Rochester, NY, is the site of the third National convention chaired by Rochester member, Sue Miller. 900 people attend. Colby Chandler, chairman and CEO of Eastman Kodak Company, receives the Walter T. Ridder Award. (Also delivers a spell-binding banquet speech.)
Membership votes to increase dues to $15 per year.
Barbara Kelley becomes Shhh Journal editor. The magazine is printed in 46,000 to 50,000 copies with an estimated 200,000 readers.
Board ratifies guidelines on the sale of materials in SHHH Chapters.
SHHH established a Development Office to raise funds to support the organization and ensure progress.
Fire strikes the National office in April. Temporary quarters are rented for eight months while renovation takes place. The membership of SHHH gives over $80,000 to the “Fire Rebuilding Fund.”
SHHH joins the Council of Organizations (COR), a strong voice of 17 National organizations concerned with hearing loss that provide a forum for issues of and for deaf and hard of hearing people.
SHHH and the network advocate on Capitol Hill for a National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). The bill is signed in October. The appropriations committee agrees to 96.1 million funding for the new institute. Stone is appointed to the advisory council.
SHHH, RSA (Rehabilitation Administration) and CSAVR (Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation Research) sign a co-operative agreement to provide better employment services to hard of hearing people.
Several trustees attend the International Federation of Hard of Hearing Conference in Geneva, Switzerland (with many assistive listening devices).
SHHH influences major hotel/motel chains to provide alerting/alarm equipment for guests.