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Veterans Day - A Global Reach

Today is Veterans Day here in the United States, a day when we enjoy the opportunity to honor and express our appreciation for those serving our country around the world.

Dear AG Bell Community,

Today is Veterans Day here in the United States, a day when we enjoy the opportunity to honor and express our appreciation for those serving our country around the world. With more than 20 million veterans living in the U.S., it is an important time to reach out and thank veterans for protecting our freedoms and putting their lives on the line to keep us safe. Without them, we would not have the freedoms we have today. Today, I encourage you to pause and give thanks to those who have risked their lives to protect this great country as well as those serving abroad.

Speaking of reaching around the world, I recently attended the 10th Annual Coalition for Global Hearing Health in Tempe, Arizona. Each year, this conference brings together people from every corner of the world who seek to improve hearing health care in low-resource communities. The Coalition is “dedicated to advocating for effective hearing health services and policies, equipping and empowering hearing healthcare professionals, families, educators, communities and those with hearing loss, and encouraging and promoting best practices.”

This year’s coalition featured prominent keynote speakers helping underserved communities worldwide, such as Jordan Levy, chief external relations officer, Ubuntu Pathway; James Dean, Au.D., CCC/A, Professor Emeritus, director of hearing healthcare services at ARSOBO; Karen B. Fowler, Ph.D., professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham; and Robert H. Margolis, president of Audiology Incorporated. I was very pleased to meet each speaker as they detailed their work to help underserved children who are deaf and hard of hearing learn to hear and speak.

In celebration of our worldwide mission, AG Bell’s Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposium is set to take place July 9-11, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. This event will bring professionals together to learn and present about the latest research and innovative practices related to listening and spoken language while in good company with people from around the world. I encourage you to visit our website for more information on key dates and deadlines, as registration opens in early December. I encourage you to submit your proposals online for concurrent sessions by November 20 in English or Spanish. Our presenters are vital in making the symposium a success.