IFHOH Convention, Day One

By Cynthia Amerman

July 2010

Editor: You're probably used to seeing coverage from HLAA and ALDA conventions, but I don't recall seeing any coverage from conventions of the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People (IFHOH). Cynthia Amerman posted this note on day one of the IFHOH Convention in Stockholm to one of the hearing loss lists, and she was kind enough to allow us to share it with you. There are some interesting similarities with, and some interesting differences from, the conventions we're more familiar with.

The next IFHOH Convention is in Bergen, Norway, in 2012. For more information, point your browser to http://www.ifhoh.org

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Liisa and I took the subway from Skarpnack to St. Eriksgatan, and walked half a mile with our luggage to the Hotell Norrtull, which used to be a brewery with train tracks running through it. Walls of brick, surprisingly good acoustics, great food, cordial atmosphere. First person I met was Lilian Ebadi Lindqvist at registration-she speaks British English very well, and her family is Persian originally. She's one of 33 paid staff members of our host organization HRF, the Hard of Hearing Association of Sweden. Liisa introduced me to Kalle Tervaskari, her Finnish friend who will host us July 24th for a barbecue in Helsinki, and Ulf, who is on the ballot as Secretary, more proof that the Swedes (not the Dutch) are the tallest people in the world. Previous proof: Petter and Oskar Thorin, the almost 7' tall young palantypist (CART provider) brothers. Next Lidia Best, whom some of you will recognize as the National Association of Deafened People's (NADP's) delegate from England, introduced herself to me. Lidia grew up in Poland; many members of IFHOH have multinational backgrounds. I'm officially on the delegate list, so will be able to vote at the meeting on Sunday. HLAA's delegates are all in Milwaukee--none is here to vote but they have 4 votes, Finland and Sweden each have 5, Denmark with 4, ALDA has 1, etc.. Marcia Dugan of HLAA was a beloved former IFHOH President; current President is Jan-Peter Stromgren from Sweden. Presidential candidate Ruth Warick and Carole Willans, a hard of hearing lawyer/advocate both come from Canada. Almost everyone speaks English, including the interpreters and palantypists who write in English no matter what language is being spoken.

The day began with welcomes from Jan-Peter (also President of HRF , the Swedish HOH Association) and a city council member who advocates for people with hearing loss, followed by two HRF Stockholm board members. Later in the morning, Lars-Ake Wikstrom, President of the Swedish Deaf Association and 1975 Gallaudet graduate, gave a presentation on how Deaf and hard of hearing people can work together to advocate for captioning and other mutual interests. In both Sweden and Finland groups with hearing loss work much more closely with each other. They are government-sponsored organizations and don't need to worry about paying for CART or interpreters, as that is taken care of. For instance, for my visits to organizations in both countries, bilingual Swedish-English and Finnish-English palantypists will make the meetings accessible to me. When we got an opportunity to converse, Lars-Ake slipped easily into ASL. I found that we know many Gallaudet people in common. Deaf people everywhere seem so appreciative that I sign, even if not at top level or in their native sign language; it makes my struggles with ASL worthwhile. Other presentations: Brigitta Kronberg, head of the Nordic Hard of Hearing group and Stefan Perrson of Comfort Audio. Comfort Audio sponsors this IFHOH meeting. Small microphones throughout the room that work on a push-to-talk basis, make communication easier because no one has to take a microphone to the person in the audience who is speaking. Lars-Ake stressed that HABilitation rather than REHABiliation is what we need to focus on.

Later in the day, the Knut Magne Ellingsen from Norway announced that the next IFHOH Biennial General Meeting (BGM) will take place in Bergen June 25-28th . It is a gorgeous, quaint city on the southwest coast of Norway, with a very compact downtown area. The theme for the 2012 BGM is "A Better Quality of Life." TAKE NOTE!!

All meals are taken care of in the IFHOH conference fee, including buffet breakfast: breads, eggs, meat and fish , cereals, yogurt, salad and all kinds of fruit , juice and coffee and tea. A feast! This evening we gather for cocktails and a buffet dinner. Later: Dinner provided an opportunity to meet more participants: Avi Blau and Ahiya Kamara of Israel's Bekol, Akram's friend (he sends regards to you...); Katja Viis, the IFHOH Treasurer from Finland who has four children ages 6 on down; Karina Chupina, President of IFHOHYP (young people's organization), who also passes best regards to Akram; Marcel Bobeldijk from the Netherlands, President of the European Federation for the Hard of Hearing (EFHOH). Everyone is so friendly and communication is easier for some of us than it might be due to the fact that English is the official language of the BGM.