Volume 22 Issue 10

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Free Shipping on Orders of $50 or More at Harris Communications!
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March is the month of big savings at Harris Communications. As part of our March Madness sale receive FREE Shipping on purchases of $50 or more. (Certain product restrictions apply. UPS Ground shipments only.) This offer is only available until March 13, 2005 but keep checking our website for more March Madness specials. For more information go to: http://www.harriscomm.com/link/?www.harriscomm.com?sr=hohnews or
contact us at mailto:info@harriscomm.com .
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- Article 1: Few HOH People Employed by "Deaf and HOH" Agencies - One of a Series of Articles on the Awakening Oral Hearing Loss Community
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Editor: I frequently hear from hard of hearing (HOH) and late-deafened (LD) people that they no longer even look for services from organizations that serve the "Deaf and hard of hearing". Many stories are amazingly similar. A HOH or LD person walks into an agency and is greeted by a Deaf person who signs to them - or a hearing person who signs to them - and tells them they should learn sign language! I rarely hear of a person who walks into a "Deaf and hard of hearing" agency who manages to find a HOH or LD person to talk to!

I have some personal experience in this matter. My LD wife and I served for a couple of years on the board of our local agency that serves the "Deaf and hard of hearing". One of our goals during that time was to convince the organization to hire ONE HOH or LD person, so when a HOH or LD person walked in, they could talk to someone who understands their situation. We were unable to convince them that even ONE of their 25 person staff should be HOH. Yet they continued (and continue to this day) to claim to serve the "Deaf and hard of hearing". And they get a bunch of government money to provide those services.

Here are some comments from Randy Collins that point out a similar situation among the relay providers. My personal opinion is that these folks are really missing the boat. One of these days, some smart relay provider will really pursue the HOH/LD market, and will be richly rewarded for doing so. (By the way, that does NOT mean having a bunch of Deaf and hearing people go after HOH/LD folks.) I think I've seen signs that one of the lesser-known relay providers is moving in this direction, and I'll certainly let you know if those indications become more concrete.

One more thing - anyone interested in taking a more proactive stance in the effort to get more than token support for HOH/LD folks, please email me at larry@hearinglossweb.com . I think it's time to talk about how to do this on a national basis.

Now (finally), here's Randy! His comments are from the HLWork list at YahooGroups (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HLWork), and are reprinted with permission.

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There is and there will be a desperate need for people working with people who are hard of hearing. Baby boomers are going to impact in a big way and many of them are or soon will be HOH! Ha! Ha! We beat them to it; we got here first. There's an advantage to that. You've got professional training and experience as an educator and personal experience as a hard of hearing person, that's marketable. We need more hard of hearing people talking, teaching, advocating for, training, hard of hearing adults. Certainly you should subscribe to Larry's HOH-LD News. He often has jobs advertised that are related to HOH.

I've already stood on my soapbox today but another pet peeve of mine is the shameful record of telecommunications relay companies regarding hard of hearing employment. They are ALL hearing and Deaf. They all have outreach people all over the place. I can count the number of hard of hearing (not culturally hard of hearing) relay employees on one had - and still have enough left over to stick up a finger. Smile.

The Relay companies are mandated to serve hoh people and to provide outreach, but they are not mandated to actually hire hard of hearing people. The overwhelming amount of their effort is spent in efforts to provide outreach and training to the Deaf community! That market has been worked to death; it is saturated. The Relay companies however continue to focus on Deaf people. Why? It's all they know. They don't have any hard of hearing people to speak of, NONE in management. When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Sooner or later the Relay companies are going to have to begin to focus on hard of hearing people and they'll need hard of hearing people to do it. Why can't you be part of that effort?

I would also look into Tech Act programs in each state and also state programs for hard of hearing and deaf and in Vocational Rehabilitation. Kentucky has a fantastic hard of hearing training program for their counselors. Many state are going to use the Kentucky model in the future.

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------------- Do you or someone you know work with ------------
-------------- deaf or hard of hearing students? --------------
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If so, come participate in our survey: The National Survey of Assessment and Accommodations for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. The purpose of this project is to provide a national "snapshot" of assessment practices. We also hope to encourage dialog among professionals who work with deaf and hard of hearing students.

Professionals who are familiar with assessment practices for deaf and hard of hearing students are encouraged to participate, including teachers, school psychologists, and school or district administrators. To participate or to sign up for study results, see our project website: www.dhh-assess-survey.org or email Dr. Stephanie W. Cawthon, Principal Investigator, at scawthon@waldenu.edu.
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- Article 2: Hearing Loss in Aging May Not Be Ear Problem; Just an Old Brain - Part 1
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Editor: I've been pretty involved in the hearing loss world for many years, and this is the first time I've heard anything like this claim - that hearing loss in seniors may be due to the brain, rather than the ears. But note that the article doesn't say this applies to ALL hearing loss in ALL seniors.

This is part one of two parts. Part two will appear next week.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Senior Journal. Please visit them at http://www.SeniorJournal.com

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Losing your hearing as you grow older may not be a problem with your ears. Older people whose ears are in fine shape may have trouble hearing because their brain is aging, conclude researchers who are finding problems in the way our brain processes information as we age.

In addition to earlier findings of a specific type of "timing" problem that limits our hearing as we age, the group is now finding increasing evidence of a "feedback" problem in the brain that diminishes our ability to hear.

This week at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology in New Orleans, researchers are discussing the results so far of the hunt for genes that play a role in the aging brain's plummeting ability to organize the information our ears record.

"Traditionally, scientists studying hearing problems started looking at the ear," says Robert D. Frisina, Ph.D., professor of Otolaryngology at the University of Rochester Medical Center and an adjunct professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. "But we are finding patients with normal ears who still have trouble understanding a conversation. There are many people who have good inner ears who just don't hear well. That's because their brains are aging."

The findings come from researchers at the International Center for Hearing and Speech Research (ICHSR), an NIH-funded group of scientists in Rochester, N.Y., that is recognized as a leader in research in age-related hearing loss. The center includes scientists from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology and neuroscientists from the University of Rochester.

Sophisticated tests that measure how well the brain processes information that the ear detects are helping scientists sort out the findings. Normally the brain does a masterful job of filtering, sorting, and making sense of the information that flows through our senses every day - the colors and shapes we see, the textures of the objects we feel, the sounds ranging from the cooing of children to the screech of tires on pavement that we hear morning to night. Our brain stem sorts the bluster of information in ways that make it easy for us to carry on our lives.

Oftentimes it's this ability of the brain, not hearing itself, that is diminished in older people who say they don't "hear" well. The loss is detected most markedly in tests that measure a person's ability to hear a sentence amid a background of babble, much as one might hear at a party while trying to speak to an individual nearby. The recently discovered feedback problem is central to this problem, says Frisina. His team has found that in mice, the brain problems usually precede actual hearing difficulties, and that early problems with the brain's feedback system make the ears more vulnerable to damage - without the brain's filtering capacity, the ears are more likely to be exposed to damaging noise.

The brain's ability to provide proper feedback to the ear, by filtering out unwanted and unnecessary information, declines beginning in our 40s and 50s, Frisina says. Without that filter, a person is quickly overcome by a barrage of information that is difficult to sort. It's a little bit like a computer user who would be overwhelmed by input if the spam filter suddenly failed and all sorts of bogus messages started streaming into the "important documents" folder. When it comes to hearing, the increase in sensory information making its way to the brain actually hurts the person's ability to hear well.

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- Article 3: Hearing Aids: Many Speech Cues Missing in Most Fittings
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Editor: How well does your hearing aid provider fit your hearing aid? I don't mean the physical fit. I'm asking about the acoustic fit. It seems that at least one prominent audiologist believes that, in many cases, the answer is "not too well."

Here's an article from NVRC News. Please visit http://www.nvrc.org to learn more about these wonderful folks. If you share this article, please be sure to credit them.

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Audiologist Robert L. Martin, Ph.D., writes about fitting patients for hearing aids in his article Nuts & Bolts for the October 2004 issue of The Hearing Journal. Excerpts from his observations are divided into four categories: hearing, occlusion/fitting mechanics, feedback and word understanding in noise.

Hearing - Martin asserts that audiologists tend to focus on hearing thresholds in the mid-frequencies, overlooking the fact that patients often have a substantial hearing loss at 4000 Hz that needs to be corrected. There are almost twice as many speech cues in the octave band at 4000 Hz (23%) as in the band at 500 Hz (14%). If the hearing aid fitting provides inadequate amplification at the high frequencies, the patient is deprived of a lot of speech information.

Occlusion - When sound passes through an open unaided ear, it is amplified naturally by the pinna. A hearing aid obstructs the normal pathway of sound, so considerable amplification is needed just to get back to unaided hearing. Audiologists might be unaware of how serious occlusion is unless a measurement is taken of the hearing-aid-in-the-ear-turned-off curve, also known as the REOR (real-ear occluded response). Many hearing aid fittings have to produce over 30 dB of amplification just to get back to the open ear level.

Feedback - Audiologists strive to maximize venting so the patient is comfortable with his or her voice. In doing so, feedback problems can be created that are usually solved by reducing gain in the higher frequencies. But when the gain in the high frequencies is reduced, the speech cues in those zones are often eliminated.

Word Understanding in Noise - The problem of insufficient amplification in the band at 4000 Hz does not show up until patients wear their hearing aids in an adverse listening situation. Then, when noise reduces speech cues across all zones, patients need all the speech cues they can get. If the fitting is starved for speech information, word understanding deteriorates rapidly when listening conditions get worse. But if the fitting maximizes speech information, patients are still able to hear and recognize words even in substantial noise levels. Audiologists can be unaware that many hearing aid fittings fail to provide sufficient gain in the high frequencies because interaction with the patient is in a quiet office and fittings aren't verified with real-ear measurement.

A Solution - Martin maintains that completely open hearing aid fittings have a significant advantage over occluded fittings when it comes to delivering real-ear amplification in the high-frequency zone. Giving patients significant useful gain in the high frequencies markedly improves their ability to understand words in noise. When audiologists give patients as many speech cues as possible, the likelihood is strong that they will hear well in all listening situations.

NVRC News, February 20, 2005

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- Article 4: Emergency Evacuations for People with Disabilities
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Editor: I've recently become involved in an effort to ensure that our county considers the needs of people with hearing loss in its emergency planning. I'm sure no one will be surprised to learn that our local bureaucrats have quit responding to my emails; I'm guessing they're hoping I'll just go away. Fat chance!

This press release from the Washington Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs discusses a recent Maryland Circuit Court ruling that places of public accommodation must consider the needs of people with disabilities in their emergency planning. I think I'll email it to our county planners ;-). If you're involved in any similar advocacy, you might want to do the same.

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Precedent-Setting Decision on Emergency Evacuations for People with Disabilities Issued in Maryland

For the first time, a court has declared that the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA) requires places of public accommodation to consider the needs of people with disabilities in developing emergency evacuation plans. This groundbreaking decision - issued on December 28, 2004 by Judge John W. Debelius III of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland - means that shopping malls, stores, restaurants, movie theaters, museums, and other private entities subject to the ADA throughout the country, whether landlords or tenants, must now seek to accommodate people with disabilities in the development and modification of emergency evacuation procedures.

"This is a significant decision that should greatly enhance the safety of persons with disabilities in the post-September 11th world," said Elaine Gardner, Director of the Disability Rights Project at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. "The ADA always has been understood to help get people with disabilities into places of public accommodation. Now, for the first time, it also has been found to require that public places try to get those same people out in the event of a fire, terrorist attack, or other emergency."

The court's significant decision arises out of a lawsuit that was filed in Spring 2003 by Katie Savage, a Washington, D.C. resident who became trapped during an emergency evacuation in a local shopping mall that had no accessible exits for persons with disabilities. Ms. Savage, who uses a wheelchair, was shopping at a Marshalls store in Silver Spring, Maryland's City Place Mall on September 3, 2002, when the store and the Mall were evacuated. After Marshalls required her to exit into an area of the Mall that is below ground level, Ms. Savage found that she was trapped there and unable to evacuate, because the elevators were shut down and all the exits had stairs. Abandoned by store employees and trapped, Ms. Savage resolved to use her terrifying ordeal as a vehicle for ensuring that fellow citizens with disabilities would not be similarly victimized in emergency evacuation situations. Ms. Savage joined the Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington (the DRC) in filing a lawsuit against Marshalls and City Place Mall that alleged violations of the ADA in both the Mall's emergency evacuation plan and Marshalls' corporate-wide evacuation policies.

In briefs filed with the court last Fall, Marshalls took the position that the ADA does not require places of public accommodation to modify evacuation plans in order to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities. The court, however, rejected Marshalls' view and held that "a store's nationwide evacuation procedures would certainly constitute a public accommodation's 'policies.'" Therefore, the court wrote, "it is certain that Title III of the ADA does apply to this situation."

"I am delighted by the court's decision and hope that it has a lasting impact on improving safety for people with disabilities," said Ms. Savage "Regrettably, Marshalls and other major retailers have seen fit to evacuate non-disabled persons, while leaving people with disabilities to fend for themselves in an emergency. That is not only a poor business decision, it is also now against the law."

One of Ms. Savage's attorneys, Steve Hollman, agreed. "We've all heard stories about people with disabilities being trapped and left to die on September 11th and in other emergency situations," said Mr. Hollman, a partner with Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. in Washington, D.C. "Hopefully, this decision will serve as a wake-up call to public accommodations across the country that they must start considering the needs of people with disabilities in their evacuation plans."

The Opinion of the Court also was significant for refusing to allow a tenant to abdicate its responsibility to patrons with disabilities by merely placing them outside a store's entrance in an emergency evacuation situation and leaving actual evacuation to a shopping mall's owners. Additionally, the Opinion recognized Ms. Savage's standing to bring her ADA claims against Marshalls. Despite the fact that Ms. Savage had not visited the Marshalls fitting room at City Place Mall, she was found to be able to seek barrier removal there, as "a Plaintiff need not encounter every barrier in a store to bring a claim for all the store's ADA violations." Moreover, the Court found that Ms. Savage had standing to remedy Marshalls' corporate-wide emergency evacuation policy - which is in effect at more than 672 Marshalls stores - because "where the harm alleged is directly traceable to a written policy . . . there is an implicit likelihood of its repetition in the immediate future." The Disability Rights Council of Greater Washington also was found to have standing to proceed. As a result, the case will now proceed to trial to determine whether Marshalls and City Place Mall are in violation of the requirements of the ADA. The trial date will be set at a hearing on January 14.

Ms. Savage is represented by the law firm of Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. An important Amicus Curiae brief was submitted to the Court by the law firm of Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White, on behalf of the American Association of People with Disabilities and several other organizations of people with disabilities.

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- Classifieds
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One Pager Vendor, one Card Vendor and two Employment Opportunities appear in this issue. (Ads appear after this brief table of contents.)

Pagers and Accessories
Deafpager.com

Sign Language Greetings!
Cards and Postcards for All Occasions
Signlanguagegreetings.com

Employment Opportunity 1
Secondary Science Teacher
Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind (ISDB)
Gooding, Idaho

Employment Opportunity 2
Various Positions
GLAD
Various Locations in Southern California

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Pagers and Accessories
Deafpager.com
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Deafpager.com has a new Hot Accessories section with the latest and hottest accessories for your Sidekick and Blackberry!

The newest item in our inventory is color bumpers for your Sidekick II - easy to put on, easy to take off! The hard part is trying to decide between Pink or Purple? Maybe it would be easier to decide between Red or Blue? Made up your mind which color you like? Only $8.95 per set!

Still can't make up your mind? Don't worry, we sell sets of three for only $20.95! We also have auto chargers for the Sidekick II for only $7.95! Visit our site for our excellent selection of cases and pouches. We offer qualified customers a Free Sidekick II (after rebates) as well as color Blackberries for qualified customers for $49.99 after rebates. We now have an unlimited data-only plan for the new Motorola A630!

Check all these deals out and more at our website: www.deafpager.com! Email: info@deafpager.com.

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Sign Language Greetings!
Cards and Postcards for All Occasions
Signlanguagegreetings.com
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Welcome to Sign Language Greetings!

Here you can find Greeting cards and postcards with an interpreted message in Sign Language inside or on the back of the card!

Check out our website...
Signlanguagegreetings.com

Stay tuned as we will have more fun cards on the way...!

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Employment Opportunity 1
Secondary Science Teacher
Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind (ISDB)
Gooding, Idaho
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SECONDARY TEACHER FOR DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING/SCIENCE

Starting Date: August 2005

Salary Range: Commensurate with education and experience

Benefits: Comprehensive fringe benefit package

Desired Qualifications:
* Idaho Teacher Certification for Deaf and Hard of Hearing or equivalent
* One or more science endorsements
* Additional endorsements are beneficial
* Excellent receptive and expressive skills in American Sign Language
* Minimum of Bachelor's Degree Master's degree preferred
* Experience teaching deaf and/or blind children preferred
* Experience teaching subjects outside of endorsement areas preferred

Duties:
* Assumes responsibility for providing a quality science program
* Maintains discipline within the classroom
* Works with teachers to develop a continuum of educational activities throughout the curriculum
* Attends IEP meetings and other meetings required for the delivery of educational services
* Participates in committees and other job related activities
* Other duties as assigned

Application Procedures:
Submit the following to:
Human Resources Department
Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind
1450 Main Street
Gooding, Idaho 83330
* Letter of application
* Copies of certification
* Three letters of recommendation
* Official transcripts
* Resume

Deadline: Open until filled

Location:
* Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind is located in Gooding, Idaho (population 3,500); a small agricultural community located in south central Idaho within a short distance to mountains, rivers and related outdoor activities. The city of Gooding is a quiet family oriented community. For more information about Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind check our website at: www. Isdb.state.id.us

For more information contact:
* Human resources Department at 208-934-4457 (Voice/TTY) or email sherry.hann@isdb.idaho.gov

Successful candidate will be required to furnish a background check within three months of employment as per Idaho Code 33-130.

Hiring is done without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age or disability. In addition, preference may be given to veterans who qualify under state and federal laws and regulations. If you need special accommodations to satisfy testing requirements, please contact the Human resources Department.

Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind (ISDB)

Serving Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Blind and Visually Impaired Students of Idaho since 1906

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Employment Opportunity 2
Various Positions
GLAD
Various Locations in Southern California
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JOB OPPORTUNITIES @ GLAD
GLAD is an Affirmative Action Employer with equal opportunity for men, women and people with disabilities.
For more information on the following positions, go to: www.gladinc.org
Status of all positions is: Regular, Full-time, Non-Exempt, Full Fringe Benefits unless otherwise noted.
All positions are open until filled. Revised 2/28/05

HIV PROGRAM INTERPRETER in Los Angeles
Brief Summary: Under the supervision of the Director of Health/Education Services, the HIV Program Interpreter will perform all duties and tasks as outlined in the AESD program scope of work, interpret initial HIV antibody test and results, update and maintain a pool of qualified HIV-trained interpreters to assist with interpreting assignments, interpret and coordinate interpreter services to deaf and hard of hearing consumers with HIV/AIDS for any HIV-related services including but not limited to case management, medical and mental health within Los Angeles County, promote the availability of interpreter services to the deaf community and service providers, implement survey to assess consumer satisfaction of interpreter services provided....

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT in Riverside & Ventura
Brief Summary: Under the direction of the Regional Director the Receptionist/Clerk will answer and transfer all incoming TTY and voice calls, greet consumers and visitors in a professional manner, assist the Regional Director, perform clerical duties, including but not limited to typing, opening and logging all incoming mail, perform light housekeeping duties as needed. The Receptionist/Clerk will work with GLAD's Resource Advocate regarding updates of the Directory of Resources, provides information and referral as needed, order all office supplies and maintain inventory of all office supplies, record/collect statistics on a daily basis related to provision of services.

JOB DEVELOPER/INTERPRETER in West Covina & Crenshaw
Brief Summary: Under the direction of the EDD Program Manager, the Job Developer/Interpreter will provide assistance with Job Development/Placement efforts, work in conjunction with traditional employment resources, develop employment opportunities, identify openings and opportunities for clients in need of employment assistance, other duties include job interviews, job counseling to clients and employers...

COMMUNITY ADVOCATE in Cypress
Brief Summary: Under the direction of the Regional Director, the Community Advocate will assist deaf and hard of hearing consumers in the area of communication access via TTY relay, document translation, and other duties, provide advocacy in the areas of social security, education, employment, consumer affairs, and others, record statistics on a daily basis related to provision of services, counsel deaf and hard of hearing consumers with problems related to personal and family adjustments, finances, employment, food, clothing and housing....

OUTREACH COORDINATOR in Bakersfield
Brief Summary: Under the supervision of the Director of Human Services, the Outreach Coordinator will plan and supervise the day-to-day activities of the Bakersfield Outreach office; provide direct counseling, personal advocacy and other assistance to clients of all ages; develop and implement education, advocacy and resource development efforts in the service area; ensure programmatic objectives are carried out by monitoring program progress and contract compliance. Provide ongoing consultation, support and training to staff; supervise staff. Complete progress reports to government agencies; assist in the grant writing process; seek out additional funding to expand services. Develop and implement a fundraising strategy to augment state funding sources.

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- Contact Information and Disclaimers
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