Skip to content Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Persons

The Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons is an alliance group for the Walk for Hearing DC. Our mission is to empower deaf and hard of hearing individuals and their families through education, advocacy and community involvement. NVRC works closely with HLAA on advocacy issues and is a very worthy organization! By making a donation you will be supporting two wonderful organizations that work to support people who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. Our website is NVRC.org and we are located in Fairfax County, Virginia. Thank you 🙂 Eileen (NVRC Exec Director)

Walk 4 Hearing Logo

What:  HLAA Walk4Hearing
When:  Saturday, October 15, 2022
Time:  9:00 AM EST
Where:  National Harbor - Capital Canopy, 150 National Plaza, Oxon Hill, MD

Schedule:
9 AM - Registration Starts
10:00 AM - Stage Presentation
10:15 AM - Walk Starts (5K/3.1 miles)

Join TEAM NVRC!

The portrait of Lise Hamlin, a smiling woman with glasses
Lise Hamlin, Director of Public Policy, Hearing Loss Association of America

Tuesday, October 4, 2022 | 6:30–7:30 pm ET via Zoom

HLAA has been on the forefront of advocating for greater access to lower cost hearing health care and hearing devices for years. With the advent of Over-the-Counter hearing aids for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss, we are finally seeing the results of years of work with hearing health professionals, policy makers, federal regulators, and industry. But with as with any great change, we are also seeing confusion and concern about what the future holds.

In this presentation, Lise will provide background on HLAA, information about over the counter hearing aids and the FDA regulation of this new category of hearing aids, and what you should know before you purchase these hearing aids. She’ll also touch on what it will mean to people who still need to rely on traditional hearing aids.


Lise Hamlin joined the HLAA national staff as director of public policy in April 2008. Lise, who has a hearing loss herself, has worked as an advocate for people with hearing loss for more than 25 years. She currently represents HLAA on federal advisory committees, industry advisory groups, and consumer coalitions. In 2019 she received TDI’s Karen Peltz Strauss Award Public Policy Award and has been recognized with the Oticon Focus on People award, a Spirit of SHHH Award and the F. Michael Taff award from the Human Rights Commission of Rockville, Maryland.

View the flyer

ASL interpreters and live captioning will be provided. To request for such accommodations, please contact info@nvrc.org

Karen Peltz Strauss, formerly of the FCC, for whom the award is named presented the award. The plaque read, “In honor of your visionary contributions in providing access to the hard of hearing population of the United States, your advocacy in ensuring that the needs of hard of hearing in inclusive emergency planning hearing aid compatibility and assistive listening systems are included and your imprint on hundreds of TDI filings to the FCC.”

Karen Peltz Strauss with Lise Hamlin 

Lauded for her 25 plus years of service to the deaf and hard of hearing community, Lise began her career at the New York League for the Hard of Hearing, and later worked here at NVRC as a community specialist through a TDI CEPIN grant. Lise is currently director of Public Policy at HLAA. She has worked on a number of issues including, IP-CTS, OTC hearing aids, and much more.

Lise Hamlin with Laurie Dowling and NVRC board member Tom Dowling (in background)

Lise Hamlin worked started at NVRC in 2005 as its Emergency Preparedness Specialist and later became NVRC’s Director of Access & AdvocacyLise worked closely with the FCC, TDI, NAD, AAPD and HLAA to respond to various issues including requests for waivers of captioning rules and issues related to the transition to digital tv. She worked closely with NVRC Executive Director Cheryl Heppner on many issues.

Lise has a long history of advocating for access to captioning, TTY and Relay services.  While looking through NVRC files from Lise’s time here, we found a quote of hers from 2007.  

She said, “The technology might change but the need for access does not. NVRC is at the table to remind the tech guys and the policy guys that no matter where technology heads, it has to be accessible. Because without our input, they simply would not include the kinds of access we need. As the disability community says, ‘Nothing about us without us.’”

Congratulations Lise! 

 

HLAA - DC Walk Details

Walk page: http://hlaa.convio.net/site/TR?fr_id=2382&pg=entry

Date:
Saturday, October 22, 2016

Location:
*NEW LOCATION*

Cameron Run Regional Park
4001 Eisenhower Ave
Alexandria, VA
Directions

Schedule: 
9am - Registration/Check-in
10am - Walk begins
Distance: 5K (3.1 miles)

Walk Chairs:
Ann Rancourt
arancourt@hearingloss.org
Ronnie Adler
radler@hearingloss.org

 

Veterans

Do you have a hearing loss due to military service? A report from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that more than 59,000 military members are on disability for hearing loss from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

HLAA was founded in 1979 by Howard “Rocky” Stone, a retired CIA agent, who endured hearing loss from his service in the United States Army. Rocky was well-known in the agency for both his skill and his hearing loss. On one occasion he was having a hard time “hearing” when talking with then-Director Richard Helms, so Rocky plopped himself on Helms’ desk and asked him to face him directly so he could read his lips! Another time, his old-fashioned body hearing aid was mistaken for a recording spy device and was confiscated. Rocky earned the Agency’s highest honor and went onto establish an organization for people who have hearing loss and want to stay in the hearing world with technology and strategies.

Learn more on the HLAA website

 

 

Business Wire
March 21, 2016

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the appointment of Barbara Kelley as the new executive director of HLAA. Her appointment is effective immediately.

Margaret Wallhagen, Ph.D., chairperson of the Board, commented, “Barbara’s commitment to HLAA is unquestionable. Her 28 years of dedicated service to the organization in various roles is exemplary. She has not only shown great leadership and fortitude in stepping into the acting executive director role this past January but also expresses a vision for the future that exemplifies an understanding of the needs of persons with hearing loss. We have every confidence she will transition smoothly into the official executive director role.”

A search committee was appointed in February and chaired by HLAA Board member Jan Blustein, M.D., Ph.D. Blustein commented, “In her years rising through the ranks and culminating in serving as the deputy executive director for the past eight years, Barbara has won the admiration of the HLAA community. We found deep support for her candidacy within HLAA and among our outside stakeholders. Her blend of abilities, talents, and familiarity with HLAA’s environment is just what we were looking for in our next executive director.”

Hired by Founder Rocky Stone in 1988, Barbara has been a part of the organization’s growth, beginning with editing the first issues of the SHHH Journal until most recently the award-winning Hearing Loss Magazine. She has also helped manage the office team and worked on many of the HLAA programs.

Barbara said, “It has been my life’s work to contribute to the mission of the organization through a range of activities. I look forward to using my history and knowledge of the organization to ensure that HLAA remains the valued consumer voice for people with hearing loss in both shaping public policy and helping people live well with hearing loss. I’m energized by our members and supporters whose dedication to HLAA is unwavering. I look forward to working with our members, board, supporters and staff in my role as executive director.”

About the Hearing Loss Association of America

The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), founded in 1979 as Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH), opens the world of communication to people with hearing loss through information, education, support and advocacy. HLAA produces the Walk4Hearing® in 22 cities across the country, publishes the bimonthly Hearing Loss Magazine, holds annual conventions (Convention 2016 is June 23 -26 in Washington, DC), advocates for the rights of people with hearing loss, conducts educational webinars, and has an extensive network of chapters and state organizations across the country. For more information, visit www.hearingloss.org.

Contacts

Hearing Loss Association of America
Margaret Wallhagen, Ph.D., 301-657-2248
Chairperson, HLAA Board of Trustees
chairperson@hearingloss.org