About Mitch Shapiro

About Mitch

Mitch Shapiro founded Help America Hear Inc., a 501c3 not-for-profit organization established in 2004, and is a motivational speaker. When Mitch was diagnosed with Usher’s Syndrome (deaf-blindness), he could have declared his life over and let others take care of him since, as the disease progressed, Mitch would be completely deaf and blind, but he didn’t give up. 

Mitch spent 25 years working in the family restaurant catering business while developing a majestic landscape at one of them. After leaving this business, he volunteered for nine years for a national eye research organization. He helped raise over a million dollars for medical research and development before starting his charity. Although Mitch promotes studying the causes of hearing and vision loss, he believes in helping the community through a more hands-on approach. Due to this vision, he developed the Foundation for Sight & Sound, which in 2019 became Help America Hear,  striving to improve the quality of life for the hearing-challenged community. The organization’s most prominent venture is the Help America Hear Program, a national program that provides hearing aids to men, women, and children of low-income backgrounds.  Help America Hear also provides scholarships for hard-of-hearing high school seniors heading to college. 

As a motivational speaker, Mitch shares a thought-provoking story through an interactive presentation, motivating others to move forward. His interactive program helps audience participants to develop sensitivity to others by having them experience his world of limited sight and sound, leading to explorations of health, teamwork, understanding the needs of customers and building relations, and overcoming procrastination. Mitch believes we must follow our dreams, challenge ourselves to do it all, and be the best we can be. To prove his point, Mitch challenges himself to do things many people can’t imagine doing, such as zip lining, rappelling down 6 & 12-story buildings, riding a tandem bike long distances, kayaking, and most of all, doing Stand UP comedy!