To mark Hearing Access Week 2026, held under the theme “Right to Connect,” we invited hard of hearing advocates and EFHOH members to share their experiences, reflections, and perspectives on why hearing access matters.
We sincerely thank everyone who contributed to this initiative. Your stories are powerful, personal, and essential in helping us better understand both the persistent barriers and the progress being made.
Together, these voices make one thing clear: accessible communication is a prerequisite for participation, inclusion, and equal opportunities.
Meet the voices of Hearing Access Week 2026:
Lidia Best – EFHOH President
“Right To Connect highlights the wider conditions needed for people with hearing loss to participate fully in society. This includes access to hearing aids and cochlear implants, assistive technologies, live captioning and subtitles, as well as accessible digital and public spaces, education, and employment.
The topic is close to my heart as far too many times there is lack of awareness of what is needed to support full participation of persons who are hard of hearing. Hearing loss is invisible and it is not well understood.”
Tania Galian Martín – IFHOHYP activist
“In my workplace, this is the first time in my life that I’ve experienced the real use of captions, both automatic and manual. It makes me feel included and considered. This was something that felt hard to ask for in university and I often felt it was lacking in my academic years.”
Giuliana Della Torre – Associazione Nazionale Sordi (Italy)
“Access to hearing has been fundamental to my life as a student, as a worker, and in my relational and social experiences; I have never learned LIS. At the age of three, for unclear reasons, I lost much of my hearing in both ears. Technology has allowed me to access listening through various steps.
I am now retired. I would like to see improved hearing accessibility in public services (including health services), at the theatre, in museums, and during guided tours. I have no doubt this will soon be possible with the introduction of assistive listening devices, which are currently rare.”
Maja Chocaj – Deaf Student
“I stopped hearing: ‘Nevermind, I’ll tell you later.‘
