DECEMBER 11, 2015

This is a weekly report from the HLAA national office in Bethesda, Maryland. Please also sign up for the HLAA e-News where even more news is published.

ADVOCACY

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) just announced that it is exploring the feasibility of conducting a negotiated rulemaking that would ensure captioning of in-flight entertainment and videos, better-defined service animals, as well as carrier reporting of disability service requests, among other issues.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not apply to airplanes in flight, which are governed by the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). While there is some split of authority, the prevailing rule is that private individuals may not bring suit under the ACAA, so the disability access issues can only be brought to the attention of the DOT. Click here to learn more and submit your comments no later than January 6, 2016.

 PUBLIC AWARENESS

Survey on Banking for People with Hearing Loss

The World Institute on Disability (WID) and the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) are conducting a brief 10- to 15-minute survey about access to and use of banking and financial institutions for people with hearing loss.

Results from this survey will be used to inform the financial and banking industry as to best practices to make information and services more accessible to people with hearing loss. No individual identifying data or characteristics will be provided to any outside agency, organization or business. All responses will be combined and no individual responses will be made available. After the completion of the study, all contact information will be destroyed.

Take the survey here.

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES GIVE TO HLAA

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the official workplace giving campaign of the federal government. The mission of the CFC is to promote and support philanthropy through a program that is employee focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all. Federal workers, retirees, and government contractors are eligible to donate to the CFC. CFC is the world’s largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign, with almost 200 CFCs throughout the country and overseas raising millions of dollars each year. To be eligible to participate in the CFC, each charitable organization must be designated as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. HLAA is a CFC approved organization.

Act now! The campaign runs through to December 15, 2015. Eligible federal employee pledges may be processed online or by completing a paper pledge form. If you are a federal employee who is new to the process, download the pledging tutorial for a step-by-step guide on how to submit a pledge to the CFC.

The HLAA designation code is 11376.

For more information visit the CFC website, and thank you for your support!

 WEBINARS

December 16, 8 p.m.-9 p.m., Christine Cassel, M.D., president and CEO of National Quality Forum, will present Aging America and Hearing Loss: The PCAST Report Explained. See the Schedule page for more information. Webinar times are Eastern Standard Time. All webinars are free, captioned, and recorded. The recordings are posted on the Webinar Replay page of our website, usually within a week.

CONVENTION 2016/IFHOH CONGRESS

ATTENTION STATE AND CHAPTER LEADERS

HLAA State and Chapter Leaders, please plan to attend special sessions in the afternoon on Wednesday, June 22. Additional information about the Convention and leader workshops will be posted on our website at hearingloss.org/content/chapter-news. The leader registration guidelines and form are also posted on that page.

Also of note, the HLAA Board of Trustees meeting has been moved to Wednesday evening to make way for two plenary sessions on Thursday morning.