NCRA members have the opportunity to earn Professional Development Credits (PDCs) by providing pro bono CART services under a new collaborative program agreement with the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA). The agreement program is intended to help HLAA chapters across the country provide quality CART for their monthly meetings in a more affordable way. The agreement will also help increase the awareness of CART captioning and its benefit for people with hearing loss.
Under the agreement, NCRA-certified captioners can earn 1.0 PDC as part of the 3.0 Continuing Education Credits required every three years. NCRA members who participate in the collaborative agreement program will be reimbursed the fee assessment by the HLAA chapter to register the PDCs.
“This partnership is another step that NCRA is taking to help people with hearing disabilities have their accessibility needs met. Captioning services provided by a certified captioner are the best and only product for people with hearing loss to be able to fully participate in HLAA chapter meetings,” said Matthew R. Barusch, NCRA’s State Government Relations Manager.
“By partnering with HLAA and offering NCRA-certified captioners this additional member benefit, we not only continue our support of our captioner membership, we can help provide this amazing community with a service they need and help one of our long-standing organizational allies grow and prosper,” Barusch added. “I would encourage all of our certified captioner members to reach out to HLAA and find a local chapter near you.”
Under the agreement, the HLAA national chapter coordinator will connect NCRA captioners to local chapters.
“The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) is thrilled to partner with NCRA to help our chapters provide CART at their monthly meetings in an affordable way and to remove a barrier to the formation of new chapters,” said Nancy Macklin, HLAA Director of External Affairs.
For more information about the collaborative agreement program or to sign up, contact Mathew Barusch at mbarusch@ncra.org.
