About Hear Here Hartford
Hear Here Hartford is a chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America with a mission to empower D/deaf and hard of hearing teens and young adults using all forms of communication modalities within the community. Since 2007, HHH has led diverse programming featuring mentors, speakers, socials, educational and youth leadership programs. College scholarships are awarded each year at the Walk4Hearing to students demonstrating strong leadership and self-advocacy in the community. With a Unity in the Community theme, HHH continues to collaborate with other local organizations throughout our community serving people with hearing loss. Scroll down below to learn about our history.
Our History
Dunkin Park Walk4Hearing
This year was focused on our partnership with the American School for the Deaf, gathering information on ways to improve communication access for CT D/deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind population. In June 2023, we held the 13th Walk4Hearing at Dunkin Park where we had over 300 walkers representing eight different alliances. Two $1000 scholarships were awarded at the Walk.
Justin Osmond Hosts the Walk4Hearing
HHH led the first in-person CT Walk4Hearing since 2020, and our featured guest was Justin Osmond, author, international speaker and entertainer from the famous Osmond family. Justin was born with a hearing loss and shared his wisdom and talent by playing the violin in a duet with HHH talent, KC Beauregard providing vocals as well as directing an hour of entertainment to celebrate a decade of in-person walks in CT. HHH has united with the community to raise over $750,000 to help people with hearing loss since bringing the Walk to CT in 2011.
Generous Support
Brooke Shell, daughter of co-founder Ari Shell, raised an AMAZING $2,557 for her Bat Mitzvah project supporting the CT Walk4Hearing that continued to be a virtual event. HHH also continued its annual award of college scholarships. A virtual panel event was co-sponsored by HHH, CT Association of the Deaf, and CT AG Bell Chapter featuring youth and mentors with hearing loss.
The Spirit of Giving
Our HHH Board offered free tickets to an October 24th performance of Silent NO MORE performance featuring five-time American Comedy Award nominee and two-time conference keynote speaker Kathy Buckley and acclaimed author of Not Fade Away Rebecca Alexander. The performance featured real stories and monologues to inspire and entertain. A LinkedIn event featuring United Healthcare executive Craig LaFiandra who spoke to HHH teens and young adults about how to set up a Linked In profile; how to best request info and connect with others; how to set up interviews; and best practices and strategies for using LinkedIn effectively. A professional photographer took headshots for participants to include in their LinkedIn profile. Just before the year ended, the HHH Board Members and Mentors purchased, wrapped, and donated gifts for students with hearing loss. The annual CT Walk4Hearing shifted to a virtual event during the pandemic and HHH canceled its remaining events planned for 2020.
Recognizing Veterans
At the ASD new Visual Communication Center, HHH presented an interactive workshop, Advocating Under the ADA featuring speaker Marc Anthony Gallucci, a disability rights advocate and Director at the Center for Disability Rights, who taught teens and young adults how to self-advocate in college and employment situations. Inspired by an HHH high school teen and board member, our community united at the CT Veteran’s Cemetery in Middletown to lay donated wreaths on fallen heroes’ headstones. CT Walk4Hearing at Walnut Hill Park in New Britain. CT’s Walk4Hearing was held at Walnut Park in New Britain, and despite the rain, the turnout was impressive!
HHH Celebrates 10 Years
Hear Here Hartford celebrated its 10-year anniversary presenting its history in a visual story format with entertainment. HHH sponsored another Youth Leadership Program for four weeks featuring teens with hearing loss developing their leadership and communication skills.
7th Walk4Hearing in New Britain, CT
The year opened with a one-hour escape room experience for members. The first workshop held was the Transition Series: PPT Prep meeting for students with hearing loss and their parents. Participants learned Core Transition Skills developed by the CT State Department of Education to help with the development of IEPs and self-advocacy skills at PPTs. The HHH Board voted to be sponsors of an exhibit at the Connecticut Historical Society on the history of Deaf education in CT. This event was presented at the American School for the Deaf.
Access to Success
The opening event of the school year was the Access to Success meeting at Soundbridge. This included a panel discussion and workshop where participants learned to describe their hearing loss and identify and explain their needs in educational and employment situations. Various service providers were on hand to help participants better understand the current technology available to support their various needs. HHH again offered a Youth Leadership Program with Toastmasters to improve leadership and communication skills for students with hearing loss. Members, mentors, and board members visited the Suffield House to spend time with the residents having snacks and creating Christmas decorations to go on the tree we donated. In January, HHH had a painting event at ASD for preteens, teens, and young adults with hearing loss. HHH partnered with CT AG Bell in Wallingford to hold a bowling social in Wallingford.
Wadsworth Atheneum Festival of Trees
A focus on careers began our year of events. We featured 20 mentors who represented different professions such as education, law, law enforcement, social services, firefighting, sales, science, and audiology. Participants met with mentors to ask questions and learn about navigating these careers, even with a hearing loss. A ropes course event highlighted teamwork, an inspirational speaker named Nancy Williams helped lead a workshop on finding your passion despite a hearing loss, and a bowling social brought many families together for fun during a cold winter. The HHH Chapter came together to create “Listen with your Hearts” themed ornaments to adorn a tree donated to the Festival of Trees at the Wadsworth Atheneum where we also had our holiday party.
Justin's Incredible Performance
The year got off to a great start with a meeting that involved role playing actual situations that happened to teens with hearing loss, such as bullying and unfair or illegal questions asked during job interviews. After these situations were acted out, our panel of mentors shared their personal stories related to similar situations and provided advice for navigating such situations. Other events included deaf comedian Mike Murray sharing how he handles his hearing loss using humor, a holiday party held at The Bushnell, an advocacy presentation by Terry Bedard using common PPT scenarios, and a roller skating event at Ron-A-Roll to socialize and have some fun. In the spring, we held the Walk4Hearing kickoff event at The Gallery in Glastonbury, and we hosted inspirational speaker, Justin Osmond, of the famous Osmond family. Justin amazed us with his personal story of growing up in a famous family that included family members with hearing loss. Justin shared his musical talent by playing the violin that also conveyed the message that anything is possible for someone with a hearing loss. The year ended with the Walk4Hearing at the Great River Park bringing our community together for this great cause!
Walk 4 Hearing Kickoff at the Old State House with Governor Malloy
Hear Here Hartford started off the year with its 3rd Youth Leadership Program for 12 HHH teens. Events available to all members included a “Glow in the Dark Miniature Golf” event in Canton, and a kickoff event for the Walk4Hearing at the Old State House with honorary guest Governor Dannel Malloy speaking about his own challenges with dyslexia. This event led to the most successful Walk4Hearing ever with $90,109 raised to help people with hearing loss throughout CT. Thanks to the generous donations of many to our organization, HHH was able to award 3 college scholarships to teens with hearing loss attending college.
Deaf Child Bill of Rights
Curtis Pride, the first regular season deaf professional baseball player, led the kickoff meeting and talked about how perseverance led him to the major leagues playing for teams like the Red Sox and Yankees. In December, Hear Here Hartford worked with the CT Science Center, Dr. Kristen Dilaj, and her UConn audiology students to unveil “Jolene”—a lifelike mannequin that helps educate children at the CT Science Center about hearing health. HHH also sponsored a community event at the Governor’s Mansion in January to provide information about a Deaf Child Bill of Rights initiative, which was eventually signed into law and stipulated that a Language and Communication Plan must be attached to the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) of every child who is deaf/hard of hearing. This places the focus of their IEP on their language and communication needs. The 2nd annual Walk4Hearing took place at the Great River Park in East Hartford on June 2, 2012, and raised close to $75,000 for all HLAA and the alliances: Southwest Chapter of HLAA; CREC Soundbridge; the American School for the Deaf; the CT Children's Medical Center; CT Association of the Deaf; Yale New Haven Hearing & Balance Center; Lawrence & Memorial Hospital; and the CT Family Support Network. Annual college scholarships were again awarded and have continued throughout our history.
First CT Walk for Hearing
The year began with activities that included a “Pizza, Panel, and Prizes” meeting with adult and teen panelists fielding questions about hearing loss, and guest speaker Catharine McNally who started her own business, “Keen Guides”, to help provide closed captioning and access at museums and other public places. In April of 2011, the 2nd highly successful Youth Leadership Program began. Twelve participants were chosen to meet weekly for six consecutive weeks to learn leadership and communications skills inspired by Toastmasters International. HHH led a historic first Walk4Hearing event in Connecticut on June 4, 2011, at the Great River Park in East Hartford. The “Unity in the Community” theme helped bring together over 500 walkers, raise over $65,000, and help form alliances with Soundbridge, the American School for the Deaf, and the CT Children’s Medical Center. Two scholarships were awarded to a college-bound high school senior and a continuing college student. Finally, inspirational speaker Catharine McNally shared her story about starting her own business, “Keen Guides” with the goal to gain accessible tours at museums and other public places through video captioning
Scholarships Established
The year began with Jan Melnik, a certified professional resume writer and career coach of Absolute Advantage, Inc., who presented on how to successfully write a college essay and complete a college application. She returned in the spring to lead a resume writing workshop where adult mentors worked with small groups of teens to develop their personal resumes. Representatives from accessibility offices at Eastern, Southern, and Western CT State Universities spoke about advocating for college accommodations. Deborah Fairchild, Coordinator of the Southern CT State University Disability Office, also came back in the Spring to present various hypotheticals of different college scenarios. Many social events were held, including a holiday party, bowling outing, end-of-year picnic, and a “Family Feud” themed activity where preteen and teen “families” answered questions related to self-advocacy and social situations. Several HHH teen members who participated in the 2008 HHH Youth Leadership Program spoke at the AG Bell National Convention in Orlando. This was also the first year HHH awarded two college scholarships (the Jayna Altman Scholarship and the Russ Davies Scholarship) to teens with hearing loss who exhibited extraordinary leadership and self-advocacy skills.
First Youth Leadership Program
The year began with a Technology and Service Symposium. This symposium, with several vendors and organizations, provided valuable information about technology and services available to our community. The first Youth Leadership Program, sponsored by Toastmasters International, opened for six weeks to teens with hearing loss to develop leadership and communication skills, self-advocacy and conversational skills, and proficiency in interviewing that includes positive body language. Other activities included a panel of teens and adult mentors assembled to share life experiences and advice, and numerous guest speaker events, including Kathy Buckley, a comedienne and author, and Jayna Altman, Ms. International, both sharing their experiences with hearing loss. Our Chapter year ended with speakers, Dr. Marc Eisen, medical director of Hartford Hospital’s Hearing and Balance Center; Heather Carter, audiologist; and Jill Eckerly, a hearing impaired audiologist from Advanced Bionics who collectively shared information on the newest advancements involving hearing loss.
How to Self-Advocate Panel
Hear Here Hartford of HLAA kicked off its first chapter meeting in September, as co-founders Ari Shell and Terry Bedard gathered teens, parents, teachers, and mentors together. The new chapter’s mission and goals were identified and the work began! The first presentation included a panel of adult hearing impaired mentors fielded questions about hearing loss. Activities included a “break down the walls” activity with adult mentors and teens, which allowed everyone to learn different strategies about how to manage and overcome many of the challenges of hearing loss. Highlights of this year included holding the first annual holiday party with a DJ and dancing, listening to a representative from Cochlear Americas discuss advancements in technology, holding a “How to Self-Advocate under the ADA” workshop by attorney Marc Anthony Gallucci, and listening to special guest speakers such as Dr. Patricia Chute on how to get into and remain in college. Inspirational speakers included Josh Swiller – a Yale graduate who wrote the book, The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa. Finally, Angus McCusker inspired our Chapter members when he shared his life experiences as a cross country ski racer in the Deaflympics.