January – HLAA debuts a fresh, updated look, including a new logo, marketing materials, and complete redesign and renaming of our bimonthly magazine, now called Hearing Life: The name might have changed, but our mission hasn’t.
May 24 – The brand new hearingloss.org website is launched!
June – HLAA2018 Convention was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Awards on the national level were presented as follows:
- Rocky Stone Humanitarian: Patricia Clickener, Illinois
- National Access: James Bress, Florida
- Marcia Dugan Advocacy: Diana Thompson, Washington
- Get in the Hearing Loop: Joseph & Erlene Little, Washington and Jerry & Joanna Olmstead, Washington
Walk4Hearing Achievement Awards were presented to:
- Buffalo Walk4Hearing
- Kentucky Walk4Hearing
- New England Walk4Hearing
For the full list of 2018 awards see: HLAA 2018 Awards
HLAA increases public awareness with Connected TV.
New service called HAT HELP is created to answer hearing assistance technology questions. Write to hat_help@hearingloss.org to receive email responses.
Executive Director Barbara Kelley is appointed as the U.S. chair to the Consumer and Professional Advocacy Committee supporting the Delphi Cochlear Consensus Process.
HLAA is a member of the Friends of the Hearing Health Caucus of the U.S. Congress and co-sponsored Hearing on the Hill in May where congressional staffers heard about issues important to people with hearing loss.
HLAA made the 2018 Great Nonprofits Top-Rated list.
HLAA was awarded 2018 Platinum Level on Guidestar.
Executive Director Barbara Kelley spoke at the Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles as part of the Accessibility Outreach Initiative Forum sponsored by CTIA – The Wireless Association. She co-presented with Kara Graves, CTIA director of regulatory affairs, on the Hearing Aid Compatible Task Force timeline and mandate. Industry and consumers [HLAA] will work to find out how to make phones 100 percent HAC by 2022 and present the findings to the FCC.
HLAA is part of the Consumer Technology Foundation’s Hearing Access Group that attends the CES in Las Vegas to advise on making technologies accessible to people with hearing loss.
HLAA launches a DIY platform for groups to fundraise their way. https://www.crowdrise.com/hlaa.
The HLAA Walk4Hearing is in 18 cities with a call to action for people to advocate for themselves and post it on social media. #CommAccess. Walk4Hearing initiated a hearing health campaign to encourage millions of Americans to get their hearing screened. Free hearing screenings were provided at nine of the 2018 Walk4Hearing locations and nearly 400 people received a screening.
The HLAA Board of Trustees updates and approves HLAA Position Papers.
New HLAA Veterans Across American Virtual Chapter is launched.
HearingTracker offers a premium listing for audiologists who join HLAA as a professional member.
National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
HLAA’s cooperative agreement with NCRA is intended to help HLAA Chapters provide quality CART for their monthly meetings in a more affordable way while increasing the awareness of CART captioning and its benefit for people with hearing loss.
ResearchMatch
This collaboration is intended to raise awareness of opportunities for people to be involved in research and to connect volunteers and researchers with resources to participate in research.
November
HLAA enters into an agreement with the Disability Rights Law Clinic American University, Washington College of Law, allowing student attorneys to help support our regulatory work.
HLAA posts open letter with recommendations for the FDA regarding OTC
2018-2020
HLAA becomes a member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Disability Advisory Committee for their third term.
2017-2018
HLAA joins the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Advisory Committee on Accessible Transportation (ACCESS Advisory Committee)’s Cabin Announcement Task Force.
2016-2018
The Federal Communications Commission appoints HLAA to co-chair the Disability Advisory Committee (DAC)