In 1983 a group of vestibular patients and professional providers from Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon, established a support group named the “Dizziness and Balance Disorders Association of America” (DBDAA). The organizers adopted the following goals:
Health professionals connected to DBDAA wrote patient-education brochures and a 40-page book, Balancing Act (1992), to explain in ordinary language the anatomy and function of the inner ear and to describe inner-ear problems, symptoms, diagnoses, treatments, cures, and coping strategies. An expanded version of this book was published in 2001.
In 1989, a team from The Today Show conducted interviews with DBDAA board members, staff, and others in Portland. After discussion of vestibular disorders aired on the Dr. Art Ulene segment of Today, DBDAA received about 2,000 requests for information. At that point, the board hired a full-time director and decided to change the organization’s name to the Vestibular Disorders Association (VeDA) as part of its effort to make “vestibular” a household word.
VeDA has reached millions of people with information and support. In 2013 alone our website received almost 2 million visitors.
Following are some of our most celebrated milestones:
VeDA is collecting demographic information about our community to better understand the people we serve and to create a baseline for our efforts to improve our outreach and foster equity, inclusivity, and diversity.