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At the 2016 HLAA national conference this June, I was honored to accept the Get in the Hearing Loop award on behalf of Let’s Loop Seattle, HLA-WA, and the many advocates, both high-profile and under-the-radar, who are making Washington the most hearing-friendly state in the country.
Katherine Bouton and Cheri Perazzoli, HLAA national conference, 2016.
This award is shared with so many…
HLA-WA members
The HLA-WA Board of Trustees
Let’s Loop Seattle Committee
Diana Thompson
Joanna and Jerry Olmstead
Joe and Erlene Little
Julie and Art Chimura
Jerry Paulukonis
Maridee Garvey
Bruce Rafford
Bellevue Arts Museum
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Irene Stewart, NW Universal Design
4Culture
Town Hall Seattle
Councilmember Tom Rasmussen
U.S. Access Board and Karen Braitmayer
City of Bellevue
City of Seattle
King County Councilmember Claudia Balducchi
Bellevue City Councilmember Lynne Robinson
Eric Raff and Bill Moss, Washington State ODHH
Spencer Norby, installer
And of course, thank you to our many fellow hearing loss and senior advocacy organizations: The Hearing, Speech, and Deafness Center; Washington State Senior Lobby; the AARP Washington; and Wash-CAP.
Read the Redmond Reporter’s coverage of the award here.
–Cheri Perazzoli
Getting around town when you’ve had a hearing loss can be challenging and stressful. And communication access for vessels–and transportation in general–has lagged behind that of other venues.
Thank you to the Washington State Ferries for this terrific start in hearing access: the Colman dock booth at Pier 52 in downtown Seattle is looped! This loop helps us communicate with the ticket seller, move the line more quickly, ask questions, and hear detailed safety, time, and other information.
We hope this is the start of of continued communication access in the Washington State Ferry system. Captioned announcements on board the ferries themselves would tremendously increase our safety, comfort, and pleasure as we travel. Stay tuned.
Seattle’s Taproot Theatre just announced they’ve installed a hearing loop, expanding and enriching Seattle’s hearing accessible arts scene further yet. Thank you, Taproot!
Three years’ worth of networking, planning, negotiating, and testing gave way to festive celebrating on September 3, 2015, when HLA-WA members and other testers nodded excitedly to give a thumbs-up to the loop at Seattle’s City Hall council chambers.
Councilmember Rasmussen was an early advocate for hearing access.
Avidex’s Bill Chafant, loop installer, and Monica Simmons, City of Seattle, announce the tests.
Karen Utter, HLA-WA president, helps set up the test.
City of Seattle IT Dept’s Eric Dupoy speaks into the system.
The city’s old FM system was not widely used or publicized, so the city set up a hearing access advisory committee, and later, the City Council allocated funds for a loop. Thanks to the persistence and patience of many both within and outside Seattle government, this loop dramatically improves the hearing accessibility of Seattle’s civic life.
The results: an Avidex-installed induction loop throughout the council chambers. Signage on the doors and accessibility information on posted on council agendas. An expanded accessibility presence on the city website, including a redesigned accessibility page with specifics for communication access accommodations, where they are located, whom to contact, and a request form. Direct links are included to the city’s ADA coordinator and the Title II grievance process.
We owe enormous gratitude to these incredible people who helped make this loop happen: Council-member Rasmussen, Monica Simmons, Seattle City Clerk; Debra Witmer and Laura Gramer, Seattle Commission for People with DisAbilities; Mary Anderson, Senior Services; Irene Stewart, NW Universal Design Council, Christine Seymour, CS-Deaf and Hard of Hearing Resource Specialists, HSDC, Michael Richardson, NW ADA , HLA-WA, especially access advisory members; Jerry Paulokinis, Maridee Garvey and Bill Collison.
With this step, the City of Seattle not only honors people with hearing loss but also lights a path for other venues and cities to follow to create an inclusive infrastructure. This landmark installation brings us closer to our dream: making Seattle the most-looped, most hearing accessible city in the country.
letsloopseattle 