for HLAA, traveling across the country to meet with HLAA Chapters and audiologists about the importance of telecoils and how to get a hearing loop project started in their community.

Summary
Please join HLAA Hearing Loop Advocate Juliëtte Sterkens, Au.D. for an informative session on Made For iPhone (MFi), Bluetooth and Telecoil Wireless Technology. Learn where and when each technology can help you hear with hearing devices you already own. Looking to replace your instruments in the near future? Attend this webinar to learn what questions to ask of your hearing provider regarding wireless technology.

How to Join the Webinar
Go to the Webinar Schedule page and click on the Join Webinar button.
Java is no longer a requirement to access our webinar platform, Blackboard Collaborate, but there is a series of steps required for first time attendees; we recommend spending a few minutes well in advance of the webinar making sure you are able to access Collaborate. Should you have any questions, please contact Nancy Macklin, HLAA Director of Events, at nmacklin@hearingloss.org or 301.657.2248 Ext. 106.
Hearing Loss Association of America 7910 Woodmont Ave, Suite 1200 Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone: 301-657-2248  |  Fax: 301-913-9413  |  Email: inquiry@hearingloss.org  |  Join HLAA

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