welcome to the saywhatclub!
What is the SaywhatClub?
The SayWhatClub is an international nonprofit, tax-exempt organization run by volunteers with hearing loss. We offer peer-to-peer support to all people with hearing loss and deafness.
Our online communities provide a way for people with hearing loss to connect with each other. Subscribers may choose from six email list type listservs, and two private facebook groups – one for people ages 18-40 and one for all ages over 18. Also, we host an annual convention to provide educational workshops, and to facilitate face-to-face time with our subscribers. Because we are an international group, there is almost always another peer online to answer questions.
A short history
Back in the 1990s, when the internet was new, the SayWhatClub (SWC) grew from our founders knocking around an AOL Deaf Chat Room, where they connected and began to formulate an idea about an online place for people with hearing loss to chat. People who are not born with hearing loss don’t exactly fit within a Culturally Deaf setting. It can be isolating, since we also don’t exactly fit within the Hearing Community.
Peer to Peer hearing loss Support
Those folks who connected years ago saw a need to create their own group, thus SWC’s beginning. More than twenty-five years later, here we are; still reaching out and connecting to provide online Peer-to-Peer support. No matter where they live, those who feel alone and isolated by hearing loss can connect with our subscribers. We come from almost every state in the U.S. and from various countries and continents around the world. You might even say SWC is the 911 of hearing loss groups. We’re just an email or Facebook post away from the support you’re looking for.
Annual Conventions
Additionally, the SayWhatClub holds an annual Convention somewhere in the United States each year. Our conventions facilitate face to face meetings that deepen bonds of friendship that develop online. Also, we offer educational workshops on hearing loss topics. All of our workshops are accessible with FM induction looping and communication access realtime translation (CART). Our conventions are not limited to subscribers. If you are interested in attending one of our conventions, be sure to visit our convention page
The SayWhatClub is sponsored by Innocaption, free real-time captioning for smart phones.
Vision Statement
A commitment by caring people to provide a way to connect with others who experience the challenge of hearing loss and to offer compassion and assistance in an atmosphere of support for all.
Mission Statement
(As it officially appears in our Club Handbook.)
SayWhatClub is dedicated to enhancing interpersonal communication for people who are hard of hearing, deafened, or have a serious interest in hearing loss, with goals of:
- Educating SWC participants and the public about all aspects of hearing loss;
- Providing for mutual sharing of coping and “life” skills;
- Reducing feelings of isolation, frustration and despair;
- Enhancing feelings of self-concept and optimism.
Online support twenty-four hours a day
The primary medium for our mission is the Internet, which provides the opportunity for contacts over a wide geographic area; access 24 hours a day, seven days a week; and dissemination of information both to SWC participants and to the general public.
Local gathering
In addition, SayWhatClub encourages face to face contact among its participants through informal local gatherings, and periodic [annual] conventions designed both to provide social contact and educational workshops dealing with hearing loss issues.
Please go to our About page to read more about our Board of Directors and anything else you might wish to know. You can also contact our Board of Directors by email at swcboard@saywhatclub.org
sponsored By:
