• Berkeley Meeting's questionnaire -- draft
• Tapes that give hearing people a sense of what hearing loss sounds like
• How many do we want to hear?

Much technical information is available on the British site, Royal National Institute for Deaf People. Check out the technology FAQs, fact sheets, etc
 

• A T-coil (telephone coil) allows your hearing aid to work with room loops or neckloops. Otherwise megaheadphones are needed to cover the hearing aid.
• Connections to ALS

• Public Address (speaker) When a substantial portion of a large Meeting is not hearing messages, a speaker is probably part of the solution. Speakers may help small to moderate Meetings as well. Does any Meeting have experience with speakers?
• FM (Frequency Modulated)
• Infrared (IR)
• Loop
• Demystifying ALS a PowerPoint explanation from Western Region Outreach Center & Consortia
• Technical Bulletins from United States Access Board
  
• Some commercial sites with good information
• Centrum Sound
• General Technologies
  

 

Call them and tell them your needs. It's almost impossible to find the information you need on their products from their web sites. They will also recommend local vendors.

• All systems require microphones. These can be directional or omnidirectional; cable or wireless; hanging, PZM (pressure zone microphone), handheld, or lapel.
•  Impact of microphone placement on assistive listening systems
• Some commercial sites with good information
• Shure

 

• Self Help for Hard of Hearing People
• CA Self Help for Hard of Hearing People
• New York League for Hard of Hearing People Much activity, much information
• RNID the British Royal National Institute for Deaf People, for deaf and hard of hearing people. See their fact sheets, and information about loops: loops are everywhere in Britain, as in many European countries.
• Your state's technology assistance program -- if it's not addressing hearing loss, it should be

• Acoustical Surfaces a commercial site, see articles

• Center for Disease Control self-reports on hearing loss
• Prevalence of hearing loss in older adults in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study

Hearing loss is often calculated as an average of loss at four frequencies: 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz
 
 

• Western Region Outreach Center & Consortia (WROCC)
• Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center Excellent articles

What is your Meeting doing that works? What could your Meeting do?




Friends General Conference workshops have about 20 participants. I use six microphones plus a mixer (system purchased from Robert Mendoza. He gives 20% discounts on group purchases, so contact me to see if a group order list exists.) The mixer output is attached to an FM transmitter. (Very simple to use, but allow five to ten minutes for set up and take down. Workshop participants often help with packing.) Anyone in the room with an FM receiver set to the transmitter frequency will benefit from this system — dinner at a restaurant with one system and six of us each with a receiver, and we could all hear!

Two groups used this so far at FGC, and the comments were very positive, eg, "We spoke more thoughtfully because of the short delay while picking up the microphone; the messages were deeper."



 

Accessibility Survey

There are members and attenders of Berkeley Friends Meeting with disabilities and differences, and a number of our members are getting older.  This survey is meant to open discussion about their needs and all of our attitudes .  How can we make worship and participation more meaningful and accessible for all of our attenders and members?  Please answer any questions that apply to you.  We need each person’s gifts.

1. Check any of the following which you attend.

                                                      Attend  (yes/no)    How often?    Accessibility                                    
                                                                                                              Concern?
First Day meetings for worship                __

Monthly business meetings                      __

Committee Meetings                                __ 

Adult Education Programs                       __

Quarterly meetings                                   __

Quarterly campouts                                  __

Pacific Yearly Meeting                            __
   
Friends General Conference                     __

Quaker Center Programs                          __
 
What would make these meetings more accessible to you?  (FOR ANY ANSWERS LONGER THAN SPACE PROVIDED, USE BACK OF FORM AND PUT QUESTION NUMBER)

2. How do you get to meetings?             Do you need a ride?     Can you offer a ride?     Can you be a partner/companion (not an attendant) to someone who asks for one?

3. Would you like a ride to meetings on rainy days?

4. Do you use a mobility device?  Please circle any that you use. 
Cane, wheelchair, electric wheelchair, walker, scooter, other.

5. Once you are inside the meeting, can you sit comfortably on the benches?

6. Can you stand up from the benches at the end of the meeting without assistance?

7. Do you have any special needs during potlucks?    Refreshments?

8. Do you have a sensitivity to fragrances, odors, or smoke?  Please describe.

9. Can you hear messages during a meeting for worship?        Can you hear during a business meeting?        Can you hear during a committee meeting?

10. Do you use a hearing aid?       Does it have a T-switch?

11. Do you use the current listening devices?  Do they help enough that you understand all messages?

12. Would it help for people with “different” speech to have interpreters during worship so that you could understand them more easily?

13. What do you think of the use of microphones in Meeting for Worship?  Meeting for Business?  Programs?  Committee Meetings?

14. Whether or not you are hard of hearing, have you ever tried the available hearing devices?  If so, what is your assessment of their effectiveness?  If not, please try one.

15. Do you have a vision problem?

16. If you do, have you been oriented around the meeting house and the education building?

17. Can you locate a seat during worship?

18. Can you locate the restroom?

19. Can you read the notices on the bulletin board?      Can you read the notices in the education building?

20. Do you need the monthly newsletter in a different format?  What format?

21. During potlucks do you need your plate filled?

22. During peace demonstrations or other activities do you need a companion?

23. Do you have a child with special needs?  Is she/he attending First Day School? Are their needs being met?  If not, what would you change?

24.  Are your family’s needs at Meeting events (rise of meeting, picnics, potlucks, etc.) being met?

25.  Would you like a visit from the Visiting Committee or a phone call from a Friend?

ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN ASKED ON THIS QUESTIONNAIRE THAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED?   WHAT ARE THEY?


Name_________________________________

Age:   __ UNDER 25     __  25 to 45     __ 46 to 65     __ 66 to 85      __   over  85