Hi!
Today's Vlog highlights the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, also known
as MCDHH.
MCDHH is dedicated to supporting the Deaf, Interpreting, and Business communities throughout
Missouri.
Most know MCDHH for providing sign language interpreter testing, hosting the annual conference,
or organizing Deaf events.
But MCDHH does a lot more than that.
And we have Jessica here today from MCDHH who is an interpreter certification specialist,
and she's going to explain more about what MCDHH does.
Jessica, thank you for being here with us today.
Thank you for having me.
I'm thrilled to be here.
Aside from interpreter testing and the annual conference, what other things does MCDHH do?
We do a great deal of advocacy.
We provide support specialists, advise the community about hearing aids, and propose
things like the SSP bill.
We provide information about accessibility rights, 911 texting, and present bills to
the state government.
We are generally involved in community advocacy.
Additionally, we gather workshop information and administer it to local interpreters.
We process CEUs.
And we organize events for the conference.
These are the primary goals of MCDHH.
But we also partner with other organizations to assist if they need advocacy support or
referrals for parents with Deaf children.
Really there's a huge list of things we do and there's a lot going on even now.
If you want more information, I'd be happy to provide it.
What I like about MCDHH is when you come to them with a problem they actually spend a
lot of time considering any concerns with an open mind.
And I feel like whenever they solve problems they're able to do that equitably.
And that's something that's really great for anyone that you're doing advocacy for.
So consumers reach out to MCDHH for various reasons and various concerns, and MCDHH in
turn advocates for them.
Yes, we do have a lot of involvement in advocacy.
One recently established program is the MO visor cards with the local police department.
Through the years, there have been issues with Deaf drivers who are pulled over for
a routine traffic stop.
But communication with the officer is a challenge.
In the past, we had a different card.
I don't know if you remember.
They said "ADA" on them along with other details about "requesting an interpreter."
When officers would look at this, they didn't understand what an interpreter was or why
they were requested.
These cards were really unhelpful.
Many people contacted us to let us know their concerns about this failure in the system.
So after much debate, we decided to create a new type of visor card with pictures.
We successfully implemented them and then went to police departments and MO Hwy Patrol
to provide training.
We educated about the cards and about Deaf culture so when officers encounter someone
who is Deaf or hard of hearing they will have some background and understanding of how to
approach them.
After the training we passed out the visor cards to the community.
So here you can see what the pictures look like.
Once the front is shown to the officer, then they can read the back to understand what
each picture means.
The officer can point to a picture indicating why the driver was pulled over.
Then the driver can comfortably pull out their license and registration without the officer
being afraid they are reaching for a weapon.
When we distribute the cards, we inform the Deaf person they should place it in or above
their sun visor.
This is of course why the handout is called a "visor card."
The purpose of this is for easy retrieval.
Once the officer has established communication, they can safely take the license and registration
from the driver.
It's been very successful.
Now we've been trying to provide the training in more rural areas.
We are expanding our reach since we have completed training in the larger cities.
Several out-of-state Deaf people have heard about our visor cards and contact us with
interest in having it in their state.
We tell them the cards are set up for MO only, but they can contact their Deaf and Hard of
Hearing commission about them.
So we've begun partnering with other states to expand our advocacy.
That's great.
So you've worked at MCDHH for a little while now, and MCDHH also looks on passing bills.
What was one bill that MCDHH has dedicated to passing, and how long does that take?
Yes, we are excited about one bill in particular.
We began writing the bill in 2015 and it is for SSPs.
Service Support Providers lead someone who is deafblind and allow for access to information
that is otherwise inaccessible to them.
This year we proposed the bill again, and it was passed!
This means now someone who is deafblind can get support from an SSP.
Also, SSPs can now get paid for their work and recognized for their work.
More training can be provided for SSPs to be more accessible in the deafblind community
and community as a whole.
There are several other bills, four other bills we have proposed but have not gone through.
But don't worry; we plan to propose them again in the future.
We are continuing to try to push them through.
If you're curious, feel free to contact MCDHH for more information about these bills.
And going back to the SSP bill.
What does an SSP actually do for a DeafBlind person?
And then how long did it take for that bill to pass?
You said 2 years?
An SSP is a Service Support Provider.
Their role is to support someone who is DeafBlind.
For example, when they go into a store, how do they know where to go?
Well, the SSP's responsibility is to lead them through explaining what the story layout
is and what it looks like.
They also describe to them what is written on packaging and signs through tactile sign
language.
This is how most DeafBlind people communicate.
So the SSP can explain the environment around them through this method.
Another wonderful example is when a DeafBlind person goes into a restaurant.
To place their order, first they may get a menu in braille.
Once they've chosen, the server may still be unable to understand their order choice.
This is where the SSP comes into play.
The SSP interprets how much food costs, what the restaurant looks like, and when to order.
Their goal is to give the DeafBlind person as much independence and empowerment as possible.
They only lead the person when necessary and communicate the setting.
Then the DeafBlind person can make choices for themselves.
So the SSP makes sure all is communicated so interactions and experiences can have smooth
outcomes.
Really there is a huge list of examples, but those are just two primary ones.
How can the Deaf, Hearing, and Interpreter community support MCDHH?
What a great question!
I can make suggests for each community.
One great example is getting involved in our Legislative Day.
We recently hosted this.
For the Deaf community who wants to know about it, we first create a promotional video in
sign language about the Legislative Day.
I give an explanation about what it is and when it will occur.
And then we show me on the screen sharing how to meet your state senator and who your
senator is.
We explain who our representatives are and who our other legislators are.
We also include a contact list on our website.
If you are unable to attend that day, you can record a video of you signing, send written
text, or call us on the video phone to make legislation suggestions.
If using the video phone, we keep track of what you say.
We gather all the information and suggestions, and then we take those to our representatives.
This is a great way for Deaf who use sign language to make suggestions.
For the hard of hearing community, people who may not use sign language or feel comfortable
making a video, you can contact us through email or Facebook.
We gather this information as well and present it to our representatives.
Facebook is one media of communication that's really taken off!
Often times, people can't attend our Legislative Day but they still want to offer their support
and be involved.
Through Facebook, we can now show LIVE video of the day.
This year was the first time we used it, and it seemed to work well.
People were able to comment on the video LIVE so we could gather their comments.
And then after Legislative Day, we took the suggestions from the LIVE feed to representatives
and legislators.
We could then explain people's concerns and questions.
And this worked great for us!
For the hearing community, you can also view us on Twitter.
This has become very popular as well as Facebook.
We post about many issues and events and many people share our posts.
For example, an interpreter may know someone who knows nothing about the Deaf community
or sign language.
They can then share information with this person.
So our information really spreads.
It has become a great way for people to show their support of MCDHH and our ambitions through
sharing.
So many people don't realize that MCDHH has a wealth of information.
You guys do Vlogs, you have PDFs, you have the regularly released E-News.
Where can someone access all this information?
Yes, that's a great question.
Recently our website has been going through a renovation.
This is been one of the state's goals.
So now we are trying to make it more user friendly.
Now when you open our website, you will see the E-News right on the front page first thing.
You will also see on the top menu we have options such as resources, certification,
and more.
You can click on what you are interested in for more information.
You will notice everything is expandable.
Instead of being inundated by information right off, you will see a clean page with
clickable information.
Once clicked, it will expand.
We have also added more content that is in sign language.
Everything is more visually friendly.
We share a lot of content on Facebook and Twitter.
Often people contact us curious about why they are not seeing MCDHH videos and content
on their feed.
So what you need to do is click default in your settings on social media.
Many times people "like" our page, but they forget to "follow" us.
Following us is really how to get us on your feed.
So if you make us a default in your settings, you will see our posts first thing in your
feed.
That's often the issue.
People don't realize they need to follow us first to get our content.
We also post a lot on Twitter.
One of our primary posts is our E-News.
We offer it in PDF as well as Word so it is accessible to DeafBlind people who rely on
tactile communication.
We also send an email with our E-News to anyone on our ListServe.
If you'd like to connect with us through any of these medias, contact us and we can
explain their accessibility for anyone.
Thank you, Jessica, for meeting with us and sharing so much information about MCDHH.
So sign up for the MCDHH Missouri Communicator, like them on Facebook, or subscribe to their
YouTube channel.
And you can watch more of their Vlogs at the link below.
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