Opening Session
By Cheryl Heppner
Editor: The Opening Session of the HLAA Convention took place on
Thursday night. A host of dignitaries made opening remarks, which were
faithfully recorded by reporter extraordinaire Cheryl Heppner!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Opening Remarks
As is his tradition, HLAA Executive Director Terry D. Portis opened the
Hearing Loss Association of America convention on Thursday, June 21 with a
comic monologue. Walking onstage in a white cowboy hat, he claimed that it
was an improvement over last year's Mickey Mouse ears at the Disney World
convention. Boots to complement his new look, he told us, were out of the
question because he would have to learn to walk all over again.
Touching on the problems that many convention attendees have had with
flight delays and cancellations due to storms, Terry shared the experience
of HLAA President Anne Pope. After her particularly rough landing, he
claimed, Anne asked the pilot, "Did we land or were we shot down?"
Terry also cautioned the audience about a tick check scam which he said
had sadly befallen his good friend Max McCarthy. Official-looking people
showed up at the door, said they were from an agency and must perform the
tick check. This involved shedding of clothes and spinning around. "Don't
worry," he told Max. "We will find them. We know who they are and what
they look like."
Turning serious, Terry talked about the mission of the Hearing Loss
Association of America. He quoted Senator Norm Coleman, who said
"Washington is a place where there are thousands of issues but only a few
priorities." Keeping hearing loss an issue of national concern must become
one of those priorities.
Terry cited the Walk4Hearing as one of the great successes of last
year, with a total of $750,000 raised, and asked all those in the audience
who had been involved to stand for recognition.
Recalling the experience of Anne Pope, who told him that at her first
meeting with HLAA she found lighthearted people who saw humor in their
hearing loss, Terry expressed the hope that everyone would have a perfect
convention. He recognized staff members, board members, and former board
members for their contributions, and also welcomed two international
delegates in attendance.
Danita Testerman gave a warm welcome from the Oklahoma host committee.
She said the convention took about three years of planning and 25 people
were actively involved in the past year. The musical "Oklahoma!" is what
most people think of with when Oklahoma is mentioned, and she reminded us
that it is an upbeat musical in which the good guy gets the girl. Danita
said that there are a lot of cowboy connections in Oklahoma and the
natives are proud of them.
~~~~~
National Access Award 2007
Terry Portis presented the prestigious National Access Award for 2007
to Ultratec, Inc., a company based in Madison, Wisconsin that is a world
leader. For three decades it has set the pace in research and development
of technology for people with hearing loss. From this company have come
innovations such as voice carry over, TurboCode, and captioned telephone.
The company understands the unique needs of people with hearing loss. It
has taken risks and invested a great deal of funding without government or
ongoing support in its quest for advancing technology. Not only does it
have good leadership but also visionary and caring leadership.
Ultratec President Robert Engelke, accepting the award, said Ultratec
was deeply honored and has been privileged to be a part of the team moving
technology closer to functional equivalency. Technology, he said, is just
one part of getting there. The more difficult part is convincing the
Federal Communications Commission and others to make the technology
available. He congratulated HLAA on the role it has played in that.
~~~~~
Sponsor Introduction - Terry Portis recalled that since his wife Denise
received her cochlear implant two years ago, he has had to sit through so
many of her word recognition tests -- the ones that use those words like
"hot dog" and "baseball" -- that he thinks he could give the test himself.
"Isn't it time to change the test?" he asked. He applauded the Opening
Session sponsor, Advanced Bionics, for its role in helping to advance
technology.
Elaine Leander, Director of Sales at Advanced Bionics, noted the
similarities in the missions of Advanced Bionics and HLAA. Both want to
open the world of communication to people with hearing loss. She expressed
her gratitude for the support her 29-year-old son had received because of
HLAA, which helped her raise a son with hearing loss to be confident and
independent.
~~~~~
(c)2007 by Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Persons (NVRC), 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130, Fairfax, VA 22030;
www.nvrc.org. 703-352-9055 V, 703-352-9056 TTY, 703-352-9058 Fax. You do
not need permission to share this information, but please be sure to
credit NVRC
