Cochlear Implants Meet Politics

I just attended a very worthwhile event -

New Jersey 2018 Democratic State Committee Conference 

- held in Atlantic City, at the Harrah's Resort & Casino.  This was my very first time attending a large Democratic convention, but I have been a member of the NJ Democratic Disability Caucus, so I felt I needed to get to know more about the political process.  Atlantic City is about 2 1/2 hours from my home, so I made hotel reservations there for two nights, driving on my own.

As always, everything is always about hearing - not always bad - but most definitely interesting.  When I checked into the hotel, I made sure I had a room with visual fire alerts. When my cochlear implant (CI) processors come off at night, I am deaf and cannot hear alarms, so this was essential. They gave me a great room - 24th floor with a view of the bay.  This room was equipped with other alerters as well - great to see them devote a desirable room for people with hearing loss.

I found the appropriate elevator (this place is BIG), hiked to my room, inserted my room key - and - nothing. UH-OH - I really didn't want to hike back to the front desk, so I looked for a house phone, and there it was, on the wall near my room. YES - I can hear on phones - YAY!  I called the front desk, was told a security person would come to my room - and she appeared a few minutes later, opened the door, and said I could go to the front desk to get a new key, at my convenience. Oh - the joys of being able to hear on the phone. It just never gets old!

And yes - the room was gorgeous - newly renovated - with a spectacular view (for NJ.)

Now I was ready to head to the Convention Center, another long hike, to attend the first event - the opening reception with Governor Phil Murphy and Senator Cory Booker.  I had requested captioning, and hoped that it would be provided - and it was!

BIG BEAUTIFUL CAPTIONS!

And the breakout session of the Disability Caucus was also captioned.  👌👌👌

I have been quite successful being able to "work a room" with my bilateral CI's.  I have an "ULTRAZOOM" program setting that uses directional microphones to bring in speech sounds in noisy environments, and it has worked very well for me.  So I was mingling among all these wonderful people, networking about issues impacting people with hearing loss - and political issues in general.

And I had some great photo ops, too!

Senator Cory Booker

Governor Phil Murphy

Me with Senator Bob Menendez

Me with Senator Cory Booker

I met a LOT of people and I came away with one 

VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO VOTE!

If you need any help registering or finding a polling place, let me know.

And please join me in voting a 

straight Democratic ticket - 

up and down the ballot. 

Our lives and our country depend on it!