MCDHH: Making a Difference

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For 25 years the Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans (MCDHH) has worked with community advocates and legislators to create some of the strongest public policies and programs in the United States for children and adults who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind. Our founders hoped that MCDHH would be able to do what no single organization or individual had been able to accomplish. They crafted legislation that designated MCDHH “as the principal agency of the state to advocate on behalf of Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing by working to ensure those persons have equal access to the services, programs, and opportunities available to others.” (MS256c.28)

Today we have vibrant civically engaged communities who have worked to overcome many of the communication barriers that people who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind face. Over the years MCDHH has issued alerts, convened meetings, lobbied members of the House and Senate, participated in rulemaking, organized testimony, provided nonpartisan voter mobilization, advocacy training, and rallied editorial support. This has led to measurable improvements in education, employment, access to health care, transportation, public facilities and the political process. Some examples are listed below.

EDUCATION

The commission led the charge to get legislation passed that set competency standards in sign language proficiency for interpreters and teachers, required that outcomes for children who are deaf and hard of hearing be reported to legislators, and created an Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Coordinator position within the Minnesota Department of Education for babies and children who are newly identified with hearing loss. We added the American National Standards Institute’s Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools (Parts 1 and 2) to the criteria for new school construction for schools in Minnesota.

HEALTH CARE

Our initiatives have increased funds for community supports for children and adults who are deafblind, passed a health insurance mandate for hearing aids for children who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing, specialized mental health programs for adults, mental health assessments for children who are deaf and hard of hearing in Greater Minnesota, a hearing screening mandate for infants, funds for Parent Guides and Deaf Mentors and a Hearing Aid Loaner Bank for children newly identified with hearing loss and persuaded the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to recognize that people who are deaf and hard of hearing experience health disparities that are as significant as those experienced by people of color. We created educational H1N1 Videos in ASL.

EMPLOYMENT

We helped to obtain funds for the Minnesota Employment Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the only specialized job placement program in Minnesota and obtained funds for a transition program for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing youth that has a 95% success rate of getting kids employed. We also advocated for legislation that created a waiver so qualified drivers who are deaf are able to drive commercial vehicles and Type III Bus Vehicles within Minnesota. We have participated in rulemaking for eligibility and services for Vocational Rehabilitation, State Services for the Blind and co-convened groups that identified barriers to employment and proposed solutions to

overcome the barriers with DEED and with the Minnesota Employment Policy Initiative.

TECHNOLOGY ACCESS

MCDHH took the lead with the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities and State Services for the Blind in the passage of legislation that created Level AA Web Content Access Guideline Standards and 508 standards for all state websites, hardware and software. This is the strongest accessibility standard in the country. Disability advocates and state agency chief information officers worked side by side to create these standards. We provide technical assistance for implementation of the law and created an online course “Video Captioning Essentials” that explains how to caption online content. We were also part of the NextGen 911 committee and ensured that the state’s conversion from analog to digital 911 services will be accessible to people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

We sponsored legislation that covers the cost of captioning of live webcasts of legislative sessions and committee hearings, centralized requests for interpreters and CART services at state caucuses and a law that requires that candidates for political office who receive funds from the public finance agency caption their TV and online ads. Since 2001 we have conducted voter outreach in collaboration with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Minnesota Participation Project with foundation support and the Office of the Secretary of State and the first ever DeafBlind Vote Ride. We have provided Census outreach by creating promotional and educational videos in ASL. We have created two educational videos with Digiterp on voter registration in ASL.

PUBLIC ACCESS

We advocated for passage of a funds from the Telecommunications Access Fund that provides real-time captioning of live news broadcasts in four cities in Greater Minnesota and on public television. We have worked together with the Metropolitan Airports Commission to develop and implement a plan that will make the MSP Airports the most accessible and safe for people who are deaf and hard of hearing in the country.

ADVOCACY TRAINING

We hold biannual Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind Lobby Days at the Minnesota Capitol and advocacy training. Over 600 people attended 2009’s rally and 200 attended the training. The demand for training was greater than the capacity of staff to serve. This year the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities gave us permission to adapt their online trademarked course “Making Your Case” for people who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind in American Sign Language and English. It is the first online course in ASL in the U.S. and teaches people how to influence public policy on a state, local and regional level.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION

We successfully obtained funds from the Minnesota Digital Library and are currently working on a project with the Minnesota Association of the Deaf and Thompson Hall to digitalize historically significant documents. We have also received funds from the Minnesota Historical Society Legacy Grants for the Oral/ Signing History Project to have students who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing record the histories of leaders in the deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind communities; most of these stories will be in American Sign Language.

None of MCDHH’s work is done alone. MCDHH’s success has been possible only through establishing and maintaining long-term trusting relationships with deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind leaders, family members, individual nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, other state agencies, public officials, members of the press, students and researchers and academics. These partners are listed in the body of this report.

We are currently have taken a leadership role in the review of licensure of teachers who are deaf and hard of hearing, rulemaking for State Services for the Blind, the development of a comprehensive Website on Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, and a website on licensure for teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students.

Support for MCDHH from Minnesota’s taxpayers and foundations has made possible a level of advocacy and creativity that MCDHH’s founders hoped one day to achieve. What was once a dream has become a reality. On behalf of MCDHH’s Governor appointed Commission Members, staff and membership, we thank everyone who has been a part of these first 25 years, especially our founders, former Commission members, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division of DHS and their Regional Advisory Councils, staff and chief authors and partners and authors of MCDHH sponsored legislation.

The world needs more of what people who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing have to contribute. The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans is humbled and grateful to have had the opportunity to do this work. We look forward to the challenges the future holds and to continue to advocate for the civil rights of people who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind.