Article I – Name

The name of this organization is the Association of Late-Deafened Adults – CHAPTER, also referred to as ALDA-CHAPTER

Article II – Definition of Late-Deafened Adult

Late-deafened adults are people who were not born deaf, but rather became deaf after they developed language skills.  They cannot understand speech without visual clues, and thus cannot rely on their hearing as a means of receptive communication.  Instead, late-deafened adults must primarily depend on some visual mode of receptive communication, such as cued-speech, speech reading, sign language, or text-reading.  Their deafness may have been the result of heredity, accident, illness, drugs, surgery, or “causes unknown.” Their hearing loss may have occurred suddenly, or it may have progressively deteriorated over a period of years.  Most importantly, however, regardless of the cause or rapidity of their hearing loss, all late-deafened adults share the cultural experience of having been raised in the hearing community, and having “become” deaf rather than having been “born” deaf.

Article III – Purpose

The general purpose of ALDA – CHAPTER shall be to pursue one or more of the basic objectives of ALDA, which are to provide Education,Advocacy, Role models, and Support (EARS) for late-deafened adults. The specific ALDA objective(s) of ALDA – CHAPTER shall be determined by its Board of Directors.

Article IV – Members

A.   Conditions of Membership:

1.    In general, membership in AIDA – CHAPTER may be granted to any person who Endorses the specific objective(s) of ALDA – CHAPTER.

2.   In general, membership in ALDA – CHAPTER shall be open to anyone regardless of whether they are late-deaf (post-lingual), early-deaf (pre-lingual), born-deaf, hard-of-hearing, or hearing.

3.   Any specific conditions for the granting of original membership, the maintenance of membership in good standing, and the renewal of membership in ALDA – CHAPTER ­shall be determined by its Board of Directors.

B.  Rights of Membership… Only members in good standing shall have the following rights:

a.  To serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Organization.

b.  To serve as an officer of the Organization.

c.  To make and amend motions and vote at meetings of either the Organization or its Board of Directors.

Article V – Governance
A.  Board of Directors … The Board of Directors shall be the governing body of ALDA ­CHAPTER, and shall have the right to exercise all powers that it deems necessary for the governance and operation of the Organization, including, but not limited to, the election of officers and the creation of any committees of the organization.  The Board of Directors shall consist of five (5) directors, all of whom shall have been elected to serve on the Board by the general membership.  More than fifty (50) percent of the members of the Board of Directors must always be late-deafened adults.

B. Officers… The Board of Directors shall elect four of its members to serve as officers of the  Organization.  Those officers shall be a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer, And no person may hold more than one of these four offices at a given time.

1.  President…The president shall serve as the chief executive officer of the Organization And chair of the Board of Directors.  The president shall preside at all meetings of the Membership, exercise overall supervision of the affairs of ALDA – CHAPTER, see to The enforcement of these by-laws, and carry out all orders and resolutions of the Board of Directors.  In addition, the president shall be responsible for appointing members to all committees established by the Board, shall act as the liaison to any and all organizations as required by the Board, shall make a report to the membership at the annual business meeting, and in general shall perform all duties incident to the office of president.

2.  Vice-President … The vice-president shall assist the president in the discharge of all the functions of that office.  In the event of the president’s extended absence or inability to carry out the duties of the office of president, the vice-president shall perform the Duties and exercise all the powers of that office.

3.  Secretary… The secretary shall keep any minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors Which are ordered by the Board, shall keep the Organization’s nonfinancial records, shall maintain the mailing list of addresses of all ALDA – CHAPTER members, and in general shall perform all duties incident to the office of secretary.

4.  Treasurer… The treasurer shall be the principal accounting and financial officer of the Organization.  The treasurer shall have custody of all ALDA – CHAPTER funds, and Shall keep full and accurate accounts of all receipts and disbursements.  The treasurer shall render to the president and the Board, whenever they may require, an account of all fiscal transactions and the financial condition of the Organization.  The treasurer shall present a report to the membership at the annual business meeting, and in general shall perform all duties incident to the office of treasurer.

C.   Committees… The Board of Directors may create from time to time any committees that it Believes are necessary or desirable for the accomplishment of the objective(s) of the Organization.  The members of such committees shall be appointed by the president.

Article VI – Terms of Office 

A.    Board of Directors…The term of office for all members of the Board of Directors shall Be two (2) years, or until they resign or are removed from the Board.

B.    Officers…The term of office for all officers shall be one (1) year, or until they resign or Are removed from office.

C.    Committee Members … All committee members shall serve for a period of one (1) year, or until the committee is dissolved, or until they resign, or until they are removed from the committee, whichever comes first.

D.   Limitation of Terms…There shall be no limitation on the number of terms that any officer Board member or committee member can serve.

Article VII – Termination and Reinstatement of Membership

A.  Termination of Membership… Any member of ALDA – CHAPTER may have thei Membership terminated by the Board of Directors for cause, that is to say, for conduct  Deemed to be detrimental to the organization.

B.    Reinstatement of Membership … Upon written request, signed by the former member seeking reinstatement and filed with the Board of Directors, the Board may vote to reinstate a former terminated member upon such terms as the Board may deem appropriate.

C.   Notice Requirement… Any action to terminate a person’s membership in ALDA ­CHAPTER  May be taken only after notice has been given of the reasons for possible termination, and an Opportunity has been provided to that person for a hearing before the Board.

D.   Special Majority Requirement…  Any action to either terminate or reinstate a member must Be approved by a vote of two-thirds 2/3 of the members of the entire Board.

Article VIII – Vacancies

A.  Board of Directors…   Any vacancies that occur on the Board of Directors between Boards Elections shall be filled in the interim by appointment by the president.

B.  Committees…  Any vacancies on any committee may be filled by appointment by the President.

Article IX – Meetings

A.   Meetings of the General Membership:

1. Annual Business Meeting…At a place, date and time designated by the Board of Directors, there shall be an annual business meeting of the members of ALDA –CHAPTER.

2. Quorum Requirement… A quorum for the annual business meeting of ALDA-CHAPTER shall be determined by its Board of Directors.

B. Meeting of the Board of Directors

1. Regularly Scheduled Meetings … There shall be a minimum of two regularly schedule Meetings of the Board each year, at such time and place as directed by the president, Subject to the approval of a majority of the Board.

2. Special Meetings … Special meetings of the Board may be called as needed by the President, at such time and place as directed by the president, subject to the approval of  A majority of the Board.

3. Quorum Requirement… A simple majority of the Board members shall constitute Quorum at all regular meetings of the Board of Directors.

 Article X – Nominations and Elections for the Board of Directors

A.   Requirements for Nomination …To be nominated for a position on the Board of Directors of ALDA – CHAPTER, a person must be amember of ALDA – CHAPTER and must be willing to activelyparticipate in the business of the Board, including being willing to accept Committee assignments.

B.    Method of Election .. Election of Board members shall either occur at the annual business meeting of the general membership, by means of a mailed or telephone ballot or by some combination of voting at the annual business meeting and mailed or telephone ballots.

C.  Method of Voting… Election of the members of the Board of Directors, when done in whole Or in part at the annual business meeting of the, general membership, shall be by secret ballot.

Article XI – Conduct of Business

A. Rules of Order… In any matters not covered by these by-laws, all business shall be conducted according to the current edition ofRobert’s Rules of Order.

1. Voting….Given potential geographic distance problems, at all business meetings of the membership, meetings of the Board of Directors, and meetings of committees of ALDA-CHAPTER, votes may be cast either in person, over the phone, or by mail. There shall be no voting by proxies allowed.

Article XIV – Compensation

Neither members of the Board of Directors, officers, not committee members shall receive any salary for their services.

Article XV – Fiscal Year

The fiscal year of the Organization shall be the calendar year, that is to say, from January 1^st through December 31^st.

Article XVI – Ratification and Proposing Amendments

A. Ratification…. These by-laws shall be ratified by the affirmative vote of a simple majority of the members of the entire Board of Directors.

B. Proposals for Amendments…. Amendments to these by-laws may be proposed at any time by submission to the Board of Directors of ALDA – National after either:

1. The proposed amendments have been endorsed by the majority of the members of the entire Board of Directors of ALDA-CHAPTER.

2. The proposed amendments have been endorsed by a simple majority of the votes cast at an annual business meeting of ALDA-CHAPTER.