Uma Soman, PhD, LSLS Cert AVEd
Co-Founder & Director
Uma Soman is an educator of students who are deaf-and-hard-of-hearing (DHH) and a certified Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Auditory-Verbal Educator (LSLS Cert AVEd). She has been working with children who are DHH, their families, and professionals who work with them for over 20 years in a variety of settings. Dr. Soman has been an invited speaker at regional, national, and international conferences. Additionally, she is passionate about working with schools and centers to empower staff members to engage in best practices related to listening and spoken language development of DHH children through family-centered intervention.
Dr. Soman develops and teaches online courses in English, Hindi, and Marathi on various topics related to development of listening and spoken language in children who are deaf or hard of hearing. She also mentors teachers and therapists pursuing Listening and Spoken Language Specialist Certification in India and USA. Dr. Soman presents on a wide range of topics at national and international conferences. Dr. Soman provides listening and spoken language intervention to children and families in the USA and India. She also provides mainstream support for children who are DHH and their families, and is available to consult with the mainstream school staff.
Uma Mididaddi
Board President & Parent Liaison
Uma Mididaddi is the parent of two wonderful children, Suraj who is 23 and Arya who is 20 years old. Uma has a Bachelors in Computer Science and has 18+ years of experience managing global teams at various multinational corporations. Uma and her family have lived in the Bay Area, California for 20+ years where Arya was diagnosed with a profound bilateral hearing loss at birth. Uma received early support services at Weingarten Children’s Center where Arya was enrolled as a toddler and later mainstreamed to her local public school at age five. Uma moved with her family to Bangalore, India in 2008 and lived there till 2011 before returning to the Bay Area. Her stay in India made her realize the immense challenges and needs that exist in the country for children with hearing loss.
Uma was elected the Board President of Listening Together in September 2022. She advances our mission of transforming the lives of children who are DHH by supporting families, professionals and through her community outreach efforts. Uma is involved in strategic planning and long term and short term operations of all the Listening Together programs. Listening Together has benefitted from her years of experience managing projects with varied requirements and scale and also from her leadership skills to motivate team members by enhancing the level of engagement leading to continuous progress at various levels.
Janet DesGeorges
Board Member
Janet DesGeorges lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband Joe and is mom to three daughters, including Sara, a now young adult who is deaf/hard of hearing. She is a co-founder and Executive Director of Hands & Voices Headquarters, a parent support and advocacy organization for families who have children who are hard of hearing/deaf. Janet has presented to groups worldwide about the experiences of families as they journey through life with a child with deafness or hearing loss. She is also a member of the Coalition of Global Parents of Deaf/Hard of Hearing Children. (GPODHH).
Ms. DesGeorges is the author on the chapter for Family Support in the NCHAM e-Book, the co-author of the book Educational Advocacy for Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing: The Hands & Voices Guidebook, and many other publications. Ms. DesGeorges received a program certificate from the MCH Public Health Leadership Institute in 2011 at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. She recently published her first solo book entitled, “Not a Leader, Now a Leader”.
As an advocate, Janet believes in the principles and guiding philosophies of parent choice, a belief towards different paths to success for children who are d/hh, and towards a parent-driven, professionally collaborative approach when supporting families and working towards systemic improvements.
Janet has experience in serving on non-profit boards and a deep passion for healthy non-profit governance.
Our Past Board Members
- Mary Ellen Nevins
- Ahladhini Rao Dugar, Co-Founder and President