I have been personally blessed with a wife, sister, cousins, and daughters that are each fiercely independent women and leaders in their own life. I want to thank them for continuing to make the world a better place.

I want to thank Helen Beebe and Dr. Marion Downs, who were both endlessly passionate in teaching spoken language to children with hearing loss, and still inspire professionals today.

I want to thank the pioneering figures in our community, none such as individually empowering as Dr. Jane Ling. Herself a dedicated pioneer in the education of deaf children, Jane worked to continue her husband's indomitable legacy in the field of listening and spoken language by establishing the Ling Consortium.

I also want to recognize four young teachers of the deaf,  Julia E. Polito Castro, Maria Haydee Cáceres, Obdulia García Pico and Sara Polito Castro. They founded Instituto Oral Modelo on May 14, 1956 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their objective of teaching children to hear and talk continues in that esteemed institution today.

Today, I am proud to celebrate all the professional women in our field who have empowered children with hearing loss to live independent, self-sufficient lives. And lastly, I thank all the women on the AG Bell board of directors, the AG Bell Academy, and staff who make advancing listening and spoken language not a job, but a mission.

Sincerely,

Emilio Alonso-Mendoza, J.D., CFRE