State to Open D&B Center

John Mizuno

Hawaii's Governor signs bill for new center 

Hawaii's governor has signed a bill that will spend $400,000 on a deaf and blind service center. Sponsor John Mizuno says the new center will solve an on-going problem for deaf and blind residents--the creation of a centralized place to meet and share resources to replace locations that are scattered. The center will offer vocational and financial advice, counseling and audiologists.

Domestic Violence Group formed in Indianapolis

The newly formed Indiana Deaf Unity Against Domestic Violence will hold its first fundraiser this Saturday. The money raised from the 5K Walk/Run will help what may be the only organization in the state focusing on domestic violence for the deaf community. For more information you can write to one of the founders of the group at genperk@gmail.com.

Local Hero

Bank of America picks Seattle's Marilyn Smith as one of its local heroes. She started The Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS) in 1984. Watch or read an interview with her here.

Minnesota Office Shutting Down

A part of Minnesota's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Service Center is closing next month. The Department of Human Services is shutting down the Rochester service center due to budget reductions. Employees may move to the Mankato office.

100k for Agency

An Ohio deaf services agency is getting a $100,000 grant. The funds for The Hearing Speech and Deaf Center of Greater Cincinnati comes from Humana Communities Benefit’s Greater Cincinnati program. The nonprofit agency offers services in Eastgate and Mount Auburn. It plans to use the funds for a health information program.

Center in Turmoil

The future of a Philadelphia center is in question after losing its permanent director and most of its staff has quit. Services are on hold at the Center on Hearing and Deafness in West Chester after some 14 years. Board members are promising that classes in independent-living skills will go on but there is no one to teach them and the Center is more often closed than open. The director resigned after months of frighting with the board. The interim director cannot sign and has difficulty communicating with staffers, most of whom are deaf.

Hawaii Protest

Some 50 members of the deaf community gathered to demonstrate against planned budget cuts at a state Capitol hearing in Hawaii yesterday. The Deaf Services Section of the Vocational Rehabilitation serves several hundred people. The overworked staff is being cut and the offices moved to a less disirable location. The deaf services program has been in operation for a dozen years.

Signs of Hope

A rape crisis center with counseling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing has opened in Las Vegas. The Signs of Hope center will offer services 24 hours a day and payments are offered on a sliding scale. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held last week at its offices at Rock Psychological Services on McLeod Drive.

Gaming for Deaf Services

A gaming arcade will open in New Port Richey, Florida to provide funding for The Deaf Service Bureau of West Central Florida. City Commissioners agreed this week to allow the skill-based slot machines to raise money for the nonprofit. Players have to push a button to stop the spinning of the slot machine. This changes it from a game of chance to a game of skill. The most money that can ride on a spin will be 75 cents. No one under 18 will be allowed to play.

Domestic Abuse

Captain Rita Baker of Tennessee’s domestic violence division tells WSMV-TV,

"From what I understand, (the number of deaf or hard of hearing victims of
abuse) could be as much as one in two women."

Baker says she recently realized that in all of her years with the domestic violence division, she never called in a sign language interpreter.

"That tells me not that we're lucky that there's no deaf people being abused,
but quite the opposite: that these people are not getting our services, and that
was a concern to me.”

Read more here or see a video

Helping Deaf Victims of Domestic Violence

A Place of Our Own in Seattle is the nation's first transitional housing program for low-income deaf and deaf-blind women recovering from domestic violence or sexual assault. The
Program is run by Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS) which began providing services in 1986. The group says rates of domestic violence among the deaf are similar to those for the general population. The National Domestic Violence Hotline says about one in six deaf, deaf-blind or hard-of-hearing women deal with physical abuse every year. The agency has a staff of 18 and operates on an annual budget of more than a million dollars serving more than 100 clients. Besides a place to stay, ADWAS offers legal advice and a parenting program.