Hi again Larry! The only reason HLAA chapters exist is because people like you (and me) started them in their home regions. I came out of my 'hard of hearing closet' when I was in my late 30s. I had a friend who was a reporter for local news. She wrote an article about hearing loss and mentioned a 'meeting' that would take place at the local library. I called that meeting and was the person they came to hear without having a clue what it would be about other than hearing loss.

I was shocked when 50+ people of all ages showed up. It was the first time most of them had ever talked about their hearing loss. A group of 11 from that group decided to get together to see if we might be able to start a support group. The hearing aid providers in the area thought we were nuts because they knew how much people hid hearing loss. That group of 11 met many times over the next several months. Much of the talk at those gatherings was about our frustrations and experiences with friends, family and jobs. It helped so much to realize we were all having similar experiences. Learning we were not alone was huge. Our ages ran from 18 - 80. Just sitting around the table was therapeutic. Only one person talked at a time. We turned off all the background noise, etc. That is how HLAA Fox Valley Chapter started, and has been going ever since.

Traveling alone was not on my personal agenda then, and I was scared stiff to travel to the first national convention alone. I did though, and found it was the absolute best opportunity for me to experience something positive about hearing loss. It motivated me to get more involved and I ended up on the organization's national board of trustees. Again, people of many ages and from very different walks of life. I was lucky my spouse and daughter supported me even though they were a bit concerned about me traveling alone.

Only mentioning this because I encourage you to consider traveling to that national convention if you possibly can. You will not be disappointed. You will be motivated. It's worth saving for. My spouse and daughter eventually attended a few of those annual conventions. The funniest thing was that they were the ones who felt a bit left out in the crowd.

One other thing; learning to modulate your voice takes practice. Work on it. You don't have to shout to hear yourself. It becomes a habit. Many hard of hearing people speak too softly. Again, it's something that takes a bit of practice.

Last, but not least is learning about assistive tech that goes beyond hearing aids. Having a telecoil in a hearing aid is like having a gold mine at your disposal. It allows the use of hand held microphones, and other technology installed in meeting spaces. It can be connected to the TV at home, or installed around a room. It requires learning how to use. A simple $50 neckloop, used with telecoil equipped hearing aids can connect you to audio devices like computers, radios, cell phones, etc. Yes, BlueTooth can also do some of that, but learning to use both telecoils and BT is most helpful.

Without SHHH/HLAA these technologies might not be available today. No, they didn't do the research, but they promoted the concept that people with hearing loss needed more, and wanted more. And more research into medicine and technology was vital to improve things. This has been challenging because a very active culturally Deaf population has been extremely loud about NOT wanting to be 'fixed'. The public hears that and always tended to lump us all together even though the data shows that only 2 million Deaf people feel that way, while most of the 46 million other people with hearing spend their energy trying to hide they have it.

Sorry, on my bandwagon here, but if we who have hearing loss don't get more involved in effecting change related to curing and remedying it, little attention is given to a problem experienced by nearly 18% of the population. And, we know that many from the rest of the population are affected by hearing loss because they are close to us.

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