ALDA

Megan Koontz

ASSOCIATION OF LATE DEAFENED ADULTS

Chicago, IL 1985- Kathie Skyer Hering, a deafened social worker, held meetings for several weeks and then stopped meeting. 1987- Bill Graham, member of the original meetings, wanted to start a support group for late deafened individuals.
First meeting held in his apartment 13 people attended

Volunteer based organization with no paid employees. Mission Statement: to support the empowerment of deafened people. Main of fice- Rockford, IL

ALDA
United States and Canada originally. Now throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. Annual conferences- ALDAcon
26 th ALDAcon- Norfolk, VA

CHAPTERS
Four dif ferent chapters ALDA Region I Connecticut, Washington DC, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, new Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Virginia, Quebec, New Brunswick,Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Europe, Middle East. Director: Eleanor Shafer Email: RD1@alda.org ALDA Region II Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin, Manitoba, Ontario . Director: Kathy Schlueter Email: RD2@alda.org

CHAPTERS
ALDA Region III Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee , Texas, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, Africa, South America . Director: Rachael Morris Email: RD3@alda.org ALDA Region IV Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Yukon Territories, Japan, Pacific Islands, Asia, Australia, New Zealand . Director: Margreta von Pein Email: RD4@alda.org

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP
Anyone that is involved with late deafened adults can join. Main goal for membership is advocacy and spreading the word about late deafened adults. Types of membership
Regular--$30.00 per year Senior (65+)--$25.00 per year Veteran--$25.00 per year Business memberships are also available to non -profit support service providers--$50.00 per year

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP
Gold one time fee of $3,000.00
Member receives a personal letter from the ALDA president, a gold plaque recognizing the contribution, priority seating at future ALDAcons, and complimentary registration to a future ALDAcon.

Silver one time fee of $1 ,500.00

Member receives a personal letter from the ALDA president, a silver plaque recognizing the contribution, and priority seating at future ALDAcons.

Bronze one time fee of $500.00

member receives a personal letter from the ALDA president, a bronze plaque recognizing the contribution.

CREATION OF CART
Steve Wilhelm, one of the first members, discovered CART (communication access realtime translation) He wanted to have equal communication and understanding between all of the members. It was becoming frustrating to stop every few minutes to ensure everyone understood what was being said. Hooked up to a T V and a hearing typist typed what she heard.

ADVOCACY
ALDA is a chapter member with DHHCAN (Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network) and COAT (Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology). long history of leadership in pushing for captioning of television, movies in theaters, DVDs and videos, radio, and video on the Internet. ALDAns have been actively involved in pushing for the professionalism of CART and caption writers. They have helped drive for the approval and expansion of new and better telecommunications relay services such as the captioned telephone (CapTel) and video relay services (VRS). they are involved in ensuring that air travel and health care is accessible. They push for the ability to receive notification of emergencies and for the information during the emergencies, their aftermath, and the recovery period.

INTERNATIONAL
ALDA outside of the USA currently live in England, Australia, Canada, Finland, Nepal, and Guatemala . If an individual from another country is planning on visiting the US, an ALDA member will often meet them in their own country or at the airport to help with the transition and to start networking immediately. advocates for intercultural and international communications and relationship-building, via emails and travels.

RESOURCES
Information on hearing loss Communication Crash course on communication strategies
www.alda.org