In the 1980's & 90's, a group of deaf and hearing advocates worked together to change deaf services in Illinois. From their efforts, we created...
....the State of Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission;
....mental health services for deaf people in Illinois;
....a State-Wide Coordinator of Deaf Services for DCFS;
....a change in the way the State provided Vocational Services(DVR) for deaf people;
....interpreter referral services for deaf people;
....ARD (Addiction Recovery of the Deaf).
Many of those who worked for these changes are dead, retired, have moved, or have just gotten old (like me!). Now, there are new threats to the deaf community...
....a recent article in the "Chicago Tribune" suggested the State of Illinois could save money by not funding the State Commission for the Deaf;
....the State of Illinois planned to eliminate all funding for the State of Illinois Deaf-Blind School; this decision was changed, at least for this year;
....a group of deaf and hearing were working to pass a bill in Springfield to help pay for hearing aids. At the last minute, the legislator who was supposed to be on "our side" switched sides in favor of the insurance companies, and the bill died;
....the State of Illinois is so far behind in paying bills to deaf mental health services, that we will see a loss of mental health counseling services for the deaf beginning this summer;
....because the State of Illinois has not paid what it owes to school districts, we will see cuts to Special Education (including deaf programs) when schools open again in the Fall;
....in Washington, DC, the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) wants to cut funding for Deaf Communication needs meaning fewer interpreters for Relay calls(and longer waiting times), less VP services, reduced training for Relay interpreters, etc.
There are good, hard working deaf advocates in our community. However, many other deaf do not know the history of why we have good services now. Many deaf enjoy VP; the ability to get a sign-language interpreter for weddings, etc; counseling services. Many hearing parents of deaf children do not realize how hard we had to work to force school districts to provide for deaf students.
IF the deaf community, hearing parents of deaf children, interpreters, Special Education teachers and aides do NOT work together, then much of what we worked to achieve in the last thirty years WILL be lost in Illinois and nationally. The State Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, IAD, ITHI, IRID, WSAD,CCE,CCD, etc need to get together and develop a common agenda or we will soon return to a time (only thirty years ago) when the government ignored the deaf community and did nothing for its deaf citizens and their families.

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