AAA-NC

Are You Deaf, Professionally Speaking?

Your profession is bigger than you think; you have 569 audiology colleagues in North Carolina. Of these, 529 live within our state and another 40 are spread from South Carolina to Alaska (we presume she is not commuting daily to the Tarheel state!).

This has not always been. Our profession has grown along with our state, now the 10th most populous state in America. In twenty years we have added over 200 audiologists to our ranks, effectively doubling our size. Despite this explosion in growth, we have not experienced any growth in professional interest. If not for the unshakable efforts of a hand full of dedicated audiologists our professional identity in North Carolina would have long ago been defined by others.

A profession is strong only when its organization enjoys wide and willing support from its members. A meager 54 North Carolina audiologists are members of the only organization representing audiology in North Carolina - AAA-NC. Consider this:

• Only 10% of NC audiologists are members.
• Fewer than 5 members are from our academic institutions.
• Fewer than 15 members are under age 40.
• There are more audiologists living in Raleigh than belong to AAA-NC.

In comparison, the NC Society of Otolaryngology represents over 65% of the 305 ENT physicians in North Carolina. NCSHLA, with over 700 speech-language pathologists, represents over 50% of SLPs in North Carolina.

Naturally one can ask “What has AAA-NC done for me?”, “Where was AAA-NC when I needed help with this, or that?”, or more commonly “I didn’t even know we had a professional organization in North Carolina!”. All of these are legitimate comments and reflect our need to engage all audiologists whether in private practice, educational settings, academia, industry, hospital, government, or medical offices. In 2010 we are committed to engaging all audiologists in all settings.

Looking into the new-year Audiology in North Carolina is facing challenges in a variety of areas and your organization must speak for more than 54 practicing audiologists. The only way this happens, the absolute only way this happens is for more audiologists to become engaged in AAA-NC. The dues are reasonable ($90/year) and the benefits of camaraderie and representation far outweigh that reasonable cost. Join today, volunteer a year or two for a committee, and have a voice.

AAA-NC or NCSHLA?

Confused about which organization to join? Luckily it’s easy; as an audiologist when you join one you join both! Your $90 dues automatically make you a member of AAA-NC.

The roots of AAA-NC are in NCSHLA and our partnership has been rewarding since establishing AAA-NC in 1997. By being part of NCSHLA we have access to the larger NCSHLA legislative voice, including our lobbyist Peyton Maynard. The NCSHLA organization is also larger, having roughly twenty times(!) the number of members than AAA-NC. This larger pool of members allow AAA-NC to have access to a main office, fulltime secretary, and wide range of planning resources. Our fall conference over the past several years would not have been possible without the larger resources of NCSHLA.

AAA-NC originally intended to create a robust place for audiologists inside the NCSHLA organization. The AAA-NC board for 2011 is committed to solving this identity issue and provide an organization that is responsive to the needs of all audiologists in North Carolina. Be assured that your $90 NCSHLA dues are supporting your professional organization, AAA-NC.