Dear Marti Jones,
Thank you for your response. We appreciate the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s effort of keeping communication accessible by having “licensed” ASL interpreters who were volunteers at the event. We also do understand the mission in providing hearing aids for those who have various hearing levels. Please know that the Deaf community does not use the term “hearing loss”.
It appears that you have not entirely read our letter, and have overlooked the important points including our invitation for us to meet and explore how we can establish a marketing strategy promoting the healthy whole Deaf child without resorting to inspiration porn. CAD wishes to pursue a discussion with Starkey Foundation about the issues listed in our letter, so we can have a win-win situation for everyone involved.
We received your letter before The Daily Moth released their interview with our CAD officers. The youtube link below is for you to view. Please click on the bottom right corner to click “CC” to read captions. This is to ensure that everyone at Starkey has access to the interview. Perhaps the interview will give you an insight of what issues we have.
“California Association of the Deaf’s concerns with Starkey Hearing Foundation”
We believe that Starkey is capable of providing positive experiences during media events such as the most recent Super Bowl 50 where free hearing aids were given out. Starkey can also expound Deaf people’s human rights to language acquisition and quality of life. That is our aim.
Please contact us to make an appointment for an in-person meeting to start exploring creative ways to establish the right messaging for the families of Deaf children.
Let’s meet soon.
Sincerely,
Julie Rems Smario
President
