Ontario-based Services are a Boon to Older People with Hearing Loss
Nariman Malik, BSc
Introduction
The Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) has been helping Ontario residents cope with hearing loss for over sixty years. Established in 1940, the CHS has grown from a single office in Toronto to 24 offices across Ontario, serving individuals who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing. Its mandate is to educate the public about hearing loss and its prevention. Originally, the CHS started as a job placement service for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Today, however, the agency offers a wide range of services and programs to help people living with hearing loss stay independent, and capable of carrying out their daily activities. The CHS has five core programs and several optional programs.
CHS Core Programs
The core programs provided by the CHS include Employment Services, General Social Services Counselling, Hearing Care Counselling Program, Marketing Communications and Ontario Interpreting Services (OIS).
Employment Services: This service was established to provide career counselling and to help individuals with their job searches. The service addresses the following commonly-encountered barriers: the difficulty in accessing information over the telephone, the difficulty in securing sign language interpreting services, and the negative perceptions and beliefs of employers with respect to the employability of individuals with hearing loss.
