Anything I write about my tenure as president is subject to the frailty of my memory. I was the fourth president of ADA and did not have to search for things I wanted to accomplish as they were already in place. The most obvious was too little money and too much red ink. We increased the dues from $30 to $50 per year amid much grousing. We called in many favors when it came time to get speakers for the annual meeting. The policy of paying member speakers came to a rapid halt and we even convinced nonmember speakers to donate their time. I do believe the Academy began to see some black ink during this time.

Anyone who has planned a convention from the ground up knows that it is no easy task. Just when all seems ready, you find out that the person making the arrangements at the hotel is no longer with the property and no one there knows anything about the ADA convention. Back to square one. My budget was $400 a year so you don't have to be an accountant to figure where the money to do all this came from. We hired a management firm that was based almost totally on how cheap they were.

ADA published a position paper stating that the audiologist was the only person adequately trained to deal with hearing loss. NHAS almost had a stroke over that one. Both boards met at NHAS's convention in Chicago and hammered out an agreement which said more or less, that we would not interfere with one another and would try to work on things that were of mutual interest.

Are the problems facing ADA today the same as when I was president? They are but come from different directions. I see the biggest problem as the Au.D. I imagine that our friends in the medical community are practically having convulsions from laughing at us as we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot. As long as we have people in elected positions making decisions for those who elected them without obtaining some sort of mandate from the electorate, the division within the audiology community will continue.