Removing the Neural Cobwebs…

Once upon a time (probably 2001), two audiology students, Suzanne Yoder (in Pennsylvania) and Samuel Atcherson (in Tennessee), were introduced to each other by a representative of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) to discuss strategies for making it successfully through graduate school with hearing loss. It was in these conversations that they did two things. First, they submitted a proposal to host a roundtable meeting an upcoming meeting of the American Academy of Audiology to get audiologists and students with hearing loss talking about advocacy and support. It was accepted. Second, their experience at that 2002 conference prompted them to write an article to raise awareness of how inaccessible the conference was. After a couple years of submitting conference proposals to have a meeting, AAA graciously gave us meeting space every year and tries its best to be as accessible as possible to the groups' diverse needs.

In 2010, after several wonderful annual meetings and progressively getting larger in size, the group decided to create a Facebook group page as a way to stay in touch, share news, ask questions, and meet new colleagues and friends. The Association of Audiologists with Hearing Loss was born!