I remember when I first began to lose my hearing. I was a very poor graduate student who could not afford technology and did not know much about hearing loss. I did find a consumer group, Self Help for Hard of Hearing. Eventually, I was on the national board of the group advocating for research and services for people who are hard of hearing or deafened. Today, thanks to a joint effort by consumers and professionals, assistive listening devices are sometimes available in places of worship, in the cinema and other public places.
Television is captioned and telephones have amplification.
Everyone in this audience knows how hard this work is. But the work must occur. We cannot view technology in its various forms as divorced from human values-the obscure widgits of technical people. Technology means health, nutrition, education and employment. Women's Work Katherine D. Seelman, Ph.D., is the Director of the U.S. National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research , a federal agency.