A National Vision for the Deaf, Deafened, and Hard of Hearing.

A New Focus - A National Vision for the Deaf, Deafened, and Hard of Hearing - The Hearing Foundation of Canada

Courtesy of the
Hearing Foundation of Canada

After more than two decades of serving Canadians, The Hearing Foundation of Canada is introducing a new name and setting off in a new direction to better serve Canada’s deaf and hard of hearing population.

Originally called The Canadian Hearing Society Foundation, this 21-year-old fund-raising body has raised over $20-million since its inception in 1979. The Foundation has supported organizations such as VOICE For Hearing Impaired Children, which offers parent support, Auditory-Verbal therapy and educational programs. There have also been funds for international initiatives, like the Canadian International Hearing Services, which refurbishes old hearing aids for use in developing countries and supports the improvement of hearing health programs.

Foundation president Denis Piquette says The Hearing Foundation of Canada will now go even further towards helping the deaf, deafened and hard of hearing. Piquette says the new direction will focus on three things: a national mandate, public awareness and a renewed interest in supporting research.

"I really think the key vision is to become much more national in scope," Piquette says. "We will continue to support those programs helping deaf and hard of hearing, but we are broadening our scope. We really want to support research and educate the public about how to prevent hearing loss and minimize damage."

Past president Larry Murray says the focus on prevention is essential.

"Ideally what we’d like to see is a national program about hearing loss prevention and hearing loss in young people. Because, let’s face it, today’s youth are tomorrow’s seniors. It’s difficult to get through to the public today because hearing loss is not one of those ‘sexy’ causes, yet it does affect one in 10 Canadians and the impact is considerably greater for seniors. As time goes on and the younger generation gets older, their past actions may come back to haunt them. If there’s anything we can do to prevent that situation, ease discomfort and probably save some health-care costs, then it’s time and money well spent."

When founding chairman John Eaton and executive director Sally Horsfall (formerly Sally Farr) formed the Foundation in 1979, they knew only too well that such an organization was needed. Horsfall’s own son, Richard, was profoundly hard of hearing.

Today, Richard Farr is a technical engineer for Ernst and Young who travels abroad extensively and says he has no trouble interacting on his own in the hearing world. He says part of his success is owed to his mother’s initiative in investigating educational options - the same drive that lead her to start the Canadian Hearing Society Foundation.

"When I was born with a profound hearing loss there was very little information and research in alternative methods of raising a deaf child," Farr said in a recent interview.

At the time, the Auditory-Verbal approach, which teaches the child to use what hearing he or she has, was a radical departure from the traditional use of sign language. Farr was enrolled in the program and now, 30 years later, it has become an accepted, alternative method of raising a deaf child.

"Today, Foundation-funded programs are putting out the message that there are alternatives to dealing with hearing loss and deafness," Farr says. "Today, a parent with a deaf child will be able to analyze the different options and decide on the beat approach to dealing with deafness. In the 60s, there was no such information and it was up to the parent to take the initiative to find the information. So, if my mother hadn’t taken the initiative to find information on other options, I would have been brought up in the deaf community, which would have been a completely different lifestyle for me."

Farr, who maintains an active interest in community service - especially in the field of deafness, says he’s excited about the Foundation’s new direction.

"I believe the Foundation will achieve a higher visibility, not only from a fundraising point of view but through public awareness of this invisible disability and through research."

To achieve its goals, Piquette says the Foundation’s allocation committee will expand and a peer review committee comprised of medical experts will be set up to help allocate funds. Piquette says he also wants to work on corporate awareness to help identify and create employment opportunities for people who are hard of hearing or deaf.

The Foundation will continue to work from its Toronto offices with its full-time staff of four and a guiding body of 24 directors - many of whom are doctors and researchers.

The launch of the new Foundation is timed especially to coincide with National Speech and Hearing Awareness Month across Canada. Events sponsored by service agencies, consumer groups, professionals and volunteers promoting awareness of hearing impairments will be taking place in every province until the end of May.

When this special month has come and gone, "The Hearing Foundation of Canada will work to make sure all Canadians are aware of the effects of what is called the "hidden disability" - and their options if they, or someone they know, needs help.

"I believe that it is the right of the person to have access to all possible information, advice, programs, and research information to make a decision on how to best deal with their hearing loss, or the hearing loss of a loved one," says Richard Farr. "There is no perfect method and Foundation-funded programs will provide the information to help the person make that decision."