This is an excellent story.  I do want to point out that interpreters are good only for employees who know sign language, usually not your older, late-deafened employee that most of your article is based on.  Also, you talk about the high cost of interpreters, but CART (Realtime captioning) can be just expensive if not more than interpreters.   You could have mentioned that the employee could sit next to the meeting note-taker and read along, esp if the note-taker is using a computer.

Nan Asher, Executive Director

Michigan Association for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

2929 Covington Court, Suite 200

Lansing, Mich. 48912-4939

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Good article; however, if you do some homework on hearing-improvement modules (hearing aids), you will find that they now have units that fit behind the ear and can be color matched to your hair color, with at thin clear plastic tube running over the top of the ear and down into the ear canal. It is nearly invisible. I recently started wearing them in both ears and for two weeks nobody in the office even noticed them. Technology is great!

Darrel Copeland

Director, Human Resources/Safety

Inland Tarp & Liner, Inc.