CAPTIONING COMES TO BROADWAY

BEYOND HEARING AIDS

On October 21, 2017, HLAA's NYC Chapter hosted "Beyond Hearing Aids," a symposium for audiology and speech language pathology students. It was our way to say "thank you" to students for their support of this Fall's NYC Walk4Hearing. Topics included many things audiology students don't normally learn about in class - alternative technologies like OTC hearing aids, assistive devices, hearing loops, and cochlear implants. Leaders from the NYC audiologic community and local HLAA members also shared patient perspective as well as tips for living well with hearing loss - including joining HLAA!

OPEN FORUM ABOUT HEARING LOSS

At the October chapter meeting, HLAA-NYC President Katherine Bouton presided over a meeting in which attendees shared stories about living with hearing loss. Several participants talked about the difficulty of hearing in noisy environments, and need to constantly reiterate the "speak slowly and distinctly" and "please face me when you're talking to me" requests. As board member Nancie Collin pointed out, "You have to educate people who have normal hearing.

Jerry Bergman, President of HLAA's New York State Association, puts his hearing disability front and center by flashing a card that says, "I am hard of hearing." Board member Carol Karasick noted that whenever she makes dinner

	Carol Karasick

reservations she requests a table against a wall or in a corner to minimize background noise. Regarding restaurant dinners, another board member, Ellen Semel, stressed that she always asks proprietors to lower - or turn off - background music. Carol also talked about the wonders of constantly evolving hearing aid and assistive listening technology. She added, "Yet it is daunting to keep up with it all. You get something and the next year you find out something better is available. We have to learn to be very educated consumers."

 

Other topics included the challenges of communicating with people who have beards, mustaches, or foreign accents, and how we alert people to our hearing situation. In addition to Jerry's "hard of hearing" card, accounts included: "I'm hearing impaired," "I have a hearing loss," "I have a hearing disability," "I'm a little bit deaf," and "I'm half deaf." Participants agreed that saying something far exceeds saying nothing. In the words of board member Rick Savadow, "When I say I have a hearing loss, people want to talk to me about it; they have questions and comments - whether it's for them or someone they know. It always stimulates conversation."

ART IN MY LIFE

Manhattan Sunset

A few weeks ago, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer sent out an announcement for a juried Senior Art show, "Better With Age," to be hung in the Maggi Peyton Gallery in the Municipal Building, One Centre Street. The building and the views from the 19th floor gallery are works of art to be enjoyed and admired on their own!

 

The announcement of the show coincided with my creating a mixed media painting, Manhattan Sunset, in the pastel class I attend at the National Council of Jewish Women in Manhattan. With the encouragement of my teacher, I submitted my art work to the show, something I've never done before. Much to my surprise and delight, my painting was accepted and I went to the Opening Reception with my daughter-in-law and grandson on Tuesday, October 10 (see photo below).

When I retired, I was able to do some of the things on my long "When I Have Time" list.  Taking into account my progressive sensorineural hearing loss, for which I wear two powerful in-the-ear aids and use assistive listening devices, I looked for activities where hearing isn't critical. I became a Volunteer Gardener in Central Park because I miss my suburban garden and don't need to be able to hear well to rake leaves and pull weeds. I help with hearing accessible gallery tours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I continue my hearing advocacy and writing for HLAA-NYC and the Center for Hearing and Communication. I'm also a member of the Museum Access Consortium (MAC), a group of over one hundred museums and cultural organizations in the metropolitan area whose goal is to make local cultural venues accessible to people with disabilities. 

	Amy and Aaron Shapiro with Manhattan Sunset

Best of all, I have time for art classes, something I loved all my life but never had time for because I was responsible for my family and that included four children, who sometimes required my presence at a moment's notice, or I was traveling for work.

 

In most art classes, teachers give demonstrations at the beginning of class and then talk with students individually. I can understand the demos by watching and don't usually have trouble with one-on-one conversations because everyone is working and the room is quiet. If necessary, I use my FM system. Over the years, I've painted with watercolors, oils, and acrylics, tried my hand at bookbinding and weaving, and attended a "Creative Stretches" clay class. Every summer I take a class in an art or craft I've never done before. That's how I found out I like doing collage. The collage teacher also teaches pastels. Eventually, I dropped the collage class and signed up for the pastel class because the teacher includes collage techniques. That is how I came to create Manhattan Sunset, a mixed media piece that involves using collage and pastels. As my hearing continues to deteriorate (the joys of getting older are endless), I look forward to the quiet times when I can be creative and not concerned about what I'm not hearing.

SAVE THE DATES FOR UPCOMING CHAPTER MEETINGS

February 20       Recognizing and Confronting Stigma

March  20          Aural Rehabilitation

April 17             Hearing and the Brain

May 22              Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony

No meetings in January, June, July, and August

HLAA NYC recently learned of the formation of an advisory panel aimed at improving access to courts in New York State for people with disabilities. The panel, established by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, "will work to identify and remove barriers to court facilities and services, wherever possible, ensuring that New York's state courts are readily accessible to all people," according to Judge DiFiore.

 

The 17-member panel's formation came to the attention of Chapter members Howard Davis and Jerry Bergman. They are working with Chapter President Katherine Bouton in an effort to help those with hearing loss understand their rights under the ADA and to improve accommodations and procedures within the State Court System.

 

The three leaders recently met with Daniel Weitz, the court system's director of professional and court services, to review the varying needs of people with hearing loss - from infrared listening devices to CART - and how court personnel and procedures can better promote accessibility for us. The Chapter offered its assistance in training court personnel and improving notifications and signage.

 

Click here to familiarize yourself with the rights to court access for those with hearing loss and the rules for obtaining accommodations. A key to obtaining the desired type of accommodation is to contact the ADA liaison for the specific court as far in advance as possible. Names and contact information for liaisons are listed by county here. It is also advisable to obtain an audiologist's letter specifying your degree of hearing loss and requirements for access to in-court communications.

 

The Chapter team plans to share information with Michael Schwartz, director of the Disability Rights Clinic at Syracuse University College of Law, who is the member of the State panel designated to represent the deaf and hard of hearing communities.
 

WATCH MOVIES WITH CAPTIONS AT AMC & REGAL THEATERS

Captioning, which has long been required on television, is also available at  AMC and Regal theaters.

AMC offers CaptiView, a goose-neck device that fits into your seat's cup holder and displays all of the movie's dialogue in text. Regal provides Sony Entertainment Access glasses, which resemble 3-D glasses. Captions are projected onto the glasses, and appear to float about 10 feet in front of the user.

Those who are hard of hearing or deaf, have low vision or are blind, who cannot climb stairs, who require aisle seating or wheelchair locations, who are on the autism spectrum or have other developmental or cognitive disabilities, now can find out everything they need to know to choose a show, buy tickets, and plan their trip to Broadway by visiting Theatre Access NYC. I

 

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