Helen Cullington, Professor of Cochlear Implants at the University of Southampton Auditory Implant Service, UK
The second global CIICA conference took place in Brussels in October. There were delegates from 32 countries, and more than 30 participants with cochlear implants! Live translation into several languages including sign language made the conference very accessible. I was incredibly humbled by deaf people with cochlear implants giving presentations in English when it wasn’t their home language.
It was a fantastic opportunity to share stories, listen to each other, and make new contacts. 
Thirty-three conference delegates used cochlear implants
Presentations were diverse – covering such topics as genetic testing, policy, advocacy, binaural hearing, education, telemedicine, self-help groups and much more. Two ministers shared their insights (Rob Beenders from Belgium and Zala Tomasic MEP from Slovenia). Two presenters were from the World Health Organisation, and Graeme Clark gave a very touching introduction remotely. We heard about cochlear implant services being delivered face to face, remotely, in living rooms and even in a bus. It was so useful to learn what had worked and what hadn’t worked in terms of increasing access to hearing care in different countries. We talked about the stigma of deafness and what people are doing to overcome it – especially in India where 100,000 babies are born with profound hearing loss every year. Some lovely quotes came up: ‘giving people back their place in the conversation of the world’ … ‘behind every number and statistic are human beings and stories’. This is so true at CIICA.
We used slido – an interactive engagement platform on personal mobile phones – to give everyone their say.
We had a networking buffet dinner close by. I talked to people at most tables, and at one point (photo above) sat with Tobias Fischer – the first child to have a CI in Europe, and Cathy Birman – a surgeon from Australia who has done more than 2,000 CI surgeries!
This is how CIICA is – there is no barrier between clinicians and CI recipients; we all join together for the one thing we are passionate about: improving cochlear implant services worldwide.
Helen, Cathy and Tobias at the networking dinner
Thirty-three conference delegates used cochlear implants
