Terp Agency Cut Out

The director of a deaf services center in Louisiana says the state is cutting out organizations specializing in working with deaf clients and giving contracts to groups that offer inferior services. David Hylan, who leads the Leonard and Betty Phillips Deaf Action Center in Shreveport, says the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf has removed his organization from two contracts it has held for nearly 30 years and given them to an organization that works, not with the deaf, but with developmentally disabled adults. In fact, Hylan says the organization awarded the contracts has come to the Deaf Action Center, looking for help in providing interpreters. Hylan blames the executive director of the commission, saying the move comes in retaliation for a grievance filed against him by five providers throughout the state. In fact, the executive director, according to Hylan has recommended that all five lose their contracts. You can read more in Hylan's opinion piece, published in the Shreveport Times here.