Brenda Estes continues to be a pioneer, innovator, mentor, leader and tireless advocate for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. After fighting to overcome her own personal challenges, Brenda was inspired to advocate for others, ensuring that individuals with hearing loss know their rights and how to access appropriate accommodations.
Brenda has been involved with numerous associations, organizations, clubs and activities throughout Virginia. Through her work at the Endependence Center, she assists individuals with captioned telephones and assistive devices. A longtime member of the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA), Brenda has served as the Secretary, President Elect and President of the organization. She was on the planning committee for the ALDA International Convention and had the opportunity to be Host of a previous convention.
Brenda served as the 2013 Vice President for the Virginia Beach Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) and served two terms as President for the Virginia Beach Chapter of Self Help for Hard of Hearing (SHHH). She was a member of the Advisory Boards for Southeastern Virginia Society of the Deaf, Tidewater Community College American Sign Language (ASL) Program and the Virginia Relay Advisory Council. Furthermore, Brenda served on committees for the ALDA & TDI 2013 Joint Conference, and as a committee member and consultant for the Virginia Association of the Deaf Conference.
In addition, Brenda has been involved with the Virginia Beach City Public School for the Deaf/HOH Task Force, the Northern Virginia Community Roundtable for Deaf and Hard of Hearing and has been an SHHH Mentor for children between the ages of 10-14.
Highly acclaimed by her peers, Brenda is described as a compassionate, humble and down to earth leader who relates well with others and communicates effectively. For those reasons and more, we commend Brenda for her efforts and are proud to award her as the recipient of the 2013 Deaf Community Leader Award for the state of Virginia.
This leadership recognition has been brought to you by Hamilton Relay.
About Hamilton Relay
Hamilton Relay provides contracted Telecommunications Relay and/or Captioned Telephone services to 16 states and the Island of Saipan, and is a provider of Internet-based Captioned Telephone services nationwide. More information is available at hamiltonrelay.com.