Hearing Advocacy
Most people are familiar with the wheelchair access symbol which tells people about ramps to get into buildings. They may also know the sign language symbol that tells people that sign language services available or the Braille symbol that tells people they can get documents in Braille. Until 2014, there was no access symbol in Canada that represented accessibility for people who have disabilities that affect communication.
CDAC (Communication Disabilities Access Canada) developed the communication access symbol © that is now used extensively across Canada and North America. The symbol shows two faces looking at each other. The faces have eyes, ears and one has an open mouth to indicate that they are talking. There is an arrow going back and forth indicating a back and forth exchange between the two people.
Hearing is sometimes overlooked as there are legislative mandates demanding auditory accessibility in the workplace and public spaces, but there is no enforcement.
hearo.ca advocates that in public spaces where people congregate, there is auditory accessibility with technology such as loop systems which are becoming outdated because hearing aids often do not have the receivers built in anymore, infra-red systems, or sound-field systems such as the Phonak system or something similar. AuraCast is a Bluetooth system that is emerging but not yet active in most hearing aid products.
For example, churches and places of worship can install technology and work with hearo.ca to get the right system for their needs.
Another great way to provide accessibility is having sign language interpreters on staff or on call to provide interpretive services for services and web-casts of these services. Reaching people of all abilities is the motto.
Vision Advocacy
Vision advocacy is important because according to some studies 80% or more of communication is visual. This is especially the case when the listening environment is challenging such as in crowds, noise or reverberant environments.
Visual advocacy comprises graphics, presentations, videos, printed material, and online resources an organization may use.
There should be definitive contrast, larger print at the expense of “design” preferences, so anyone with 20/50 vision can clearly see the fonts being used. This is especially applicable to large-screen presentations and more difficult to attain on printed material. The goal is to use the largest, best contrast font face possible to include all.
Dr. Markus Hilbert, Au.D., Doctor of Audiology provides organizational presentations for communication advocacy with information, perspective, suggestions and a strategy to be more communication-accessible in both vision and hearing. Base fee for a 2 hour consultation is $500 CDN, including evaluation of select media that is pre-assessed, a presentation and a report summarizing recommendations. Additional time spent is charged at $130/hour.
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