"Going to Court? Inform the Court before you Go!"

Windy and Rainy as it was on Thursday Febuary 17th, Kara Clarkson and Julie Burton from Yolo County Superior Court came to the Davis Senior Center and talked to us about the services the courts offer to the hard of hearing. While, California Rules of Court, rule 1.100(g) requires that the court accommodates people with disabilities; Kara, the Interpreter Services Coordinator, emphasised that Yolo County Superior Court staff were dedicated to ensuring that qualified persons with disabilities, such as a hearing impediment, be provided with equal and full access to the courts. "This is a fundamental right." stated Kara at the beginning of her talk. "Let us know what you need so we can accommodate you to the best of our abilities."
Using a microphone system similar to the LISTEN system that the courts use for Assisted Listening, everyone in the room was able to hear Kara loud and clear as she proceeded to describe the three different accommodations currently available to the hearing impaired. They are:

• ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES
• REAL TIME TRANSCRIPTION and
• AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE

ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES work with the microphones that are situated in the courtrooms at the judge's, attorney's and clerk's desks. The sound is transmitted to a handheld device which the hearing impaired person is given. Each courtroom, including small claims, traffic and family court, have about four of these devices and they can simply be requested from the bailiff at the time you attend court.

REAL TIME TRANSCRIPTION is provided by a court reporter who types what is being said into a computer, where a program then displays the words onto a small screen which the hearing impaired person has in front of them. It takes quite some skill to be able to type, accurately, as fast as a person can talk and so this service has to be requested ahead of time. The service is normally available for Jury service or if the hearing impaired person is either a Defendant or a Plaintiff. Clare Childers, Hear Here's Coordinator spoke very highly of this service which she has actually used. At the moment there are only two court reporters who provide real time transcription and so both Kara and Julie mentioned how, in order to avoid scheduling problems, it was critical that this service be arranged for ahead of time. The form needed to request the accommodation is available at the courthouse or at their website: http://www.yolo.courts.ca.gov/.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE interpreters are also available when requested ahead of time using the same form.

At the moment English is the only language available for all three of the systems. Julie, the ADA coordinator for the Superior Court, mentioned that the courts have not been asked for accommodation in any other language. However, if this situation was to come up, the court staff would do their best to find a translator.

NEW COURTHOUSE
During the question and answer session the new Yolo County Superior Courthouse was mentioned and Julie noted that she hoped that the system for providing Assisted Listening might be a more up-todate version than the courts currently have. Clare Childers told Julie and Kara that input from the hearing impaired during the design and construction period is very important and she hopes that will occur. Julie promised to pass that on.

WE MUST SPEAK OUT
The importance of the hearing impaired speaking up in situations like this can not be overestimated. We need to let the people charged with providing us service know what works and does not work...it benefits all of society to have clear, effective communication available to all and there is no more important setting for this need than in a courtroom.

Both Kara and Julie showed their commitment to providing the people of Yolo County with excellent service by stating that if anyone is not sure how to go about requesting accommodations, or have issues with how their request is being handled, then they should feel free to contact either one of them directly. Their contact information can be found below.


Kara Walker Clarkson
Interpreter Services Coordinator
(530) 406-6708
kwclarkson@yolo.courts.ca.gov

Julie Ann Burton
Court Operations Supervisor
Court Services
(530) 406-6707
jburton@yolo.courts.ca.gov

For anyone interested in further reading on this subject go to:
http://hlaa.convio.net/site/R?i=ELbJxXM3xUFTB2j0N6OzJA..for a very interesting article from the Hearing Loss Association of America

General Meeting Topic "How to Buy Hearing Aids The Right Way" very informative!

Tom Mentkowski's talk on "How to Buy Hearing Aids The Right Way" was very instructive. Tom broke the information down into four parts which he called "The Four Esssential Ingredients for a Successful Hearing Aid Fitting" They were:
The need to be a motivated and informed patient
The need to purchase the right technology
The need to find a competent and caring hearing provider
and
The need for a supportive family.

The part I personally found of most interest was FINDING THE RIGHT HEARING AID PROVIDER as Tom addressed issues that I would never have thought of. He recommended that you visit two to three different providers before making a decision on who to choose as your provider. He also said "DO NOT BRING YOUR WALLET OR CHECK BOOK" to this first visit; you are not there to buy anything, you are there to determine if this is the right place for you. He also strongly suggested that you bring along your significant other to these first visits as use of a hearing aid is designed to help you in communicating effectively with other people and the person most affected by your loss of hearing is your spouse and family. In order to determine which of the providers might work the best for you he suggested that you ask yourself these questions:

• Were you given a hearing screening or full exam?
• Were you given a full explanation of all the tests that were done?
• Were you told what type of hearing loss you have and why you sometimes can "hear" but not "understand"?
• Were you told what a hearing aid can and cannot do for you?
• Were you asked about the effect of your hearing loss on your daily life at home, at work, in school etc?
• Was your "significant other" given an opportunity to express the effect of your loss of hearing on them and your other loved ones?

After the meeting I feel far more confident about what I need to know and ask when purchasing a hearing aid.

COMMUNITY GROUPS DONATE MONEY FOR PRESCHOOL HEARING TESTS

Hear! Here! wishes to thank the Kiwanis Club of Woodland, the Lions Clubs of Yolo County and the Woodland Healthcare Community Board for their generous donations towards the cost of the preschool hearing tests that we are in the process of scheduling.

Hear! Here! has no source of funding other than what it can raise itself and so without this community support our organization would not be able to provide this much needed service. Started in 2005 with a small donation and one volunteer, it is wonderful to see the  program expand each year and the donations increase. Last year was the first time we were able to schedule testing in Davis and this year, thanks in large part to the very generous donation from the Lions Clubs, we are able to include all the preschools in both Winters and Esparto as well as many in Davis and as always Woodland. The van that does the testing has been contracted to visit Esparto, Winters and Woodland in late April. The Davis schedule and contract should soon be complete.


With support like this, our dream, that one day all the preschool children living in Yolo County are tested to ensure that they can hear well enough to understand their teacher, follow instructions, and interact with other children does not seem so unattainable!

Once again a big "thank you" to these great sponsors of the program.

LIONS CLUBS RAISE MONEY FOR PRESCHOOL HEARING TESTS

In early December, the Lions Clubs of Woodland, Esparto and Winters held a raffle to raise money to help fund the hearing tests of preschool children that Hear! Here! organizes each year. The raffle raised just over $2900.00 and we were asked to use these funds to focus on the smaller communities of Winters, Madison, and Esparto. The Lions Clubs have ensured that children in these outlying areas will receive early screening for hearing loss. It is so important to catch any hearing impairment as early as possible so that children do not fall behind in their schooling. Thanks to all the Lions members who helped run the raffle and to those who purchased tickets.


This last week members of the board contacted the preschools in Winters and Esparto, all of whom are very interested in the screening, as well as a preschool in Woodland and also some Davis schools. Over the next two weeks the process of working out the possible scheduling of the tests will take place. Once the Center for Hearing Health of Auburn, CA confirms their routes the schools will be notified.  Testing will happen sometime in the late spring.

October Meeting discusses holiday time for the hearing impaired

Holidays are coming up. At our October meeting we had some great hints for surviving family gatherings without being left out. First to remember is: Plan Ahead. Realize that large social groups are one of the most difficult environments for a person with hearing loss. Be kind to yourself and focus on the positive things you can do.


It’s easier to talk with people one-on-one in a quiet area, so find a quieter corner. Bring something to share (photos?), sit in another (quiet) room and invite people one at a time to come look at your pictures (of a vacation trip? your garden? the big fish!).

When sitting down to dinner, choose a seat that is best for you. If you have a “better” side, position yourself to hear on that side. Avoid sitting next to one who does not speak distinctly. Ask your host to turn off background music (or the football game) during dinner – or have the TV on mute.

HEAR HERE Part of ADA 20th Anniversary Celebration

July 31st:

The disability pride celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act took place in Central Park, Davis this last Saturday. Hear Here! was one of the featured groups for the event along with other local entities.

There was a very good turn out and the parade around the park made for an impressive sight and sound, with Hear Here signs visible within the crowd and the chant "ADA, ADA Here to Stay" reverberating around the square.

The program that followed the parade featured representatives from all the political bodies, Federal, State, County to City, taking turns to acknowledge this major anniversary of "civil rights for everyone" as well as representatives from other support groups in the area. Laurie Loving from our board was one of the featured speakers along side Lucinda Talkington from Outa Sight. Numerous performers also donated their time helping to make the morning a true celebration.

Thanks to the Davis Senior Center Laurie was able to ensure that Listening Devices, connected to the sound system, were available to those who needed them. There was also two volunteer sign language interpreters available throughout the program. 20 years ago, these services would not have been available for a gathering of this kind; it is the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act that ensures we can all join in and enjoy these events. Hear Here! also hosted a table offering information about our group and the services currently available to the hard of hearing.

Organizers of the event said that they hoped to " strengthen the pride, power and unity of people with disabilities, our families and allies" and "challenge the way many people think about and define 'disability'" [Davis Enterprise].

Everyone present had a good time marking this most important Act of Legislation.

2010 PRESCHOOL HEARING TESTS

 A "RESOUNDING" SUCCESS.

This year for the first time our preschool testing took place over four days and included Davis as well as Woodland. A total of 163 preschool aged children from eight preschools were screened for possible hearing loss. Fourteen children failed the test and were advised to have their hearing checked again by a doctor and an audiologist. Hearing is vital to success in school. Accomplishing first-grade reading skills relies on careful listening. These skills include knowing the difference between letters, words, and sentences, and figuring out what a word is by sounding out the letters. Local preschool hearing tests have been sponsored in Woodland and in Davis by Hear! Here!, local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America [HLAA], with funding supplied by Woodland Reveille Lions Club, the Community Benefit Committee of Woodland Healthcare, and Soroptimists International of Davis.
The article below, which ran in the Daily Enterprise, discusses the Davis Testing. Kathy Glatter who's son is mentioned in the article is one of Hear! Here!'s Advisory Board Members.

Preschoolers' screening catches hearing loss early

By Laurie Loving
Special to The Enterprise
May 27, 2010 09:17

Thanks to the efforts of a local physician, dozens of Davis preschoolers have been screened for hearing loss. Early detection is key, she says.
'We were devastated to learn that our beautiful little boy was hearing-impaired, especially late in the game, at age 6,' said Kathy Glatter, M.D., a Woodland Healthcare cardiologist and mother of Jack Maurantonio, now 7. 'Because his hearing loss developed after he had acquired language, Jack is very verbal and you would never dream he had a hearing loss.'
Glatter was frustrated with the teacher's frequent reports that Jack was 'not listening and not following directions.' Last year, after ruling out ADHD, she took him to an audiologist, who diagnosed a moderate to severe conductive hearing loss in the right ear.
'Jack tested normal at birth. They think it developed during repeated ear infections, although I obviously took him to the pediatrician and Jack took the antibiotics, got ear tubes and had his tonsils and adenoids removed.'
Glatter was most disturbed by the fact that Jack had passed the routine hearing screening at the pediatrician's office at ages 5 and 6.
'Actually, their screening totally missed that he had become pretty much deaf in his right ear,' she said. 'I thought this would only happen to kids that don't get to a doctor.'
If Jack had been in public kindergarten, the state-mandated screening would have picked it up, but he was in private school, which does not test. Preschools do not routinely provide hearing screenings either.
'What if I had not requested a specialist? We would still think Jack had normal hearing! It bothered me that other children may be in school with an undiagnosed hearing loss,' Glatter said.
Seeking a solution, she contacted the Hear! Here! support group for hard-of-hearing people in Woodland and was soon asked to join its advisory board. The group coordinates with the Agency for Hearing in Sacramento to provide hearing screenings at Woodland preschools for a reasonable fee. A nonprofit, the agency sends mobile hearing screening vans to schools all over Northern California to provide the state-mandated tests to more than 100,000 children in kindergarten through high school.
Impassioned, Glatter got busy finding funding for the Davis preschools. She sent out four proposals and got positive responses from two sources.
'My practice is with Woodland Healthcare and they donated $1,000. Soroptimist International of Davis contributed $500,' she said. 'I am so grateful that both groups understood the importance of identifying children with hearing loss as early as possible.'
Earlier this month, a total of 58 children at Davis Parent Nursery School and University Covenant Nursery School were tested for hearing loss. Two days later, 44 children were screened at LaRue Park and Russell Park Child Development Centers.
'Out of 102 preschoolers, ages 4 and 5, 12 failed the test,' Glatter said. 'One child's hearing loss was in both ears, at ... over 50 percent in laymen's terms. I gave all the parents the screening results, and we recommended they go to an audiologist for follow-up and more in-depth testing. They were surprised, but grateful for the screening.'
Glatter is still learning to cope with her son's hearing loss.
'This is not what parents plan for, but Jack loves his hearing aid and wears it all the time. He is doing much better at school now, and next fall the teacher will wear a microphone that transmits wirelessly to the hearing aid (an FM system). I'm happy that our preschool hearing tests can find other kids like Jack and help them!'
For information on preschool testing, contact Glatter at k_ glatter@yahoo.com. For information on hearing loss for all ages, contact Claire Childers, Hear! Here! chapter leader, at hearherewoodland@gmail.com

BILL FAIRFIELD OF MUMBO GUMBO AT MONDAY'S MEETING in DAVIS

Noise-induced hearing loss is something that can happen for many reasons; being around construction machinery; near loud amplified music for long periods of time; being too close to gun fire; working in industrial settings with heavy equipment; and using large agricultural machinery are prime examples.
Come learn from Betty McNamara, a Woodland Healthcare audiologist, how extended periods of exposure to loud noise levels can cause permanent hearing loss; from Billy Wagster, Yolo County's Veterans Service Officer, how help is being offered to our veterans with hearing loss resulting from military service; and listen to Bill Fairfield's personal story of his hearing loss which happened while he was playing in the rock band Mumbo Gumbo.

REMINDER: this meeting is being held this Monday the 26th, at 10.00am in the DAVIS SENIOR CENTER at 646 A Street, Davis

HEAR HERE! THANKS LOCAL GROUPS FOR THEIR SUPPORT
Board member Dr. Glatter applied for, and received, $1,000.00 from the Community Benefit Committee of the Woodland Healthcare and $500.00 from Soroptimist International of Davis. With the $500.00 already received from the Woodland Reveille Lions Club, we were able to contract for testing on May 4th and 5th at 4 preschools in Woodland and Davis.
It is not too late for individuals to donate to the program. One donation of $7.50 may save a child with an unrecognized hearing loss from a life of struggling to catch up to others in school.

Please make your check payable to:

 HLAA Woodland Chapter

and mail to:

HLAA Woodland Chapter

Atten: Preschool Hearing Test Program

2513 Madrid Court

Davis CA 95616

Thank you

THANKS

WOODLAND HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION has donated $1,000.00 to the Hear! Here! Preschool Hearing Test Program. Thanks to this generous donation along with the continueing support of the WOODLAND REVEILLE LIONS CLUB the program this year has expanded to two days, May 4th and 5th, and also has been expanded to include schools in Davis as well as Woodland.
The program provides for pre-school children to be tested for hearing loss with the goal of identifying children that need help before they start school and fall behind. The cost of testing is $450.00 per school.
An individual may also donate to the project, just $7.50 pays for a test for one student. You can help prevent a child with an unrecongnized hearing loss from a life of struggling to catch to others in school. Make checks payable to : HLAA Woodland Chapter 2513 Madrid Court, Davis, CA 95616

NEXT MEETING: Monday, March 22, 2 p.m.at the Woodland Community and Senior Center, 2001 East Street, Woodland
TOPIC:
Summer Camp for children with hearing loss. Leading the presentation about the Lions Wilderness Camp for Deaf Children will be Franklin Anderson, Lions board vice president of Camp Ross Relles near Nevada City.
The Lions Service for Children Projects addresses needs for children in disadvantaged circumstances. Deaf and hard-of hearing kids often lack social opportunities that other children enjoy because of communication difficulties. At Camp Ross Relles, the deaf and hard-of-hearing child may enjoy camping with their peers in a setting especailly designed for children with hearing loss.
Join us there!

Machine-Generated Captions on YouTube!

View Google's Blog to see video

Ken Harrenstien software engineer for Google announced that the company's accessibility team has developed a system for using automatic speech recognition technology [ASR] to create machine-generated automatic captions [auto-caps] for certain videos on YouTube. Every minute of every hour of every day, 20+ hours of video are uploaded to the Internet with the vast majority of the audio content inaccessible to the deaf or hearing impaired. The new technology automatically generates captions for user generated video. Mr. Harrenstein who is himself deaf stated that while the captioning is not yet perfect "compared to nothing this is wonderful". The viewer will be able to select the closed captioning icon to view the captions, and will also be able to make the text larger or smaller and to change the background color to maximize the readability of the captions. The system is being currently tested by the 13 partners involved in the initial launch, including the local institutes of UC Berkley, Stanford and UCLA, before being release to the public.

In addition to the automatic captions Google also announced the launch of "auto-timing" which makes it significantly easier for YouTube video makers who wish to create captions to do so manually without having any special expertise. Google's ASR is able to use a simple text file that contains all the words in the video to figure out when the words are spoken in the video and insert them in the appropriate place. This system is in place and Google asked for users to provide them feedback so that they can improve and develop the system as needed.

These two systems are seen as a major step in Google's stated mission of making the Internet available and accessible for all.

HOT DOG of a Meeting

WOW, What a meeting we had last Monday.

To begin with we watched a DVD from the Sam Simon Program, headquartered in Malibu, on the training
and use of dogs for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The program uses
carefully selected dogs rescued from the pound. These dogs have to be:

Confident: Outgoing: a Assertive: Friendly: and Healthy!

We also learnt that Hearing Dogs provide their owners an amazing variety of services including:
Alerting the owner to smoke alarms, door bells and phones that are ringing; Informing the owner that food has finished cooking both on the stove and in the microwave; Bringing back items the owner may have dropped; and Ensuring that the owner knows if someone is calling them or talking to them from behind.

  One very poignant moment in the DVD was when a ten year old boy talked about how he feels much safer when he is walking down the street as his dog will alert him if there is someone behind him. I think that hearing people so not realize how isolating being totally deaf can be and how that must be, especially for children. The boy's mother says that having a Hearing Dog has helped her son become more socially active with the other children in the neighborhood and by extension more of a typical teenager.
After the DVD we were treated to seeing two Canine Companions for Independence [CCI] dogs, Cali and Caspir and their owners, Don and Walis, do their thing!

Cali is a Hearing Dog and demonstrated all the techniques she has for keeping Don her owner alerted to what is happening around him. She responded to a timer going off, she noticed when Don dropped his keys and picked them up for him, she went and got his attention when Walis called to him from across the room.

Walis, the owner  of Caspir, gave the group an understanding of the rigorous training that CCI dogs have to undergo in order to qualify to be a certified  Hearing Dog. Only 20% of dogs make it all the way through the training. Training is spread out over the first 2 1/2 years of the life of the dog with the last 6 months or so being on training specifically for work as a Hearing Dog.

Owners are also required to go to two weeks intensive training during which they are matched with a dog.
There is final test where the owner and dog go out to a busy public venue such as a mall to test the dogs ability to perform complex tasks in a noisy crowded area.  

                        
One thing that Walis told us that is pretty amazing is that she is teaching her dog Caspir to respond to American Sign Language...which she demonstrated for us.

It was quite impressive to see both these dogs working in public and being so very responsive to their owners. Both dogs ignored everyone else in the room until at the end of the class they were given permission to "release" and then they were just the friendliest dogs you could image.

YES, it really was a great demonstration and we have to thank Don, Walis , Cali and Caspir for giving up their time and sharing the wonder of these dogs with us. They made you want to run out and get a dog right away!

Dogs at November Meeting!

What a treat! At next Monday's November meeting we will hear from members of the Canine Companions on the training of Hearing Loss Dogs! These are amazing companions for the people who can't hear the doorbell or telephone. Did you know that hearing dogs are allowed on planes when you fly? They can even let you know when your microwave signals "Food is ready"

A hearing loss dog will be on hand to demostrate...

NOVEMBER 16TH 2 p.m.
WOODLAND COMMUNITY AND SENIOR CENTER

ROOM WILL BE SIGNED AT ENTRY

See you all there!

Walk4Hearing Over!

Well,
The walk is over. All seemed to go well I think. We received a final donation of $40.00 that took us just over our goal of raising $600.00 so thank you to everyone who contributed to the cause! We will keep you posted as to how the monies are spent.
Again, thanks everyone!

Walk4Hearing just five days away!

Just five more days until the HLAA 's Walk4Hearing is held at Long Beach. The good news is that HEAR! HERE! has raised $570.00 so far for this fundraiser. A percentage of the funds raised by the HLAA"S Walk4Hearing is sent back to the local chapters to help sponsor programs. HEAR! HERE!'s main program for the year is providing free hearing tests to pre-school children that otherwise might not receive this invaluable service. Each test costs $7.50 per child. So, obviously, the more we raise the more children we can help.

If you are reading this page won't you help by going to the link at the bottom of the previous posting and donating to the "Woodland Walkers" your local team. Any amount large or small will help give one more child an opportunity to be tested.

Thanks

Walk4Hearing Fundraiser

Sponsor the "Woodland Walkers" for the Walk4Hearing

This year the California Walk4Hearing is being held in Southern California at Long Beach. The goal of the Walk4Hearing is to increase the awareness about the causes and consequences of hearing loss and to raise funds to provide information and support for people with hearing loss. In addition, your local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America [HLAA] , HEAR! HERE! recieves a percentage of each donation made in its name for use at the local level. Last year, as a direct result of generous contributions, the chapter received $600.0, which enabled us to defray a portion of the costs of offering free hearing tests to over 100 pre-school children.

Although we will not send a team down to Long Beach we have a team called the "Woodland Walkers" created to support the Walk4Hearing and to raise funds needed to expand our free hearing testing for pre-school children. Good hearing skills are critical in the developing of a child's social and emotional growth, reading readiness skills and pre-math education. Won't you help us provide this essential service. Simply click onto our team page at: http://hlaa.convio.net/site/TR/Teamraiser/2009LongBeachWalk?team_id=14380&pg=team&fr_id=1600 and select the team captain as the person you wish to sponsor.

Any amount large or small helps.

Thank you for you support!

Welcome to HearHereWoodland the blog for the Woodland Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America.
We are your local source for information on hearing loss and work to bring information to the public on the effects of hearing loss on the general public