Oral Hearing Loss (OHL) Advocacy (OHLA)

There's a growing realization that members of the OHL community are generally ignored or shortchanged when it comes to services to help them manage their hearing loss. A group of folks who hold that view have formed an organization to do something about. That organization is OHL Advocacy (OHLA).

Our early discussions led to the realization that one of the reasons OHL services are absent is that people are unaware of the lack of services. As proof they point to the myriad of services available to the "Deaf and hard of hearing", including interpreters, video relay service, vocational rehabilitation services, local and regional Deaf service agencies, etc.

And there's the rub!

Virtually all of the services promoted as supporting people who are "Deaf and hard of hearing" really support people who are Deaf; they are generally "of, by, and for" people who are Deaf. The use of the term "Deaf and hard of hearing", or more appropriately, "DeafAndHardOfHearing" is used primarily to claim a target population of about 30 million people in the US, rather than the few hundred thousand people who are Deaf.

The bottom line is that 30 million hard of hearing, late-deafened, and oral deaf people do NOT have access to appropriate and adequate services, because the services that seem to be provided for them are really appropriate only to the the roughly one percent of people with hearing loss who are Deaf.

So we decided to stop talking about it and start doing something about it. We initially decided on two goals:

1. Educate the general public and the hearing loss community about the lack of services for the OHL population and the role of the phrase "DeafAndHardOfHearing" in supporting that reality.

2. Develop a certification procedure that allows us to recognize and acknowledge organizations that actually serve the OHL community, and promote community acceptance of our certification procedure.

That's the short version of who we are and how we got here ;-) For a more in-depth look at some of our ideas and convictions, follow some of the very interesting links from this page.

July 2005 - OHLA is really building steam. We've written some letters to organizations, distributed a questionnaire, and established a website. Read all about it in the OHLA Update.

May 2007 - Here's our report on the Advocacy workshop at the 2007 SayWhatClub conference.

May 2007 - Here's the text of my keynote address (Advocacy and the OHL Community) at the 2007 SayWhatClub conference

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OHLA Update - Website, Questionnaire, Oral VRS Users, and More

July 2005

We've been reporting on OHL (Oral Hearing Loss) Advocacy (OHLA), a group of people who are working to achieve social justice for members of the OHL community. OHL community members are people with hearing loss who prefer spoken language as their primary means of communication. This includes hard of hearing, late-deafened, and oral deaf folks.

OHLA is working to educate the general public and the hearing loss community about the characteristics and needs of OHL people. In doing so we are proposing some ideas that many people consider "outside the box", and we've ruffled a few feathers in the process.

Let me state once again that we are not "against" the Deaf community or ASL or appropriate services for Deaf folks. Quite the contrary! We appreciate and support their language and culture, and we recognize and applaud their decades of advocacy that have resulted in the services they enjoy today.

At the same time, OHL folks are not Deaf or "Deaf Lite" or "less Deaf", and many of the accommodations that enrich the lives of Deaf people are not appropriate to OHL people. Deaf people and OHL people comprise separate groups, have different disabilities, and require different accommodations. None of these statements reduces our regard for members of the Deaf community; they merely point out that OHL folks are a separate community.

DeafAndHardOfHearing

The term "Deaf and hard of hearing" is the largest contributor to the misperception that Deaf people and hard of hearing people comprise a single group. Most people use the term "DeafAndHardOfHearing" as if it were a single word, with little regard to its implications. The term is oppressive to the OHL community, because it fosters the notion that the relatively plentiful accommodations enjoyed by Deaf people (e.g. interpreters) are appropriate for OHL people. The result is the erroneous perception by the general public and many DeafAndHardOfHearing service providers that adequate services are available to the OHL community.

OHLA Website

We've added an OHLA section to our website, so you can follow our advocacy activities. Point your browser to http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Issues/Identity/ohl/nat/ohla/ohla.htm. You may be particularly interested in our public awareness campaign, which educates people about the OHL community. You'll notice that we have two sections, one for applause and another for admonishment. We want to recognize those whose behavior supports the OHL community, as well as chastise those whose behavior doesn't. Drop by for a visit!

WHAT YOU CAN DO

I was encouraged to get a quick response to a complaint email to the FCC for their press release claiming that Video Relay Service (VRS) supports DeafAndHardOfHearing people. It was a standard brush-off, but I'm hoping that my follow-up email may be taken more seriously. And I'm hoping even more that YOUR email, in combination with that of others who care about this issue, will begin to break through the FCC mindset that Deaf and hard of hearing people are really all the same. DO TAKE 20 MINUTES to read what has transpired so far and dash off a note to Tom Chandler, Chief of the Disability Rights Office. Tom is in a position to spread our message far and wide, so take a moment to help him understand our community. Point your browser to: http://www.hearinglossweb.com/Issues/Identity/ohl/nat/ohla/ed/2005/fcc_pr.htm. Tom's email address is thomas.chandler@fcc.gov.

OHL Questionnaire (WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO)

A huge THANK YOU to those of you who have responded to the questionnaire we published last week! We've received over 30 responses, and they're still trickling in. It's clear that these issues are striking a chord within the community. It's also clear that you thought about your responses before answering. We greatly appreciate both the quantity and quality of your responses!

For those of you who haven't yet responded, we'll hold off another couple of days before we begin tabulating results. More responses will give greater credibility to our results, so please do respond in the next day or two. Email me (larry@hearinglossweb.com) if you need a questionnaire.

Oral VRS Users

Last week's article entitled "FCC adopts new rules to improve VRS for hard-of-hearing" created a bit of a stir. I got the expected replies from folks who had contacted EE Times to complain about the misleading article (thank you!). I also got some unexpected replies from people claiming that Video Relay Service (VRS) really is for hard of hearing people, because they can use it to lipread. Subsequent discussions on a couple of lists failed to turn up anyone who relies strictly on lipreading when using VRS.