The Sassman family — parents Eric and Marie, 6-year-old Evan and 2-year-old Fiona — meet Jay Green, left, a guard for the UNLV men’s basketball team, on Jan. 6 at a community event sponsored Nevada Hands and Voices.
Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019 | 2 a.m.
Evan Sassman beamed with joy as he high-fived Jay Green, the 6-foot-5 guard for UNLV's basketball team, and parents Marie and Eric Sassman looked on with pride.
The Sassmans were just one of many families there to meet the players and watch them practice at an event organized by the nonprofit Nevada Hands & Voices, which serves families whose children are, like 6-year-old Evan, deaf or hard of hearing.
The event took place early morning Jan. 6 at UNLV’s practice facility, and players on the team helped hoist the young children up to the hoop and assisted them with slam-dunks.
Beth Jones, the program coordinator for Nevada Hands & Voices, said events like these help families and their children feel like part of a community.
"I was a new mom of three. I had a 4-year-old and a newborn diagnosed," Jones said. "There was just a lot of questions, a lot of good things on the internet, a lot of scary things on the internet, so being able to find Hands & Voices and meet other families that were going through a similar journey was very helpful."
One of the organization’s programs, Guide By Your Side, helps parents like the Sassmans with the day-to-day lives of their children through peer connections with other parents. Jones helped the Sassmans navigate the school system.
“A parent of a deaf or hard-of-hearing child themselves helps mentor newly diagnosed families, which is great because a large percentage of families that have children born deaf and hard of hearing have no family history of hearing loss," Jones said. "A lot of times, the first person that they meet who is deaf or hard of hearing is their own child."
That was the case with the Sassmans.
“I can tell you in elementary school, I don't ever remember kids with hearing aids,” Marie Sassman said. “Not once, never. And even my high school, we didn't have anyone.”
Marie said her son’s hearing loss doesn’t affect his life drastically now. He compares his ear molds with other children at Nevada Hands & Voices events or joyfully ticks off the reasons why his Hot Wheels collection is so cool, or boasts that he scored 11 goals for his soccer team.
But Marie worries about her son’s future: Will his loss get worse; will kids in tease him in middle school; will the family eventually have to switch from oral language to sign language; is he getting the best services at school?
Marie said this is where having that peer connection with Jones helped.
Jones, meanwhile, said she’s more than happy to help others with the details of education and the messy parts of watching and worrying about their children’s health.
"Both of my children (have) progressive hearing loss,” Jones said. “My daughter, she has lost a lot of hearing in the past several years, and I didn't know that could be a typical thing. I would get really upset and didn’t understand, and it was kind of a grieving process.
"Other people feel the same way, so it takes that guilt away. Even, you know, ‘What did I do when I was pregnant? What did I do to cause this?’ I now know that wasn't the case (but) most of our families feel that way."
Those interested in helping further the nonprofit’s efforts can do so by volunteering or donating money, space or event packages or food, just as MRG Marketing & Management donated catering from Raising Cane’s for the UNLV event.
Jones said companies that donate food or space, or help sponsor events, allow such gatherings to be free to the families served.
Other programs at the nonprofit include bimonthly parental meetings in Las Vegas and Reno that focus on specific topics like assistive technology, a hearing aid loaner bank and a scholarship program.
To learn more, visit nvhandsandvoices.org, call 775-351-1959 or follow the organization on Facebook at @nvhandsandvoices.
