At the final meeting of the 2022-2023 year of the NYC chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America on June 20 at 6:00-7:30, our featured speaker, Brittany Nievinski, will discuss her personal journey as a designer and how she overcame the challenges of hearing loss to succeed in college and graduate school. She will also speak about social design and what it means to develop a practice grounded in lived experience and personal values. In her work as a Graphic Designer, she focuses on openness, holding space for conversation and exploring what hearing health means to her. She hopes to engage with other young people around the topic of hearing health.
For her master’s thesis, Find Your Frequency, Ms. Nievinski explored how we might approach hearing health with more openness and acceptance. Drawing from research and her own experience, she identified challenges that the d/Deaf and hard of hearing face in identifying, accepting, and seeking assistance with hearing loss. As a young Hard of Hearing adult, she faced challenges in her journey and wonders what opportunities exist to better support others with hearing loss.
Ms. Nievinski is a New York-based designer from Jacksonville, Florida. She received a BFA in Graphic Design and Digital Media from the University of North Florida in 2021. More recently she graduated from the School of Visual Arts in NYC with an MFA in Design for Social Innovation.
While pursuing her full-time graduate studies, she worked as a graphic design associate at New42, which powers New 42nd Street Studios and the New Victory Theater. New 42 is a performing arts nonprofit organization, dedicated to giving every child access to the arts. Her responsibilities include designing street banners and front of house posters, creating institutional publications, and illustrating worksheets and activities for school engagement initiatives. In addition to these activities, she has assisted the HLAA Chapter Board with the design of its website and Facebook page.
That night we will also award the third annual $5000 Albert B. Chen scholarship for a high school senior with hearing loss. With many outstanding applicants, it was difficult to choose a winner, but we are very pleased to present the award to Lawrence Goldfeld of Staten Island Technical High School who will be attending the Macaulay Honors College at the College of Staten Island where he is leaning towards a major in Engineering Science and a minor in Biology. Lawrence and Mr. Chen will both speak about accessibility and giving back to the hearing-loss community.
If you would like to join us for this captioned program, register here. After registering, you will receive an email with the Zoom link. Please register early if interested.
Can’t Hear? We are here for you!
The New York City Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America is a vibrant, diverse community dedicated to helping people with hearing loss lead more satisfying and productive lives. At the chapter’s monthly meetings, speakers address topics such as hearing aids and hearing-aid alternatives, assistive technology, interpersonal strategies, and advocacy initiatives. Those of you who are interested can find information about our organization on our chapter website by clicking here.
