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When: Thursday, October 18, 2023
Time: 6–7:00 p.m. ET
Featured panelists Victoria Garcia, K. Renee Horton, Ph.D., Sheila Xu and Larry Guterman will share their experiences as people with hearing loss and as members of AstroAccess, which is dedicated to making space accessible to people with disabilities. In particular, they will discuss their roles in the December 2022 AstroAccess zero-gravity space flight, how they got involved, what they did during their mission and how the initiative helps perpetuate disability inclusion in the workplace. They will also share their general experiences navigating employment opportunities, internships and STEM education. The panel will be moderated by disability access professional Theodore Shomsky, CPACC.
Presenters:
Victoria Garcia, an engineer who leads a team of 20 at NASA and is responsible for systems integration for the upcoming manned missions to the Moon; she was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at birth and now wears a cochlear implant (CI).
Sheila Xu, who is deaf, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is now working on a combined graduate degree at the Harvard Kennedy School/Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She learned ASL in college, now wears a cochlear implant (CI) and dreams of starting a business that helps people with hearing loss and other disabilities.
K. Renee Horton, Ph.D. is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a B.S. in electrical engineering and a minor in math in 2002; and a Ph.D. in material science with a concentration in physics, becoming the first African American to graduate from the University of Alabama in 2011 in this area. She works for NASA, at first as a student from 2009 to 2011, and then started her career as a mechanical test engineer in 2012.
Larry Guterman is co-founder of SonicCloud and chief customer experience officer of Sonitum, Inc. (makers of SonicCloud), a technology company dedicated to enhancing and personalizing audio on phone calls, computers, and other electronic media for people with hearing loss.
Helpful Tips
- Zoom. The webinar will be held on Zoom. After registering, the Zoom meeting link will be emailed to you. Please save your email and make sure to check your spam or junk folder if you have not received the meeting link.
- Use a computer. If possible, attend the webinar on a computer rather than via a smart phone or iPad. This will give you the best layout to view the captions, as well as other meeting features.
- Install or update Zoom. Make sure you have Zoom installed.
- Captions. All HLAA webinars are free with live captions available.
- Check your time zone. This meeting will take place live at 6 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. CT, 4 p.m. MT and 3 p.m. PT. If you are in a different time zone, please adjust the time so you do not miss the meeting.
NOTE: HLAA does not offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for participation in our webinars.
Questions? Feel free to email us at webinars@hearingloss.org.