HLAA Convention 2011

I just returned from the Hearing Loss Association of America - HLAA (www.hearingloss.org) convention, held right outside of Washington DC.  It's my annual rite of passage, having attended this event for over 15 years.  Prior to the advent of cochlear implants, these were very sad but necessary gatherings - since hearing aids were not sufficient remediation for the many attendees with severe to profound hearing loss.  It was a place to lean on each other, and to learn about emerging technologies, assistive equipment, and of course, to forge lasting friendships.  Now with cochlear implants and sophisticated telecommunications technologies, there's a party atmosphere there - "happy" is an understatement!

This year, I was there in two capacities - as New Jersey state association president, and also as author.  I'm pretty seasoned in the state association role, but this new "author" title continues to amaze me - as it is an odyssey in its own right!  It seemed that the hard "author" work - the writing, the editing, the publishing - was just the preliminary.  Now it's all about THE BOOK.

I was very touched that people, who had already purchased and read Listening Closely, brought their copies from home for me to sign.  And others who lined up to have a book signed were eager to tell me their stories.  I hadn't really given a lot of thought to this part of the book journey - but it's a fascinating process, and adventure.  And a whole lot of people asked me what my third book was going to be about.  Good question!

I have more to say about the convention - like the 600 people from the convention who attended the open captioned performance of WICKED at the Kennedy Center - but that will have to wait for the next blog entry.  Stay tuned!