DC Council funds Office of Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing
Alex (Daily Moth): The DC Association of the Deaf announced on Monday that the Council of DC approved a fiscal year 2022 budget that includes full funding for the new Office of the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing (ODBH) beginning October 1st.
The DCAD has worked for two years in partnership with local deaf-related organizations to push for the establishment of such an office to make DC have something in line with other state organizations or commissions on deaf and hard of hearing people. The Council of DC unanimously passed a bill to establish the ODBH last year, and now it is funded.
Here is a video from Sean Maiwald, DCAD President and one of the authors of the bill that establishes the ODBH.
[Video clip 1]
Sean Maiwald:
The office will work closely with the mayor and report directly to them. This means we will have easy and quick access rather than going trying to call or email them. It’s more direct and we’re “in” the government and we provide access to the community. What does the office look like? The budget is about $800,000 per year. It includes five staff: the director, deputy director, policy director, ASL interpreter, and a staff assistant. We will also work closely with the DC Council on budget, passing laws, and any needed adjustments as some years may require different amounts. It is really important to have an office in DC and also it has cultural significance because there are many deaf people in DC, so more access and attention is needed for deaf people. I’m really excited about this office. It’ll begin October 1st. We’ll look for a director and other staff. So, we’re really excited!
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Alex: Sean will explain three major factors that influenced deaf activists to really push for the establishment of the ODBH.
[Video clip 2]
Sean Maiwald:
We recognized that there were many issues in DC. There are three key areas. The first is employment in DC. There are many federal employees and they have great accessibility, but in the DC government, there is almost nothing. If you want to work in DC, it’s generally tough. The second area is education and early intervention. In DC, it’s one of the worst in the U.S. Deaf people’s graduation rates are very low. We’re at 50th out of 52. That’s horrible. For B.A. degree graduates, we’re at 52nd place out of 52 for those who grew up in DC. That’s horrible and unacceptable. So I really want to change that. For early intervention, it’s very serious because almost no parents receive services or programs from the DC government. No access to language or communication support system. The third area is accessibility. Access to interpreting, to captioning on DC government’s announcements — we want to make sure it’s accessible. Also, for DeafBlind people, there are no programs that support them. So we agreed that we needed to establish this office. The concept for this office came mostly from Maryland and Kelby Brick’s work in passing laws and leading the office for deaf and hard of hearing under the governor. I thought it was an awesome model and we drew from that to establish this office.
Alex: Thank you for your time and explaining, Sean. We see that people in DC were inspired by the Maryland Governor’s Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
DC has one of the largest deaf and hard of hearing populations in the U.S. Congratulations to the DC deaf community and to the Council of DC for making this happen.