In honor of Better Hearing & Speech Month (every year in May), I share my latest ode to hearing loss in the form of an acrostic poem. What’s an acrostic poem, you ask? My children explained it to me. An acrostic poem is a poem where the first letters of each line spell out a Continue reading
Disability
Refuting Common Hearing Loss Myths
Do all people with hearing loss know sign language? Are they all senior citizens? Can people with hearing loss safely drive a car? Enjoy a movie or the theater? Speak “normally?” Hear perfectly with hearing aids? Despite how common hearing loss is—over 1.5 billion people globally live with hearing loss according to the WHO—many aspects Continue reading
Zoom Continues to Miss the Boat on True Accessibility
“Please enable the audio so I can participate in your Zoom meeting,” said no one ever. So, why is advance notice still needed to enable captioning? Zoom made its high-quality ASR captions available FREE for all accounts in the Fall, but in a practical sense, its platform remains inaccessible for people with hearing loss. I Continue reading
Living With Hearing Loss Joins the World Hearing Forum
Living with Hearing Loss is proud to join the World Hearing Forum (WHF), a global network of stakeholders promoting ear and hearing care worldwide. WHF is hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO). No one with hearing loss should be without information and assistance. WHF’s goals include (1) raising awareness about the need for healthy Continue reading
When will Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Embrace Disability?
It is wonderful to see companies, non-profits and government agencies placing greater emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). But when will this focus include disability? Today, it often seems like an afterthought. Where Are the Captions? “Can you please enable the captions?” I asked the leaders of a recent DEI training session I attended. Continue reading
