i) Research on training strategies and procedures to teach optimal use of assistive devices is extremely important for people with cognitive impairment, and should be supported by the federal government. j) Technology assistance assists the family of people who are disabled as much as, and sometimes more than, the individuals who are disabled. These profound effects must not be overlooked or underestimated. k) Consumers in many cases need financial assistance in purchasing assistive devices and related support services. A Concluding Perspective We are at a very primitive stage in the history of technology assistance. Disabilities need not be handicaps to a person's independence, iearning, productivity. leisure. or integration. In too many cases at this point in our history, they are. I have a severe disability. In more primitive times, my independence, my productivity, my enjoyment of life, would have been severely restricted because of this disability. I would have been severely handicapped. Because of an assistive device that everyone long ago has taken for granted, which has become "invisible" because it is so commonplace, this is not the case. If you took away my eyeglasses and then observed how I behaved through the course of a day, you would have no doubt that I was handicapped. Imagine my chances of survival in more primitive times! With the technology of eyeglasses and with its associated service delivery system, I no longer give any thought to my disability. I don't need anyone to do anything for me, and my potential, which was so low without the technology, is now much greater. I am not handicapped. For children and adults with mental retardation. we are back in those primitive times. With appropriate technology assistance, we can keep their disabilities from becoming handicaps; we can free them to be more independent and productive. Today's technology offers unprecedented opportunities for them to achieve their full potential and enter fully into the mainstream of life. When we are in a less primitive time than now, their assistive devices will draw no more attention and be no less accessible than eyeglasses are today. We can begin to make those strides today. Thank you. 88-296 0 - 88 - 3 Senator HARKIN. Our next witness is Carolyn Rossick, representing Rocky Stone, founder and director of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People Inc., an advocacy and information organization for hard of hearing people. Carolyn, welcome to the subcommittee again. Your statement will be made a part of the record, and please take five minutes or so to summarize your testimony. Ms. ROSSICK. Thank you, Senator. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Carolyn Rossick, and I am both a staff member and a hard of hearing individual who works with Rocky Stone. I am going to read his testimony because he is unfortunately unable to be here today. My name is Howard E. Stone. Most people call me Rocky. I am a profoundly deaf, 110-decibel loss, hard of hearing individual. But with the aid of assistive listening devices and good speech reading skills, I manage to function as a hard of hearing person in the hearing world. I am the executive director of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc., and attached to our comments are literature about the organization. Today, I would like to take a moment to demonstrate how assistive technology has contributed to changing life circumstances for me personally, and by extension, how it could change the lives of millions of other persons with disabilities. At the age of 19 I became severely hearing impaired. Nevertheless, I was able to acquire a good education, and experience a satisfactory career. At age 49, I became profoundly deaf, and the telephone was denied to me. In 1975, I retired at the age of 50. As assistive listening devices, ALDs, developed from 1978 and beyond, I began to find improved ways of coping with my hearing loss, and of remaining in the mainstream of the hearing world. Induction audio loops, infrared systems, and radio broadcast AM and FM systems, became available to the individual consumer in the 1980s. They gave me a new lease on life. Although the method of sound delivery differs, all of these systems operate on the principle of improved speech-to-noise ratio. They take the speech directly from the speaker, and through the use of a microphone, they transmit that sound directly to a system that a receiver and a listening earpiece can use. This eliminates background noise, reverberation, and distortion, which makes it difficult for a hard of hearing individual to participate in conferences and meetings. My hearing aid, in contrast, only receives speech after it has travelled through the space separating you from me, and the amplified hearing aid picks up whatever noise might be in that space. Hearing impaired persons often can hear the sound of speech but cannot understand it. Assistive listening devices go beyond the hearing aid, and permit persons like me to function in circumstances where previously we could not. I am on several boards of directors, the VA merit review panel, several research advisory boards, and several consumer advisory boards. Most have over 25 members. I take this FM system with me, and either place the transmitter in the center of the room, or ask a speaker to hold it six inches or so from their mouth, and I wear this receiver. Without it, I could not function in business meetings or hear at the hearings today. I am scheduled to travel more than 75,000 miles this year. When I stay at a hotel, I cannot hear a door knock, a telephone ring, or a fire alarm. Although the private sector is gradually responding to these needs, I cannot yet rely on them. I carry a visual alert system with me. By simply plugging in the device, and attaching a transmitter to the door, I can be alerted by a flashing light that there is someone at the door, a ringing telephone or a smoke or fire alarm going off. Too often in the past, I have been writing or reading in my room, only to find out later that the building had been vacated in a fire or bomb threat while I serenely went about my business. The visual alert system offers me safety and peace of mind as well as the ability to answer the phone or the door. It can also be used to wake me up in the morning. Similar devices are designed to be used in the home. Although I cannot carry on a conversation on the phone, I can structure my calls in a way to successfully complete two-way communication of some messages. To enable me to do this, I carry a small device which slips over the earpiece of the phone and amplifies the voice of the speaker. Most importantly, it also provides hearing aid compatibility to any telephone which is incompatible. In the office, I frequently use a TDD, which is called a telecommunications device for deaf people. My church is equipped with an audio induction loop which is used in conjunction with hearing aids that have a telecoil. I watch television with closed captions and enjoy it. Prior to current levels of captioning, I did not enjoy television viewing. Another option available is the use of infrared light to transmit sound from the speaker of a TV set to a receiver that can be worn by the individual listening in. Mr. Chairman, I have been describing usage of technology. But more importantly, I have been describing how a person who is disabled can continue to contribute to society. SHHH would not be where it is today, helping change thousands of lives for the better, if I did not know about and have access to this technology. Demographics show us the future need to keep competent persons on the workforce longer, as our labor reservoir of young persons shrinks. Yet older persons are losing their hearing faster than ever before. Because of lack of knowledge or access to assistive technology, by themselves, or by their employers, many are being forced out of their jobs or are relinquishing them voluntarily. Mr. Chairman, the proposed legislation will develop awareness, permit access and bring all elements of society together in a focused effort to improve the contribution of persons with disabilities to the work force, in their communities, to their families and to themselves. It may even reduce the requirement for me and for others like me to carry a suitcase full of gear where I go. It is legislation truly worth of our unstinting support. Thank you and your committee for inviting me to share my experience with you today, and thank you, Senator, for allowing me to speak on behalf of Rocky Stone. Senator HARKIN. Carolyn, thank you very much for your fine testimony. [The prepared statement of Mr. Stone, with an attachment, follows:] |