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Advocacy
I have been honored to serve as an advocate on behalf of those that are deaf and hard of hearing. I still marvel at the fact that God chose to pluck me out of Alabama to send me around America and the world to increase public awareness about issues affecting those who are deaf and hard of hearing. I certainly did not expect to serve in this capacity, but I have committed myself leveraging my notoriety to educate civic, private sector and government leaders about issues that impact our community. Over the past several years, I have spent considerable time working to ensure that elected officials understand the issues that impact the deaf and hard of hearing community. Educating public policy makers is particularly important due to the fact legislative remedies have been required to eliminate discrimination against those with disabilities and to ensure that newborns are screened for hearing loss. Sadly, despite years of efforts to enact Universal Newborn Hearing Screening laws, there are still some states that do not require testing of newborn babies. I have also had the great honor and privilege of serving both President Bill Clinton and President George Bush in various capacities in their administrations. President Clinton appointed me to the President’s Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities and President Bush and Secretary Thompson recently appointed me to the Advisory Council at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). In my present role at the NIDCD, I serve on a board that helps allocate federal money that the National Institute of Health has directed to fund medical research for deafness and communication disorders. I look forward to continuing to work on behalf of the deaf and hard of hearing community and I hope that you will consider becoming involved in these important issues as well. I have provided a number of links to organizations that are active in the deaf and hard of hearing arena. If you would like to find additional information about advocacy initiatives or specific information about how you might contribute your time or resources to deaf advocacy please feel free to visit the Websites of the following organizations: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders National Institutes of Health http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/ The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf http://www.agbell.org/ Self Help for Hard of Hearing People http://www.shhh.org/ Audibel Hearing www.audibel.com American Academy of Audiology http://www.audiology.org/index.php American Academy of Otolaryngology http://www.entnet.org/ The Listening Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital http://www.thelisteningcenter.com/ Auditory-Verbal International http://www.auditory-verbal.org/ American Speech-Language-Hearing Association http://www.asha.org/ |
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