Using Your Voice For Others: Lessons From My Friend Dr. Richard Pimentel

At our heart, Starkey has always been about caring and advocating for others. In 2021 when we officially launched Starkey Cares, our corporate social responsibility program, it was to formalize and elevate the work we’ve been doing since the start: caring!

Whether it’s through the work we’ve done to provide hearing health resources globally to Veterans or just the daily reminders that everyone deserves the chance to feel connected to their world, I often think of my dear friend and an incredible advocate for others, Dr. Richard Pimentel.?

By using his voice, Richard’s work has had a positive and lasting impact to ensure everyone has rights in the workplace and isn’t underestimated or undervalued based on their physical abilities.?

As documented in the movie “The Music Within,” Richard’s story is one of perseverance, compassion and speaking up for others. A Veteran himself, he has dealt with hearing loss for years after serving in the Vietnam War. When he returned home and was denied the opportunity to become a professional speaker through a vocational rehabilitation program due to his profound hearing loss, his work to change the world really began.?

He went on to create training programs for supervisors to consider those with disabilities for qualified roles, laying the groundwork for what would eventually become the Americans with Disabilities Act.

When talking about the importance of advocating for those with disabilities who are seeking jobs, Richard often compares finding employment to a race, one that people with disabilities are not often given the chance to enter. Through a donation Richard made to the Hellen Keller Foundation, he wrote some insightful comparisons to his own experiences applying for roles with hearing loss:

“What’s more important, starting the race with hearing or finishing the race with understanding? Starting the race with mobility restrictions, or finishing it with creativity, determination and problem-solving? Starkey is about more than hearing. Starkey is about understanding.”?

His words have always resonated with me. We don’t just make hearing aids, we connect people back to their families and their communities! Bill and I met Richard in 1996 and became fast friends. We even invited him to share his inspirational story at Starkey’s Hearing Innovation Expo in 2020. His friendship has helped us continue to shine a light on what Veterans face so we can, in turn, serve them better.?

As a team, we’re incredibly proud of the work Starkey is doing to honor, uplift and provide better hearing resources to our nation’s Veterans because we know how much hearing health can impact your connection to the world around you. I’ve seen the moment countless times when someone is reconnected to their world through hearing aids - we call them hearing smiles! Each and every fitting reaffirms how important it is to reach those who need help and to offer them a hand up.

Richard’s caring heart inspires me to never give up and to always meet others with compassion. We can all learn from the example he has set to remind others of their value and always speak up for what you believe is right.