Who We Are
The SayWhatClub is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, incorporated in Washington State, available for international subscription. We provide online peer to peer support for people with hearing loss, and their loved ones. Most of our subscribers and all of our board members have hearing loss.
Hearing loss statistics
According to the Hearing Health Foundation, nearly 50 million people in the US have hearing loss. Due to exposure to noise, about one in five teenagers has hearing loss, and sixty percent of veterans returning from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from hearing loss or tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Additionally, twenty percent of all Americans suffer from tinnitus.
What we do
online peer to peer support for people with hearing loss
The SayWhatClub’s (SWC) goal is to provide online peer to peer support for people with hearing loss. SWC connects to its subscribers through an email listserv, two closed Facebook groups and a public Facebook page.
Five of our email lists focus on general discussion groups. Additionally, four other lists offer special topics geared specifically to hearing loss. Moreover, one of our Facebook groups is a general discussion group for all ages over eighteen. The other is limited to subscribers between the ages of eighteen and forty, due to the unique challenges younger people with hearing loss face. We currently have close to nine hundred SayWhatClub subscribers between our ten email lists and two Facebook groups, and close to 2,000 followers on our public Facebook page.
Education and social support
Each year, we hold an annual convention somewhere in the continental United States to facilitate social connections between friends with hearing loss, hands-on learning and coping skills. Our workshops focus on educating the public about hearing loss issues such as:
- self advocacy
- new technology
- ADA laws
- self-esteem building
- communication
- relationships, and more.
Visit our convention pages to see where we’ve been and where we’re meeting next!
Access
Our email lists and Facebook groups offer an easy way to communicate, since hearing isn’t necessary. Also, all of our workshops have Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART), and we install a conductive looping system that allows sound to be transmitted directly to hearing devices that have t-coil technology.
The SayWhatClub is completely run by volunteers and funded through subscriber and sponsor donations.
“I joined the SayWhatClub in 1997. I stood at the elevator at my ENT’s office, crying, having just learned that my hearing had taken yet another huge drop. The nurse came out; she asked if I was ok. I said no, but, I WILL be. And, I am. I came home, got online and began to search for support. I found the SayWhatClub, and soon learned I’d found ‘my tribe,’ my people, others like me, who understood. The people here soon became dear friends, far beyond the commonality of hearing loss. I was home. This year is my twenty year anniversary. I’m still here. Educate and advocate. Never be ashamed of having a hearing loss. We will not be victims.”