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>> Decision makers and leaders need to know who we are
and what it is that we do.
Members of Congress as well as state legislators need
to know how our services and the issues affecting our services
impact their constituents.
We are the best people to deliver that information.
It is people like us, professionals like us
that have the information that they are looking for.
They want to know the pros and cons of the pieces
of legislation upon which they are voting,
the things that they are making decisions about and who better
to provide the information
than the professionals engaged in those services.
You know we need coverage
for comprehensive audiology services.
We need to ensure that speech-language pathologists
and audiologists are included in any kind
of school based legislation promoting language and literacy.
We need to make sure that members of Congress know
that it's important to citizens in their district
to get a hearing aid tax assistance credit,
even though the dollar amount that's been proposed is a small
portion of what the citizen is paying for a hearing aid.
But they need to know that that's an important theme
for their constituents.
ASHA members don't need to make a trip to Washington D. C.
to advocate for issues on the federal or the state level.
There are many opportunities to do that locally.
Members of Congress are frequently
in the districts holding town hall meetings,
engaging in informal meetings with constituents.
The ASHA staff has done an incredible job of packaging
in a brief form information about timely issues,
what's critical at that point on the hill.
They're posted on the ASHA website.
They're easy to access, and the ASHA staff is - they're happy
to set up appointments for members of ASHA
who are interested in doing that.
We've seen progress over the years in terms
of staff members being well versed on our issues,
and becoming familiar with the services that we provide,
and knowing what a speech- language pathologist is
and knowing what an audiologist does,
and that's a positive step right there,
just having laid that ground work.
It makes it so much easier to talk to them about the issues
and the impact that the issues do have
on individuals receiving our services
and on us in our work settings.
E-mail messages are very important and very effective.
ASHA's website has a fantastic advocacy page.
There is a take action page where messages are written.
An ASHA member simply has to sign in.
The message is there, you review it, hit submit,
and it goes to your U. S. Senators as well
as your U. S. Representatives office.
And it's very rewarding to receive the acknowledgement
from your U. S. Senators
and your U. S. Representative acknowledging
that they not only received your message, but how they feel
on the issue, and that they will be following the topic
and that's great.
That's what we want.
Both congressional members, as well as state legislators
like to keep track of the frequency
with which they're receiving communication about issues.
The more messages they receive about an issue,
that the more important it may be for the members
of their district, and they certainly do pay attention
to those numbers and it's always great to lay the ground work,
to continue to build on information, to provide them
with updates, to give them the information they need
to make the best informed decision both on the hill
or at the state level.