Good afternoon and welcome. I'm Mishka Balsom, CEO of GNCC. Our theme: building inclusive spaces by removing barriers. One is our hearing. It's one of our most important senses, enabling us to connect to the world. Hearing loss is a growing invisible condition impacting over 4 million Canadians. That number is increasing and affecting more generations, including children. Today's dialogue will focus on how we can help, from a community and corporate responsibility perspective. Ruth Unrau will lead us, an accomplished host. She has assisted over 1000 new and emerging businesses through planning and startup. She has worked with several Niagara-based events, and hosts a weekly radio show where she interviews local entrepreneurs about their challenges and successes. She's a cofounder and member of Women in Niagara. Ruth, it's a pleasure to have you with us today. Ruth: Thank you, Mishka. Welcome everyone to our chat today about removing barriers and building inclusive spaces. First, I'd like to introduce you to the managing partner of Hearing Loops Canada, Marc Gagnon. Marc: Good afternoon. Quick thank yous, as proud sponsor of this event. I thank Mishka and her amazing team at the GNCC. Also the amazing panellists we'll hear from. And all of you for taking the time to learn more about accessibility. A special thank you to our celebrity moderator, Ruth Unrau. A minute to tell you a bit about Hearing Loops Canada. As sponsor, I have the privilege to do that. Hearing Loops Canada was established in 2017 in Alberta. We set out with a vision to be the #1 authority for hearing-assisted technologies that help remove communication barriers, help build inclusive spaces, and enhance quality of life for people with hearing loss. Looking at accelerating our Canadian expansion, I'm a long-time resident, grew up in Niagara. We chose it for our eastern headquarters, with a team to service all of Ontario. I'm very proud to be able to build something here in Niagara. The support from the community, public and private sector, small and large business, has been amazing. Thank you very much for attending today. Ruth: Thanks, Marc. Not sure about celebrity, but I'll take it. Today we're talking about removing barriers and building more inclusive spaces for the hard-of-hearing and deaf community. Progress, opportunities that exist, and what we need to do. 3 panellists today: Lee, Noelle, and Steve. Each bring a unique perspective. I'll introduce each as we go. You had a chance to submit questions when you registered. Time-permitting, we'll look at those. If you have a question come up during our discussion, put it in the chat. For questions we can't get to, a follow-up email will be sent, so you don't have to worry about not having it answered. Should we need Steve, Noelle, and Lee's expertise, we'll do that too. First, Lee Pigeau. He is the executive director of CHHA. Vast philanthropic experience, and a consulting firm, working with small and large organizations serving people with disabilities. He's a Resilience 2020 project lead. As the new national ED for the CHHA, Lee is part of the transformation to the next level making a positive difference for Canadians with hearing loss. Welcome, Lee. Lee, according to the CHHA website, there are 4 million Canadians living with hearing loss. Some impactful changes: closed captioning, happening today. Sign language interpreters. All kinds of new tech, including what Hearing Loops Canada does. As the conversation around equity, diversity, inclusivity, is amplified, what progress have we made, and what opportunities? Lee: When we talk about invisible disabilities, often it's those you can't immediately see that are the hardest to deal with. But hard-of-hearing people are used to that for a long time. Big difference between profound hearing loss, and someone who may just need a hearing aid, or a cochlear implant, in a workplace or customer service setting. About 1/4 of the population has hearing loss. Generally that's like someone with glasses. They need a bit of help and accommodation. But nothing stops them from doing anything profoundly. Office workers do a lot of work by text, email, virtual conferencing. A lot of strides in that helping people. Closed captioning, ASL interpreters. And the written language. But it's day-to-day activities that make people feel excluded. Talking to a CSR, and you have to ask for clarification again and again, and they talk louder in a store, and get frustrated. It makes you feel embarrassed. Drawing attention to yourself. Sometimes the questions are simple. People just don't ask. They don't become part of society. Hard-of-hearing people, over half say it affects them in a negative way in social interaction. From a diversity perspective, someone with hearing loss, a different way of speaking, may not know the language as well, makes them feel less part of society. Where there's a lot of noise, agricultural settings, customer service, big stores, shops, we need to do something individually. That's most important. Simply writing something down. Showing somebody something in writing is really important. Simple things. We've come a long way with that, and there are really simple things we can do. Ruth: Those of us in Niagara, Niagara has a higher population of older people. I'd imagine as we age, we experience hearing loss. That ambient noise becomes even more of an issue. Certain restaurants I won't go to, because if I can't hear the conversation it's not an enjoyable experience. Our next panellist, Noelle Sinclair. Noelle began to lose her hearing in high school. She's been in radio for 30 years. With the help of headphones and reading lips, she has compensated for hearing loss. Less than 10 years ago, Noelle left the workforce. In 2014 she received a cochlear implant and returned to her career in broadcasting. Welcome, Noelle. Incredible journey, from full hearing, to deaf, and now you can hear again. Tell us about your journey, and how technology has helped, and how we can do better, both as an employee, and in our community. Noelle: It's been a long journey. I lost my hearing at age 18. Slow progression. By around 2000, working in radio, an employer finally said "Get yourself checked out." I did. We tried hearing aids. They're really difficult for me, because I was expecting them to work. They didn't. My type of hearing loss, autotoxic: I got strep throat at age 18, and got prescribed a toxic drug. That started all my hearing loss. When we started getting hearing aids, it did nothing. It made it worse, because they weren't magnifying where I had loss. Friends, family, I, my employers: frustrated. We couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. I continued to read lips, adapt. I was sort of in denial in some ways, about how significant my loss was. I tried to compensate for so long. I'd bring my daughter with me everywhere. She'd know from the look on my face, and she'd repeat it slower. That's how I started coping. Especially in my business, as a news reporter, important to get your facts correct. I was able to hide it in a way. I'd say "Can you repeat that one more time?" By the time 2006 came, I could not interview over the phone anymore. That's when I left radio and worked for Big Brothers and Sisters. They were very accommodating. Got magnified phones. There was a fire drill, and I didn't hear it. Very loud alarm system. Next day, strobe light went in. Accommodated. I was lucky. My employer was very adaptable to my hearing loss. By 2011, my hearing was down to 8%. I couldn't function in society anymore. The doctor made me go for another hearing test. Very frustrated. I was afraid someone would get me hearing aids again. They acknowledged I was possibly a cochlear implant candidate. By 2013, I got on the waiting list. I got pulled off it early, and in 2014 I got my life back. It was life changing. Ruth: So many facets of that story. Thank you for sharing that. Cochlear implants: certain people it won't work at all for, right? Noelle: I was surprised about that. I met a woman who said "My mother has a cochlear implant too." I talked to her mother. I was stunned that the daughter was still repeating and helping her mother. She couldn't understand how I had such a different response than her mother. I'm not indicative of everybody. I'm lucky. Sunnybrook Hospital said I'm an unusual result. I score 80-90% on my hearing test now. Most people score 60s-low 70s. Ruth: No one could guess you're deaf, hard-of-hearing. Thank you for that. Please welcome Steve Murphy. Accessibility Auditor and coordinator for Niagara Region. Legislative compliance for Niagara Region. Steve is also the accessibility auditor for the Canada 2022 Summer Games. AODA was adopted in 2005, a framework designed to make all aspects of public life fully accessible by 2025. As that date looms, just 4 short years from now, how are we doing? Where can we do better? Steve: Thank you for the opportunity to be here. Everywhere I go, one thing I tell people: accessibility is a well-kept secret. It should be on the tips of everyone. If it hasn't affected you or someone close, we ignore it. Where we are with compliance: most municipalities and other public organizations, like health care, school boards: I'd like to say everyone is putting in the effort where they can. There's the customer service standard, information, communication, employment, transportation, and public spaces. Used to be called "built environment", but that's in the building code now. How high a light switch should be: it's not in the AODA anymore. Our aging demographic: A valuable lesson I learned from my father: As much as a lot of our people with disabilities, and people who are aging, require the same types of accommodations, my father's hearing loss in his eyes wasn't because he was disabled. He was 91, he fought in a war, worked in a factory. It was a natural aging process for him. I speak to the accessibility advisory committee, and they put me in my place and say they're not aging, it's a disability. As far as the AODA goes, we've just come to the part that has a lot of us running around frantically. A lot of us don't understand how complicated it is, or how hard to find somebody who truly understands what you mean if you say your websites have to be WCAG 2.0 AA compliant. Their eyes glaze over and they leave. We're working on that. A lot of municipalities are using captioning services on the replays of council or committee minutes. The other point: just because the AODA gives you a minimal level of compliance, don't congratulate yourself too much for achieving the minimum. We can do a lot more. There's a lot of publications regarding universal design standards. As long as you do it from the get-go, the planning stage, they don't cost much. It doesn't cost much to make a hallway 6 inches wider. A ton of other things you can do. I spoke to many business owners, asking how can they make it easier for people to manipulate where they're going in the store? Those arrows supermarkets have, a black arrow on a charcoal base? In this weather, could you find anything harder to see? They don't have to be 8 inches. Make them 4 feet. You can take them off when it's over. The other thing: in customer service and information & communication standards, it speaks to the obligation of the service provider to accommodate. The AODA took a lot of that from the Ontario Human Rights language. But basically it means - and it states it - we may not be used to advocating for ourselves, but if you need something and you go into a business, or anywhere, tell them what you need. "I require an accommodation to participate." If I get that call, first thing I say is "Thank you. Can we get together to find out the best way to accommodate?" Ruth: Great advice. I've noticed, particularly in press conferences, all of us watching Covid press conferences these days, we're seeing the sign language interpreters. So we can see a bit more in terms of how we're serving the hard-of-hearing community. We've got a ways to go to the 2025 deadline. But at least we're making some strides. Now to a general panel discussion. Lee, how are we doing as a province in making workplaces more inclusive for people with hearing loss, as per the AODA in Ontario? As employers, how should we start? Lee: First, businesses in Ontario are doing OK. Exclusive of Covid. Access with Covid: we're talking about being masked, which is itself an issue. But if you don't know where to turn, in the Niagara region, talk to Steve. He's an expert. Huge resource. Access the CHHA. You can email us, speak with us. We'll give you quick tips and things to do when it comes to hard-of-hearing people. Important to make sure anytime you're communicating with someone, and your customers have to hear what's being said, is provide an option where it's written. It can be a card. Closed-captioning on CC TV. They're pretty good at having words flashing on screen. But flashing isn't good. Slow things down so you can read and comprehend. Same with websites. The little chat feature. Just having something that just lets people know you can do this, you can speak with people, is important. There will be experiences that don't fit the mould, and don't hit the minimum requirements, or take more than the minimum. If you're a restaurant, and it's too loud: that's bad for business. If they can't interact, they won't come in. They'll shop online, or they'll go somewhere they are doing well. And they'll tell their family. Whether ASL: that's great for big things. Organizations. But having that ability. And for virtual meetings: every virtual platform allows closed captioning. Some aren't easy, some aren't free, but they all can do that. If you find someone hard-of-hearing, ask the question. Most people have been living with hard-of-hearing for a long time. They know, and can provide the best solution for them. That's the key. Whether it's strobe lights, or you have to carry around a notebook, there's simple things to do. Ruth: So as an employer, there's resources to access through the CHHA and other organizations to tell us where to start, to be more inclusive for employees and customers? Lee: Yes. We certainly can help. Ruth: Anybody interested, go to the CHHA website. Noelle, being an employee, and community member: as you navigate life, you're looking at everything through the lens of someone who has had complete hearing loss. How are we doing in terms of serving our deaf community? Noelle: Every employer I've had has said to me "How can we make your life easier?" Amplified phones? Strobe lighting fire alarm? If my batteries die, I'm completely deaf. Backup scenarios are good. I've never met an employer not willing to make an accommodation for me. The prior setting I was in, it was more my coworkers that weren't cognizant of my challenges. I still did newsroom interviews. I had everybody on speaker. Even with the implant, I don't like the quality on phones. But speaker works. My colleagues would all be in the room, babbling in the background. That wasn't because they were being rude. They weren't thinking. With people like me who function well, people forget that I have my challenges still. From an education point of view: staff needs to be more cognizant. Management are quite good, but staff and colleagues, not always remembering. Ruth: That comes down to education and awareness, right? Noelle: That's everywhere. When you make people repeat themselves, and they get frustrated, my whole life I felt people felt I was dumb. I'd pick up every 3rd word and take longer to process the sentence. They'd look at me like "She's slow." It was helpful to have another person there who knew me to say "Hey, they said this" But you don't always have those helpers with you. A lot of people are afraid to say "I'm deaf". Especially as a woman, some can take advantage of that information. Just give a piece of paper and a pen, or type it on your phone. Those little things make a huge difference. Ruth: I think there's probably a fear too. We're very afraid to offend somebody. Handing somebody a paper and pen to write it down: is that offensive? Am I dealing with someone who might be illiterate? I think it's easy to forget that all those are possibilities. Perhaps down to how do we approach the situation, as to whether it's offensive or not. I think if I hand you pen and paper, would you be offended? Is that acceptable to do? Noelle: To me, no. It takes a lot to offend me. From 18 on, I had to learn coping and survival skills. In terms of tech, the way society is now, I don't have to talk to anybody. Online shopping is amazing for people like me. Plexiglass barriers in restaurants makes the sound tighter, and I hear better now with the glass up. But when you go to Zehrs, everyone in their mask, behind plexiglass, it's a disaster, even for people with perfect hearing. At the hospital: they've always been behind glass, but they have a microphone. That little thing makes such a difference. Would they put them in supermarkets? Realistic? I don't think so. But little things like that can really make a difference. Ruth: That leads to the next question. The pandemic, and communicating effectively. You brought up plexiglass and face masks. Face masks will have quite an impact, even for hearing people, to communicate effectively. Lee, has the pandemic increased our awareness and sensitivity around hearing loss? Lee: The pandemic really has put that out there. The most visual way is with the ASL interpreters in news conferences. Even though we don't know what they're saying, you know it's there, and for a reason. For the practical, everyday aspect, the masks are one of the most important things to keep our health, but also some of the most isolating. We have these, a clear mask, at CHHA. They work really well. I've worn mine a few times going out. People look at you. Looking at someone face to face, which we all do on Zoom: that helps with people who are hard-of-hearing to get used to lip reading. We offer lip reading training at CHHA too. The masks you can see really help. The pandemic has made it easy for people of any disability, anyone who doesn't want to communicate, to isolate themselves more. That's really hard for people who can't hear. Makes it easier sometimes, like the panels can focus your sound, or just doing shopping online. But communication has to be two ways. Having that come out is really important. If someone is on a Zoom call, and they start to freeze, and you can't read their lips properly, it throws you off. People who are hard-of-hearing deal with that every day. If we want to make it more aware, we can. But we have to prompt ourselves. This webinar, this type of thing, is exactly what needs to happen. A reminder that we can take advantage of a situation, use it. Ruth: When we experience that freezing, it puts it in a different perspective. That's what people experiencing hearing loss are experiencing. I don't think any of us realize how much we depend on seeing a person in our regular communication, and how that has an impact. Steve, when it comes to Covid, how are workplaces adapting when it comes to communicating? Does the AODA go far enough to ensure that hard-of-hearing people can fully participate? Through the lens of Covid, the difficulties of communicating through masks, plexiglass, etc. Steve: First, about Covid: wearing those masks is an absolutely phenomenal opportunity to educate others, as long as we acknowledge it. If somebody made masks that on the outside it said something like "Imagine having to wear this every day?" To get people thinking, it's not what they're used to. It comes with a set of hurdles and obstacles we have to get through. I've seen everything on them from sports teams to refreshment ads. Why not something that makes people think what you want them to? Second point: most businesses and public sector places have websites. Under the customer service standard, you have to have a method for visitors to provide feedback. Here at Niagara, we have it on a website along with the other ABCs covered under our compliance. Instead of saying "it was lovely" or whatever, that's a great opportunity to say "next time I visit, it would be better if I could...." You're offering the person to provide you with what they feel is an accommodation that will keep that person shopping at your business. For people who are aware of it, and aware it doesn't have to cost millions, accessibility is good for business. We have a lot of seniors with money who want to spend it. If I couldn't get my father into a business, I'm not leaving him out on the street on a day like today while I go looking. Anything we can use, we can use it to raise awareness, or a way to be more specific on what type of accommodation they need. Larger signs? Larger font? Those floor arrows to me orange and yellow? Need the snowplough to stop putting snow in accessible spaces? Whatever it is. We don't always notice it. If you want to bring it to someone's attention, if our heart's in the right place, you won't be seen as offensive. Ruth: The feedback we provide in customer service needs to be specific and clear. As a business owner, do I know if I'm losing customers as a result of too much ambient noise, I can't hear the person I'm with? Instead of knowing you're losing customers because price isn't right or whatever, now we're losing customers as a result of not being accessible. We need to be more aware of that. Now to some technology. Clearly, there's been some great strides in tech and the various ways to assist people with hearing loss. Lee, tell us some things we might not be aware of. Like Hearing Loops, the induction loop system. Are there other technologies available for businesses to put in place, from an employee perspective, and also to attract and retain employees as well, and looking through that equity, diversity, inclusivity lens? But other things too that we can do, attracting employees as well as customers? Lee: A few things. Not all to do with tech. Providing a benefit program that allows for hearing aid and cochlear implant purchases can help. Really important. It allows for some expensive personal devices to be used. That benefits your employee, and in turn the business. Hearing loop tech is very simple to install and put in. They can be put under a counter. Just as easy to install as a microphone would be. Like at banks and kiosks. They can be 1 on 1, or in grand places like conference centres, areas with gatherings. It's a system that allows the hearing aid and cochlear implant to pick up just what's being said in front, and reduces the background noise. Makes everything clear. It acts like an antenna. Conference centres, performing arts centres, have this tech. They can easily be installed anywhere where there's electricity. They come with a little sign, the ear with a stripe, blue. Customers can see it's happening. Advertising that is also important. It blends in, but it also allows you to do that. Really good technologies. Cell phone or tablet is a simple thing that people can use. For really small businesses, where you may not have that on a regular basis: just a pad and paper. But to be there all the time, the hearing loops are really good. Ruth: You mentioned tablets and mobile devices. We don't necessarily think of those as tech for the hard-of-hearing community. And online shopping. A lot of businesses have adapted to new tech, improved their websites, online stores, through this pandemic. It's probably helped this community without it being the reason these technologies were used more. Take a look at the chat. Some really interesting comments being made. Not a lot of questions that haven't already been answered. Great that this is happening. Keep that up. Another question: Noelle, how does making our spaces more inclusive for people with hearing loss benefit the rest of the community? Noelle: 4 million Canadians have hearing loss. In Niagara, we have the aging population. Everyone will experience hearing loss at some point. Even the ramifications of the pandemic on student education: everyone is putting headphones on. What's the ramification of that down the road? Anything you do anything to accommodate hearing loss, you'll benefit the entire society eventually. I look forward to the day when everyone has hearing like I do. When I'm 90, I'll have pretty good hearing, if it stays the way it is. Even making little things in your business environment: like cover your windows, or mat or carpet on the floor. Those things absorb sounds. Things like clicking high heels: they seem small to others, but people with implants and hearing aids, it tends to dominate your hearing in that environment. Little things like that make a big difference for everybody, by absorbing annoying sounds. Ruth: Steve, for those watching this, if there's one action we could take right now to make our business or organization more inclusive, what would it be? For the people with hearing loss. Steve: Make it as easy for people with hearing loss to communicate with us as possible. Website, signage, whatever that means. Make it as easy for people to be heard. As soon as they're being heard, they become an asset. To your business, to your family life, all those things they were being ignored unintentionally. Reach out. If a question feels awkward to you, get over it. If it's done with the proper intention, it will be received with the proper reaction. Ruth: I love that. Lee, what do you say? One action we can take now. Lee: I agree with Steve. Alternative forms of signage. Speaking to people directly. Do the simplest things really well. Look people in the eye. Speak clearly, slowly. Make an effort to try to communicate. And provide the alternate forms of communication: good signage, clear directions, and written where you can. It's really not that difficult. And again, ask if you can help. If you do it in a kind way, people know you're trying to help. That's really important. Ruth: Noelle? Noelle: Slow down and enunciate. Everyone needs to slow down their speech and enunciate. Even with masks on, if you speak slowly and clearly, we'll catch it. Ruth: Question from Martin: what software should we look at? To facilitate communication? Lee: Really depends on the context. Virtual conferences, what we're doing right now: Zoom provides automatic captioning. If you have a paid subscription. Teams, WebX, Google Meets: those are the top ones that provide easy-to-use captioning. Otherwise, some are free, some paid. CHHA will put out a report shortly. We need to get more lived experience with closed captioning. But several organizations also provide closed captioning which you can purchase. Otherwise, I invite the person who asked the question to email us with specific requests of what they need. Ruth: If you had a question that didn't get answered, we'll look through the chat and follow up with everyone, to ensure all your questions are answered. I'd like to say thank you to all our panellists. It's been a great conversation, and a necessary one. We often forget about the hard-of-hearing and deaf community around us, unless we ourselves or those around us are experiencing it. I really appreciate your time and insights today. Lee, Noelle, and Steve, thank you so much for being here. If anybody is wondering about accommodations that have to be made in your place of business, I refer you to the AODA website, aoda.ca. Thanks again to our panellists. Thank you very much to our sponsor, Hearing Loops Canada. Our host, the GNCC. And everyone out there, thank you for zooming in. Have a great day and stay safe.