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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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