ALDA-MAINE for DEAFENED & HARD of HEARING PEOPLE
Hearing loss concerns all of us! Communication and relationships, that's what it's all about.
HEAR THIS: ALDA-MAINE WELCOMES YOU, IN PERSON, ONLINE, AND IN GENERAL, WHETHER YOU HAVE A HEARING LOSS, OR ARE HEARING. WE LIVE TOGETHER.
ALDA-MAINE is the only group of it's kind in all of Northern New England, all volunteers. If there's another one, let us know, and we'll collaborate.
We focus on life with hearing loss, especially sharing information and support for people who are deafened and hard of hearing (rather than Deaf and using sign language primarily).
Members live in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, though most in Maine so far. Join us with a friend or a family member soon.
Meetings happen when volunteer energies make them happen. There's a quarterly meeting in the Bangor area, and the monthly meetings in Portland are looking for a new space and coordinator. You?
While meeting in person is best, we meet online every day in our Members' Forum. Using emails, sometimes even a real time chat, we can share a lot, learn a lot, plan different things to keep the Chapter going, and to have fun.
There's NOTHING else like being with others who understand what acquired hearing loss feels like. Tell us where you are (Portland? Bangor? Augusta? Rockland? or ?) and we look forward to speaking with you.
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Stay tuned here for notice of the next Bangor Group meeting.
Tell us if you want to meet up someplace else.
Enjoy the HEARING LOSS HERALD publication that our volunteers create, it's great!
Past event:
Our JULY 11, 2009 Speaker event in Brunswick was superb. . Thanks again to Kelly Lynch, Audiologist in Portland, Dennis Ford, our real time captionist, and the wonderful audience from the community for the topic (Tinnitus) and our discussions.
ALDA-MAINE OFFERS CART (REAL TIME CAPTIONING) FOR YOUR OWN COMMUNITY EVENT - WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE? GET IN TOUCH ON EMAILS NOW.
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THE Chapter is blooming in many wonderful ways, and we invite your input. We have a very active online forum for members, including a new feature: Audiology Online with guest Audiologists to answer questions.
WE have Social Events for members and guests, and Speaker Events (with CART, real-time captioning) that welcome you. See what's happening on the "link" listed on the top of this page.
WE now have PAYPAL on this website, for credit card payments for membership, donations, sponsors, advertisements, and more. Click on the "Contacts, Memberships, and Donations" link at top of this page. ALDA-Maine is an official 501 (c) 3 non profit and donations are tax exempt.
COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS INVITED TO PLACE AN AD IN OUR "HEARING LOSS HERALD" - FOUR GREAT ISSUES A YEAR. UNIQUE IN ALL OF NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND, FOR GREAT INFORMATION ABOUT HEARING LOSS, REAL LIFE STORIES OF OUR MEMBERS, AND THERE IS NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT AROUND.
NEWS:
The current President of ALDA-Maine is now a member of the Maine ADVISORY COMMISSION for the MAINE DIVISION for Deaf, Deafened, and Hard of Hearing people. The quarterly meetings of this Commission are open to the public, in Augusta. email for information or accommodations.
Become a member and participate in many good things with us - online, in person, via our great HEARING LOSS HERALD newsletter, and more.
AUDIOLOGY ONLINE A SUPERB NEW FEATURE OF OUR ONLINE MEMBERS FORUM INTRODUCED MARCH 2009). TO BE MONTHLY OR MORE. NEXT DAY IS APRIL 24 - Members enjoyed several audiology online days during 2009. If there is interest, we will continue this in the Fall of 2009, online.
SOCIAL FOR MEMBERS IN MARCH 2009 ENJOYED BY ALL THERE!
JANUARY 29 2009 ALDA-MAINE MEETING IN SCARBOROUGH: ALDA-MAINE and the Maine Center on Deafness ("MCD") hosted a casual evening event to give adults with hearing loss an opportunity to learn about and experience assistive listening devices, at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging in Scarborough ("SMAA") . MCD provided live captioning (via computer assisted realtime transcription, or CART), light snacks and beverages. A good time was had! Special thanks to Amy and Kathy for arranging this event.
HOW ABOUT AN EVENT IN YOUR OWN AREA? WITH REAL TIME CAPTIONING FOR ALL (CART). EMAIL WITH YOUR IDEAS AND ENERGIES TO PLAN A MEETING OR SOCIAL.
NOVEMBER 5TH 2008 CONFERENCE IN BELFAST - RESOURCES FOR PEOPLE WITH HEARING LOSS. WHAT A GREAT DAY, FOR ALDA-MAINE, MAINE DIVISION ON DEAFNESS, MAINE CENTER ON DEAFNESS, AND MORE. SPEAKERS, LUNCH, PANELISTS, AND SPONSORS, THANKS TO ALL. IDEAS AND SPONSORS FOR NOVEMBER 2010 NOW INVITED, espcially needed are "sponsors" - are you selling services or products in Maine? come along to sponsor our Conference! Sam Trychin, internationally known speaker on hearing loss is to be our speaker...
SEPTEMBER 2008 SOCIAL IN KITTERY for members and guests was Superb! Thanks JW :-).
ONGOING EVERY DAY = ALDA-MAINE MEETS 24/7 ONLINE IN OUR MEMBERS ONLINE FORUM. JOIN US SOON. ANNUAL DUES ARE ONLY TEN DOLLARS. ONE IN FIVE TO TEN PEOPLE HAVE A HEARING LOSS, DEPENDING ON YOUR AGE GROUP - YOU WILL SURELY KNOW SOMEONE SOON, OR IT COULD BE YOU! THERE IS SO MUCH TO LEARN WITH ACQUIRED HEARING LOSS! ALDA-MAINE IS HERE FOR YOU, WITH YOU, FOR ALL OF US TOGETHER. EMAIL ALDAMAINE@GMAIL.COM.
2008: "THE HEARING LOSS HERALD" FROM ALDA-MAINE was launched to many favorable reviews! Issues in 2009 planned for February, May, August and November. The first two years of the HLH were distributed FREE to all members and to all others who requested a copy. STARTING IN 2010, THE HEARING LOSS HERALD, WITH GREAT INFORMATION, WILL BE DISTRIBUTED TO MEMBERS AND OTHERS BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY (TEN DOLLARS A YEAR FOR FOUR GREAT ISSUES). HEAR THIS: ALONG WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION, YOU GET A FREE MEMBERSHIP IN ALDA-MAINE!
THE HEARING LOSS HERALD IS THE ONLY PUBLICATION OF ITS KIND IN NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND TO HIGHLIGHT THE NEEDS AND CONCERNS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE HARD OF HEARING AND DEAFENED (most of whom do not use sign language fluently, and require other communication resources and supports).
Other past ALDA-MAINE events:
APRIL 24 2008. The meeting in Augusta, at the UMA campus was terrific. Thanks to all participating on the topic of legislation and civil rights for deafened and HOH citizens of Maine.
ALL READING THIS WEBSITE: TELL US IF YOU WANT TO COME ALONG TO A NEXT MEETING SOON, IN PERSON OR VIA REMOTE CART (USING YOUR OWN COMPUTER).
AUGUST 28 2008 on North Haven. The community event with CART, about family caregiving and rural needs had a wonderful panel, film, and discussion. Thanks to all.
ALDA IS ALL "EARS" =
We EDUCATE our communities about hearing loss and new ways to communicate.
EQUAL ACCESS is our goal. We ADVOCATE for eual access in many ways.
ROLE MODELS IS THE "R" - WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT, AND WE HAVE MANY HEARING LOSS EXPERIENCES TO SHARE.
INFORMATION AND SUPPORT is found during online member discussions and at our meetings. IT IS SO NICE TO HANG OUT WITH OTHERS WHO UNDERSTAND OUR HEARING NEEDS! 
OVER 100,000 people in Maine have a hearing loss. All of Vermont, New Hampshire and the whole world invited to join us (we are the only group of this kind in all of northern New England and we have members in other locations also who enjoy our online discussions).
HEARING LOSS happens to one in five to ten people, depending on the age group.
HEARING LOSS does not need to isolate anyone.
WE are HARD OF HEARING AND DEAFENED (not Deaf Culture, and 95% of us do not use sign language regularly or fluently).
Why join us? Who else is going to provide good information and offer 24/7 discussion online about acquired hearing loss? Who else publishes a newsletter for people who are hard of hearing and deafened? Who else really knows what deafened and hard of hearing is all about? Hearing people welcome!
CLICK ON OUR NEW MEMBERSHIP AND DONOR INFORMATION LINK ABOVE.
Would you like ALDA-MAINE to guide you in how to organize CART (communication access real time translation) for a favorite event or meeting in your own community? We would like to show all of Maine how CART/captioning works well for everyone. Email aldamaine@gmail.com now, to begin planning this together. Your support and our experience will make it happen!
WHAT does deafened and hard of hearing mean? It means that many of us no longer understand spoken conversations, though we can speak clearly. Deafened means that our relationships and communications are dramatically changed. Hearing sometimes declines suddenly, and sometimes slowly over many years.
We are not Deaf. Most of us do not grow up using sign language nor in the Deaf culture. We live in the hearing world, and we learn new ways to communicate with family, friends, co-workers, and our communities. It's not easy.
With hearing loss, we are not suddenly dumb, daft, nor dim. Hearing loss for many is a disability, and we also have many abilities. We gain new abilities as well.
JOIN US TO MEET OTHERS WHO UNDERSTAND, FIND INFORMATION, GET SUPPORT, ADVOCATE FOR RESOURCES, AND HAVE FUN. Email: aldamaine@gmail.com
ALDA-MAINE is a chapter of ALDA, a 20 year old national grass roots all volunteer self help association, www.alda.org. We are not an agency, nor a company. We are an official non profit all voluntary association.
ALDA-MAINE invites new members, all families, friends, co-workers, employers, people working in services of all kinds, and all interested in hearing concerns. We love to talk! Many ALDA members have been using captioning and lip reading since childhood, and many others, in different ages in life, are facing huge new challenges.
While captioning is the best way for us to communicate with all, we also use a variety of hearing aids, listening systems, and note taking. Some learn sign language. Others use lip-reading (speech reading). Our main advocacy efforts are for real time captioning and Internet captioning too, since so much news, communication (including telephoning) and entertainment is now on videos, and online. We need your interest to make good changes happen in Maine for all Maine citizens.
VISIT THIS SITE FREQUENTLY IN 2010. New events listed here as soon as members and others offer volunteer energies! Members also meet online 24/7. Join us soon!
VOLUNTEERS, HEARING OR NOT, MEMBERS OF ALDA-MAINE OR NOT, ALWAYS INVITED!
One in five to ten people have a hearing need! Learn to face us, speak clearly, and enhance communications for all. Please don't shout or think we are 'dim' because we are deafened or hard of hearing :-).
Are you shopping online yet? Please consider this shopping mall online with over 600 stores, many familiar to you. A donation of your purchase goes to our ALDA-MAINE registered charity (non profit). Go to: www.iGive.com/aldamaine and register there (registration is free). We thank you in advance!