In the healthy hearing community, there are so many great organizations and passionate people who make it their personal mission to better the hearing of others and to bring light to the hearing systems that can help change lives. Today, we’re putting a spotlight on some of the non-profit organizations we know and love. Check out the list below, and if you have additions please let us know in the comments section below. We’ll add your suggestions; we’d love to see the list continue to grow!
American Speech Hearing Language Association
“The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 182,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students.”
Hands & Voices
“This is a parent-driven, non-profit organization dedicated to providing unbiased support to families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing.”
Hearing Charities of America
“Hearing Charities of America supports those who are deaf or hard of hearing through awareness, volunteerism and philanthropy. We provide resources for hearing professionals, manufacturers and individuals with hearing issues in the communities we serve.”
The Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight & Hearing
“The Northwest Lions Foundation restores sight and hearing to individuals throughout the Pacific Northwest who can not afford the expensive medical care or special equipment they need. The Foundation also operates the Lions Health Screening Unit that protects sight and hearing health for school children and adults throughout Washington State and Northern Idaho.”
Help America Hear (formerly The Foundation for Sight and Sound)
“The Foundation For Sight and Sound’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for men, women and children with vision and/or hearing impairments.”
Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)
“HLAA provides assistance and resources for people with hearing loss and their families to learn how to adjust to living with hearing loss. HLAA is working to eradicate the stigma associated with hearing loss and raise public awareness about the need for prevention, treatment, and regular hearing screenings throughout life.”
Ear Community
“Ear Community offers a warm and supportive community for individuals who were born with Microtia and Atresia, Hemifacial Microsomia, Treacher Collins Syndrome, and Goldenhar Syndrome, including varying degrees of hearing loss. Our website will help you learn about all of your options, self-acceptance, advocacy, find helpful resources, and learn about the latest in technology for help with hearing loss and reconstructive surgical options. You will even find emotional support, financial assistance, and help on how to obtain bone conduction hearing devices. Most importantly, Ear Community is proud to help bring individuals and families together in the same situation through picnics that we host around the world each year.”
American Society of Deaf Children
“ASDC is the premier source of information for people who must make decisions about deaf children: providers, educators, legislators, and advocates. ASDC sets out the following principles, which ASDC believes apply universally to deaf children, their families, and the professionals who serve them. These principles apply regardless of whether the family chooses a cochlear implant for their child, hearing aids, other hearing technology, or no hearing technology at all.”
National Association of the Deaf
“The NAD is the nation’s premier civil rights organization of, by and for deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America.”
Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss
“The Global Foundation for Children With Hearing Loss aims to make a direct and lasting impact on the futures of thousands of deaf and hard of hearing children around the world by providing them with access to the hearing technology, education, and local resources they need to become contributing members of society.”
Alison’s Hope for Hearing
“Alison’s Hope for Hearing is an all volunteer, non-profit organization, formed in late 2009, shortly after we lost Alison Berry in an automobile accident. All of its members are dedicated to carrying on Alison’s passion for helping the hearing impaired. The purpose of this organization is to create and support programs serving the deaf and hard of hearing. It is our belief that all people suffering with hearing loss receive the care and attention that they deserve to experience healthy hearing.”
The Gift of Hearing Foundation
“The Gift of Hearing Foundation is a 501(C)3 Nonprofit Corporation dedication to increasing access to Cochlear Implant surgery and services for those who have been identified as candidates for the technology. We will accomplish this mission by seeking to eliminate the two main barriers to access: cost and awareness of the technology. Although cost is influenced by a number of factors, by applying support to the areas that have not been addressed by other groups or foundations, or that need additional resources, we can ultimately lower costs to the CI patient, and in some cases provide assistance where no other options exist.”
Hearing Health Foundation
“Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is the largest private funder of hearing research, with a mission to prevent and cure hearing loss and tinnitus through groundbreaking research and to promote hearing health. Since 1958 Hearing Health Foundation has given away millions of dollars to hearing and balance research.”
Dallas Hearing Foundation
“The Dallas Hearing Foundation (DHF) is a non-profit foundation exclusively dedicated to giving the gifts of hearing and speech to children and adults with hearing loss. The foundation’s mission is to provide medical and surgical treatment, hearing technologies, speech and hearing rehabilitation, and educational support to those who are in financial need. Today’s revolutionary technologies, such as digital hearing aids, cochlear implants, and auditory-verbal therapy, make a hearing-speaking life and higher quality education available to many deaf children and adults. Our specialized team consists of an otologic surgeon, audiologists, a speech-language pathologist, an educational consultant, and a psychologist. We serve people of all colors, creeds, and nations of origin.”
Know of a non-profit you’d like to see on this list? Let us know in the comments section below. Or, do you have a story about how a non-profit help you hear? We’d love to tell your story here on BoneAnchoredHearingAid.com, drop us a note below or here.
You can read more about how community members in the bone anchored hearing community support one another here.