3. July 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

Brenda Battat, Executive Director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, will speak at the Saturday, October 16th meeting.

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26. May 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

 The Hearing Loss Association of America announces 7 new videos about hearing loss.  All videos have easy to read captions and informative, well organized content.  Highly recommended!

The topics are:

1. Hearing Loss Basic Facts
2. Hearing Loss Symptoms
3. Hearing Loss Diagnosis
4. Hearing Loss Treatments
5. Living with Hearing Loss
6. Hearing Loss Causes and Prevention
7. Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants and Assistive Listening Devices

All the videos are available by clicking on this link:  http://www.hearingloss.org/learn/hearingloss_vids.asp

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22. May 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

Read this information from our National headquarters in Washington, and thank Senator Kerry!

HLAA sent the following letter of thanks to co sponsors of S. 3304:

May 21, 2010

Senator John F. Kerry, Chairman
Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet

Senator Mark L. Pryor, Member
Senate Subcommittee on Communications,Technology and the Internet

Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Member
Senate Subcommittee on Communications,Technology and the Internet

Senator Kent Conrad

Re: “Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act of 2010” (S. 3304)

Dear Chairman and Senators:

Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) wishes to express our deep
and profound thanks for the momentous and significant introduction of
the “Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act of 2010” (S.
3304). S. 3304 will advance modernization of the current disability
accessibility mandates in the Communications Act for communication and
video programming products and services. This bill, helping to ensure
accessible telecommunications technologies, is a major step forward for
people with disabilities.

The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) is the nation’s leading
grassroots organization representing the rights of people with hearing
loss. The HLAA mission is to open the world of communication to people
with hearing loss through information, education, advocacy, and
support. HLAA impacts accessibility, public policy, research, public
awareness, and service delivery related to hearing loss on a national
and local level. HLAA’s national support network includes 200 local
chapters nationwide, 14 state organizations and an office just outside
Washington, DC.

HLAA is encouraged by the introduction of S. 3304. In this year of the
20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passage
of S. 3304 will affirm the principles of equal access, equal
opportunity, and equal participation for people with disabilities to
communications, technology, and the Internet. Communications
technologies are essential components of daily life; inextricably woven
into the fabric of modern life. Such technologies – when designed and
developed to be accessible – enable new levels of independence and
civic engagement for all Americans.

HLAA is particularly pleased to see that S. 3304 contains the following
key provisions:

Increasing Communications Access

- Requires access to phone-type equipment and services used for
advanced communications
- Adds improved accountability and enforcement measures, including a
clearinghouse and reporting obligations by providers and manufacturers
- Requires telephone products used for advanced communications to be
hearing aid compatible
- Allows use of Lifeline and Link-up universal service funds (USF) for
broadband
- Allocates up to $10 million/year for equipment used by people who are
deaf-blind
- Clarifies the scope of relay services to include calls between and
among people with disabilities and requires interconnected VoIP service
providers to contribute to the Relay Service Fund
- Requires FCC to develop real-time text digital standard
Video Programming Access

- Requires caption decoder circuitry or display capability in all video
programming devices
- Extends closed captioning obligations to video programming
distributed over the Internet
- Requires easy access to closed captions via remote control and
on-screen menus
- Requires easy access by blind people to television controls and
on-screen menus
- Restores video description rules and requires access to televised
emergency programming for people who are blind or have low vision
HLAA is committed to working with you and others on S. 3304. We do
advocate for defining “covered advanced communications” to include
non-interconnected as well as interconnected VoIP, video conferencing,
and electronic messaging (to ensure access to SMS text messaging,
electronic mail, and instant messaging); adoption of the
well-established and appropriate undue burden compliance standard for
prospective obligations; extending relay service obligations to
non-interconnected VoIP providers; and timely action by the delegated
authority.

We look to your leadership to establish significant new achievements in
communications technology accessibility for people with disabilities.
We believe a Senate Hearing would be another significant step forward
in conquering the barriers to accessibility and usability that our
members and constituents encounter daily at home, in the workplace, in
the classroom, and in their community, in this fast-paced,
technology-driven modern world.

HLAA is committed to working with you and the whole Committee to ensure
strong legislation that will take all of us into a new world of 21st
Century communications that work for everyone.

Sincerely,

Brenda Battat
Executive Director

The letter was sent via fax and US Mail to:

Senator John F. Kerry, Chairman
Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
218 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Via Fax 202-224-8525

Senator Mark L. Pryor, Member
Senate Subcommittee on Communications,Technology and the Internet
225 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Via Fax 202-228-0908

Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Member
Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Via Fax 202-224-1193

Senator Kent Conrad
530 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Via Fax 202-224-7776

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21. April 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

May 22 Saturday 2 pm at Dennis Public Library, Dennisport — UNDERSTANDING OUR LOCAL WILDLIFE: CURRENT RESEARCH AT WELLFLEET BAYWhat do piping plovers, diamondback terrapins, horseshoe crabs and the Wellfleet oyster have in common? They are all subjects of long-term projects conducted by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Wellfleet Bay engages in a number of wildlife studies that examine the population, ecology, and conservation issues of a variety of coastal species. Diamondback terrapins and Eastern box turtles are the subjects of a mark-and-recapture project; horseshoe crabs are tagged and censused to learn more about their distribution and population size; nesting piping plovers and least terns are monitored and protected; and an exciting new project to restore oyster habitat off the sanctuary is underway. And the majority of these projects are executed with the help of citizen scientists—trained volunteers, many with no previous experience, who work with Wellfleet Bay staff to meet the goals of the projects. This exciting network of volunteers helps raise our understanding of Cape Cod’s wildlife on multiple levels. This presentation will highlight Wellfleet Bay’s current research and monitoring projects and provide insight into what we have learned from our studies.

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26. March 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

David Roellke of Cape Cod Hearing Center in Hyannis will discuss NEW ADVANCES IN HEARING TECHNOLOGY at Dennis Public Library in Dennisport.  Coffee and Conversation at 1:30 pm, meeting begins at 2 pm.

David is a very entertaining and most importantly, understandable, speaker who can explain technology in a very nontechnical way.  Plus, the hearing loop in the room and CART, live transcription, means you will understand every word without straining.

Everyone welcome!

Also, Harwich Adult Education programs are beginning soon.

http://www.harwich.edu/depts/hsfrc/hclc/adulted/adedschedule.htm

300                                Intro. to ASL & Deaf Culture                           Cost $80
Mondays 6:00pm to 8:00pm 8 weeks

April 5, 12, 26; May 3, 10 17, 24;June 7
Location: HMS

This course is a basic sampling of everyday vocabulary, ASL instruction and overview of the Deaf Culture. It is a total involvement class and students will quickly learn how to communicate in modes other than verbal. Instructor: Tom Driscoll; Cape Cod Community College Instructor for American Sign Language

402                 Confidence Course for the Hearing Impaired           Cost $85
Wednesdays 5:00pm to 8:00pm 4 weeks

April 28; May 5,12,19
Location: HMS

If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, you should be using email, texting, web captel (FREE captioned telephone service through your computer), and taking advantage of the tons of information
available to you online. Instructor: Bobbie McDonnell. bobbie@lilyweb.net with questions.

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7. March 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

– Here’s some information from another HLA member about You Tube captions.  It’s a great start, though if you are NOT hearing impaired, you should look at Sandra Bullock’s Oscar acceptance speech to see why captioning by human beings is better than voice recognition captioning.  As Dana said, it can be funny, unless you really want to know what someone is saying.  –

As I hope most everyone knows, YouTube recently started providing
automatic transcription/captioning for all new videos uploaded to
YouTube.

I just did a search for a new video to doublecheck on how to make the
captions appear.  It turns out that there are a couple of steps to
take to turn the automatic captioning on for the first time, and that
merely seeing the “CC” with a red background on the bottom of the
video isn’t enough to see captions now.

For example, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtZLvFrl6qk&feature=aso

Click on the “CC” on the bottom part of the video and wait for the
menu to pop up.

Click on “Transcribe Audio (Beta)” at the top.  This turns on the automatic
transcription/captioning which is done for new videos. (Most older
videos won’t have that feature enabled yet.)

After activating the automatic captioning, one can then choose to change
the caption settings (the font and the size of the captions)  and
one’s account settings (if you don’t have an account on YouTube, it’s
helpful to set one up so you can set captioning preferences, save your
favorites, create playlists, etc.).  I just changed my YouTube account
settings so that automatic captioning is always activated.

The captioning is pretty cool!

Note that the automatic captioning will invariably have errors in it
if the owner of the video hasn’t corrected it. Some of the captioning
will probably be funny when it hasn’t been corrected yet.  <g>

Dana

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22. February 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

Sometimes we take our hearing aids for granted and forget what it’s like without them.  Here are some actual stories we’ve heard lately to get you thinking about what would happen if you were in a situation without your hearing aids.  How can you let people know how much you need them (other than tattooing  “please face me, I lipread” on your forehead.)

–Before an MRI, your hearing aids are taken away.  Then the attendant talks to you through a microphone when you are inside the machine and you have no idea what he’s saying.

–You are about to have minor surgery.  You wait in the pre-op room for over an hour and don’t get taken.  You discover they have called your name and you didn’t hear them, so they thought you went home.

–You collapse at home (without your hearing aids on) and the rescue squad comes to get you.  They decide that you have Alzheimer’s because you don’t respond to their questioning while their backs are turned.   Luckily your family arrives and asks where your hearing aids are.

You will have to do some advanced planning to avoid these situations, but what to do?

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5. February 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

NAD, NFL, and CBS Collaborate to Increase Captioned Super Bowl Commercials

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and the National Football League (NFL) along with CBS Corporation, the network airing Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010, have collaborated to make advertisers who purchase Super Bowl commercials aware of the importance of captioning their content. As a result of these efforts, viewers should notice an increased number of captioned commercials compared to previous Super Bowls. The NAD thanks the NFL and CBS Corporation for their efforts to promote closed captioning of the television commercials.

Working alongside with the NAD and the NFL, CBS encouraged all of their Super Bowl advertisers to close caption their commercials. The NAD appreciates the efforts of the NFL and CBS on this important issue for the deaf and hard of hearing community. The NAD will monitor the results as we pursue a fully captioned experience from start to finish for all future Super Bowls.

The Super Bowl experience includes not only the exciting battle between two football conference champions, but also groundbreaking creative ads which have become a cultural phenomenon. While the Super Bowl game has been captioned for years, the commercials have remained less accessible. With the help of the NFL, the percentage of Super Bowl commercials captioned in last year’s Super Bowl showed a significant improvement. The deaf and hard of hearing community has engaged in an annual ritual of counting the number of captioned advertisements during the Super Bowl.
–
The National Association of the Deaf
8630 Fenton Street, Suite 820
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3819
United States

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13. January 2010 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

Happy New Year to members and friends of the Hearing Loss Association, Cape Cod Chapter!

Our first meeting of the new year will be Saturday, January 23rd, at 1:30
pm at the Dennis Public Library in Dennisport. 1:30 is coffee and
conversation, and our meeting begins at 2 pm. The topic is “Hearing Help for All Ages” and we have two interesting speakers:

Cara Jordan, Director of the Clarke School East, has extensive experience working
with young children to develop their spoken communication skills. Many
are mainstreamed back into their local schools at kindergarten or first
grade.

Tom Driscoll teaches sign language at Cape Cod Community College. His topic is “Living
and Excelling in the Land of the Hearing” and will talk about his
experiences coping with his hearing loss and how he not only “survives”
but excels.

Because it gets dark so early, please make an effort to offer a ride to someone who doesn’t drive late in the day.

Please join us for this interesting program. Thanks to the generosity of Siemens Hearing Instruments and the Cape Cod Hearing Center, we will have CART at this meeting.

Our fabulous treasurer since 1991, Ken has resigned. He dedicated many hours to the duties of treasurer with never a complaint and we relied on him for all kinds of chapter information. We wish him all the best and hope to see him at a meeting soon.

See you on Saturday, January 23rd, at 1:30, Dennis Public Library in Dennisport!
Bobbie and Betty

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14. December 2009 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

You have an opportunity to help pioneer and join two great new groups within the HLAA family in Massachusetts!

Hear@Boston

Hear@Boston is a community of young adults with hearing loss in the Boston area.  Most of our members are 20-35 years old, though we welcome people of all ages.  We host monthly events ranging from happy hours to invited speakers.  In addition to these monthly events, we also set up area events that are accessible (open-captioned theater, accessible tours of the MFA or Fenway Park).  Our members are also involved in advocacy, most recently with the push to get medical coverage for hearing aids.  If you or someone you know who would be interested in participating in our next support/social function, please feel free to contact James at HearAtBoston@gmail.com

Working 9-5ers

If you are a person with a hearing loss, between the ages of 35-55 and would like to meet other people on a social basis, perhaps you may be interested in joining our active social group allied with Hear@Boston. We are a social/support group of “working 9-5ers” who would like to meet other folks with hearing loss and participate in activities such as dinners out and about in the city, cinema, theatre, sporting and museum events, pleasure trips to Foxwoods/Mohegan Sun, “happy hour”, bowling, sailing lessons, skiing excursions, concerts, poker or scrabble night, and day trips to historical towns throughout New England.   If you or someone you know who would be interested in participating in our next social function, please feel free to contact Anthony at ajcinmass@yahoo.com

Our next social event open to everyone is the December 20th performance of Mama Mia, an open captioned matinee playing at the Colonial Theatre.  Email ADABoston@BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com or call 617-880-2419 to purchase tickets.  When leaving a voicemail message, be sure to include your desire for seats closest to the open captioning.  For more details, please visit:  http://www.bostonscolonialtheatre.com/Access.html

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