Coming Events

Calendar
family picnic
CHHA-BC Parents Branch in partnership with BC Hands and Voices and Family Network for Deaf Children is hosting a “Fun Family Picnic” on Saturday, June 8, 2013, 11:00 am at Provincial Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, 4334 Victory Street in Burnaby. Pre-registration is required by registering online by May 31st. Click on the graphic on the right to register!

CHHA’s Walk2Hear Walkathon is happening on Saturday, September 21, 2013, 8:30 to 11:30 am at Jericho Beach Park. More information is coming soon. Please check back often!

Victoria Branch office have closed its doors on November 30, 2012. For more information, please contact our office at 1 866 888 2442 or by email at sperry@chha-bc.org.

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CRTC announces enhancements to 911 services for Canadians with hearing or speech impairments

Today, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced enhancements to 911 services that will enable Canadians who have hearing or speech impairments to communicate with 911 call centres via text message. Telephone and wireless companies must upgrade their networks to support this new feature by January 24, 2014.

The CRTC’s decision follows a 2012 trial to assess the feasibility of rolling out such a feature on a national basis. The trial involved the participation of telecommunications companies, Canadians with hearing or speech impairments and 911 call centres in Vancouver, Toronto, Peel Region and Montreal.

“Services such as 911 are critical to the health and safety of all Canadians,” said Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman of the CRTC. “This initiative is a perfect example of how technology can be used to improve access to 911 services for Canadians with disabilities. I would like to thank those who participated in last year’s trial. Its success convinced us that expanding the initiative across the country is not only possible, but also in the public interest.”

As the service becomes available in different municipalities, Canadians with hearing or speech impairments must register their mobile phone number with their wireless service provider, and ensure that they have a compatible mobile phone. In the event of an emergency, they must first dial 911, and the emergency call centre will automatically receive notification to initiate a conversation by text message.

This feature will only be available in those areas where municipal and provincial governments have made the necessary changes to their 911 call centres.

For people who are not deaf, hard of hearing or do not have speech impairments, a telephone voice call is still the only way to receive assistance during an emergency situation. Furthermore, the CRTC reminds Canadians that text messages sent to “911” do not reach emergency services.

The CRTC will examine the future of Canadian 911 services in 2014-2015. To prepare for this review, it has appointed National Commissioner Timothy Denton to conduct research on current 911 services and the issues related to the provision of such services on next-generation telecommunications networks. His recommendations will be taken into consideration when the CRTC begins its review.

Telecom Decision CRTC 2013-22

Duo bringing more than just hearing aid

Sarah Massah
Peace Arch News
January 9, 2013

“It is a peculiar experience to walk into a full classroom and hear almost no sound, but it is one Vikki MacKay has experienced elsewhere working with deaf children in Third World countries. Unlike in Canada, there is a staggering number of Balinese children who have hearing disabilities — many of whom never learn to speak — due to genetics and tropical diseases, such as malaria. Another prominent cause includes poor medical care…” READ MORE ->

Deaf, Hard of Hearing lobby for video…

“Video relay service would make life much easier for those who are deaf or hard of hearing”

By Jennifer Moreau,
Burnaby Now
October 17, 2012

For Burnaby resident Lisa Anderson-Kellett, communicating on the phone can be cumbersome. Like many people who are deaf or hard of hearing, Anderson-Kellett’s options are somewhat limited to relaying typed messages through an operator or using a TTY, a machine used to type messages to other TTY users. READ MORE ->

CHHA Conference 2013 is in Edmonton!!

CHHA National Conference is going to be on May 23-25, 2013 at FantasyLand Hotel, located in West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. The theme is “Here We Go Again … the fun continues with a young at heart.”

For more information, check out their webstie at http://www.chha.ca/conference/. Keep checking back as more information will be posted there.

Surgery puts an end to silence ….

The Vancouver Sun
September 15, 2012

Laura Mcauley is deaf. Born with a slight auditory defect, her hearing declined significantly at age four, and precipitously at 17. “It was literally an overnight thing,” she says. “I just woke up one morning and my hearing aids didn’t work any more. READ MORE ->

Decisions Endless When It’s Hard to Hear…

The Vancouver Sun
October 6, 2012

Abi Rezai is a stylish kind of guy who wouldn’t be shopping for hearing aids if they were still those bulky, putty-coloured jobs you can spot across a room. “I wouldn’t have them if it was like one of the big ones,” he said while being fitted for a second, tiny behind-the ear hearing aid that all but disappears under his hair. READ MORE ->

Breaking Out Of A Strange, Silent World

The Province
September 27, 2012

When Christopher Lee suddenly became deaf, his main concern was how he would communicate with his six-year-old son. An anxious Lee had already lost his hearing in both ears when he went to St. Paul’s Hospital’s cochlear implant clinic a year ago for an assessment. Cochlear implants are ideal for patients who were able to hear previously. For someone born deaf, who never developed language, outcomes aren’t as successful. READ MORE ->

Cochlear Implants hit 30!

From Vancouver Sun
October 6, 2012

Cochlear implants originally performed only on profoundly deaf people are now being used with patients who still have some hearing. That’s because the electrodes threaded into the inner ear have become much smaller over time so there’s less chance of damaging healthy tissue during the operation …READ MORE ->