The Bridge Between Two Worlds

By Vicky Chan

Disability rights attorney Jared Allebest was born with a bilateral profound hearing loss. He was diagnosed at age 1 and fitted for hearing aids a year later. Today, Jared uses both hearing aids and ASL to communicate.

The son of a lawyer, Jared was determined to follow in his father’s footsteps and his hearing loss never deterred him. Throughout his education, he remained inspired by his favorite elementary school teacher, Ms. Marquardt, who taught him one of the most invaluable lessons: Having a hearing loss isn’t a barrier to success. “[Hearing loss] has affected my outlook to fight harder and to push myself to accomplish the things that I want to do in my life,” Jared explains.

After his graduation from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2009, Jared founded a law firm that advocates for people with hearing loss and speaking disabilities. The firm focuses on empowering their clients through education, advocacy, and lobbying. He works with clients with both typical hearing and hearing loss and takes on cases relating to disability rights or discrimination, as well as employment, marriage/divorce, and criminal law.

Jared admits that he faces auditory challenges in his profession. During trials, he has to be exceptionally attentive to all parties. He also receives assistance from an ASL interpreter in the courtroom so he doesn’t miss anything being said.

Despite some difficulty, Jared believes that his hearing loss is an advantage. His clients are more comfortable with him because they know he can empathize with them. People listen carefully when he speaks about issues concerning hearing loss. “By fighting for the rights of those who live with hearing loss, I am advocating for myself as well. I think of myself as the bridge between two worlds,” Jared says.

Jared’s strong reputation as a dedicated lawyer stems from his sincerity and passion for helping others with legal issues that are deeply personal to him. The most rewarding part of his profession is knowing that his clients are satisfied with his commitment.

Jared’s advocacy for the hearing loss community outside goes beyond the courtroom. He is the former chairman of Loop Utah—an advocacy group dedicated to educating people in Utah about the benefits of loop technology. He currently serves as a community representative on the Advisory Council to the Utah Division of Services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (USDB Advisory Council).

Of course, Jared knows he can’t be an advocate for all people with hearing loss, as much as he would like to be. He can’t be the connection between the legal world and the hearing loss world for everyone. Jared maintains that the most important part of living with hearing loss is effective self-advocacy. “Being assertive about your needs will help you to hear better, be more productive, and be happier.”

Jared lives and practices law in Utah. He is a participant in HHF’s Faces of Hearing Loss campaign.

Making Entertainment Relatable and Accessible for More

By C. Adrean Mejia

Films, plays, and television series have long served as platforms to create awareness of important topics that have otherwise been kept out of the spotlight. Hearing loss is one example of such a topic.

As an organization that seeks to inform the public about the prevalence, prevention, and treatment of hearing loss, Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) applauds the growing prioritization of this issue in entertainment. We are pleased to know that the number of films featuring characters with hearing loss—played by actors with hearing loss—has risen with the years, generating greater public awareness of the third most common health condition in the United States. Complementing this trend of an increased presence of hearing loss on screen is the introduction of recent legislation to make entertainment more accessible to viewers with hearing loss.

Actors and characters with hearing loss expand society’s understanding of the condition. Hearing loss empowers abilities, emotions, and experiences unlike those of people with typical hearing. Some recent works with characters with hearing loss include the following:

The Silent Child tells the story of a profoundly deaf four-year-old girl who is about to attend a mainstream school with minimal support—until a social worker teaches her American Sign Language (ASL). The film communicates the disappointing statistic that over 78% of deaf children attend mainstream school without accommodations. A final comment that states that the creators “hope this film contributes in the fight for sign language to be recognized in every school across the globe.”

Children of a Lesser God, a play written in 1979, made its Broadway debut last April. The piece focuses on the professional and romantic relationship between a deaf janitor and a typical hearing teacher and shows the contrasting worlds off sound and silence. To Sarah, the janitor, deafness is an identity, not a defect.  

This Close is a TV series by two deaf writers and actors that narrates the true story of their lives. The show provides a close look of the everyday day life of two best friends, emphasizing their challenges and frustrations while highlighting the positive and beautiful things that their hearing loss brings to their existence.

HHF commends these and the artists behind similar works for the awareness their creations have generated. Likewise, the organization is proud to witness the introduction of new laws and procedures to make entertainment more accessible to the hearing loss community.

Credit: Naugatuck Patch

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) first broke barriers by advocating for the requirement that all video program distributors close caption their TV shows. But it wasn’t until recently, with the help of technology, that these rules have expanded. On November 2016, the Final Rule on the ADA Title III was signed, requiring all American movie theaters to provide accessibility for captions. Large cinemas now offer assistive listening, closed captions, and descriptive audio.

Broadway, too, has made tremendous improvements. In 2016, the Theater Development Fund (TDF) and The Broadway League, launched www.theatreaccess.nyc, a website with information about tickets prices, dates and accommodations for theatergoers with disabilities. In addition, TDF now provides accessibility programs with open captioning and/or ASL at select Broadway performances.

Entertainment has made progress in becoming more inclusive for people with hearing loss since the implementation of these programs, but additional work is needed. Though mandating captioning at movie theaters represents great progress, other entertainment settings, including sports arenas and concert halls, must follow suit.

To optimize the listening experience for audience members with hearing loss, more must adopt the use of hearing loops, which transmit sound from a PA system to hearing aids and cochlear implants. In December 2017, the state of Minnesota passed a bill requiring hearing loops in public meeting spaces, taking after similar New York City legislation from earlier in 2017.

HHF looks forward to a day where no one must live with hearing loss. As long as hearing remains out of reach for tens of million Americans, fair accommodations are the most ethical choice.