2024 The Way We Hear It! Lower Mainland Exhibition

Albion Community Centre, Maple Ridge BC

Made possible with some help:

• Thank you to our 2024 sponsors: The Caldor Foundation, Provincial Gaming Grant, and Oticon.
• A special thank you to: The dedicated staff and team of the Albion Community Centre who were an incredible support that made this exhibit hosting possible.
• Thank you to our material contributors: WorkSafe BC, Science World Vancouver, Vernon Public Art Gallery, BC Early Hearing Program, Deaf Children’s Society, 3M, Phonak, Oticon, Cochlear America, Wavefront Centre for Communication and Accessibility.

Colorful flyer for a community engagement exhibition by The Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, featuring details about activities, sponsors, and dates for May 1-31 at Albion Community Centre.

Impact at a Glance

Total Visitors: 2187 community members engaged; including over 20 school groups.
Duration: Full month of May 2024
Location: Albion Community Centre, Maple Ridge BC
Highlights:
• “Echoing Inclusion: Employers Embracing the Hard of Hearing” mix and mingle event with employers and the DHH community members
• ASL Program: Interactive ASL fun activities & storytelling session led by Deaf educator Annie Kudjerski.

The exhibit has completed its showcase for the entire month of May at the Albion Community Centre, which engaged a total of 2187 members of the public and our community of people with hearing loss. Several schools from the region attended our exhibition and gained awareness about hearing loss and hearing care. We are happy to see the exhibit travel to different regions of the province each year to fulfill our mission of increasing awareness of hearing health. This year we were able to capture the essence of the exhibit through a virtual tour and a series of impactful interviews, which are all available here to view.

“Such AMAZING work! Such an important conversation being started”
– Amanda and Emily Shaw, community members

During the month of May...

May 1st: Opening day event: The launch of the exhibit was celebrated by CHHA-BC board members and staff, Albion Community Centre staff, Deaf/Hard of Hearing organizations and professionals, and members of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community. We gathered to express the significance of hearing health awareness in this way, during a time when accessibility and inclusion is at the forefront of government policy. The event was captured through a series of impactful interviews. View the interview compilation here: **post interview compilation**

May 25: Echoing Inclusion: Employers Embracing the Hard of Hearing mix and mingle event. This event was an interactive experience that engaged Deaf/Hard of Hearing people in the workforce to understand how we can make our workplaces more accessible.

May 26: ASL Story time and ASL Fun Basics Workshop. This wonderful back-to-back event was presented by Deaf educator- Annie Kudjerski. The ASL story time was an opportunity for young families to experience the telling of a children’s story in ASL followed by a fun game in ASL. Later, youth and adults could enjoy an ASL basics class to get some experience and practice with the language. Our goal with this workshop was to increase awareness of ASL as a language that is used by Deaf and Hard of Hearing people as well as hearing people. Learning ASL supports language development in children even while learning a listening and spoken language.