In a famous scene from the "The Miracle Worker," Helen
Keller suddenly discovers order in a world that she can neither
see nor hear when she realizes there is meaning in the shapes
her teacher has taught her to make with her fingers.
Helen makes this connection as water from an outdoor pump gushes
over her hands while her teacher is, once again, patiently helping
her fingers form the shapes that spell W-A-T-E-R. Ecstatic, Helen
races from object to object to object, demanding that her teacher
fingerspell their names for her.
It’s an electrifying theatrical moment and one that helps the
audience quickly grasp how isolating blindness and deafness can
be.
Only a relatively small number of people are both blind and deaf.
But isolation is a serious problem for people with even just one
of those disabilities. As someone who has been deaf since birth
and who did not learn American Sign Language until leaving home
to attend Gallaudet College, I can speak about this isolation
from personal experience.
As director of the New Jersey Division of the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing (DDHH), which is part of the state Department of Human
Services, my mission is to help end such isolation for the estimated
720,000 people of all ages in this state who have a serious degree
of hearing loss.
Since stepping into my job last July, I’ve embraced this mission
wholeheartedly. Now, I want to invite you to help me by attending
a forum the Division is hosting on Jan. 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. at
the Cranford campus of Union County College.
Through the forum, we hope to learn more about the concerns of
people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as gather suggestions
about how we can help make things better. We welcome not only
people with hearing loss, but also family members, advocates,
educators, health professional and any other interested people.
With a staff of seven, the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
is small but focused. We exist to advocate for people who are
deaf or hard of hearing and to help them gain access to programs,
services and information that are routinely, and often much more
easily, available to people with normal hearing.
In the past, we were mainly involved in trying to improve employment
and vocational opportunities, and we continue to work closely
with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Increasingly,
however, we are tackling a host of social, legal, medical, education
and recreational issues.
Today, the growing number of ways we assist the deaf and hard
of hearing include:
- operating an information and referral Toll Free Line (1-800-792-8339
- Voice/TTY) that last year responded to almost 8,000
requests for assistance;
- administering New Jersey’s primary sign language interpreter
referral service;
- distributing a monthly newsletter that covers issues important
to the deaf and hard of hearing;
- funding a loan program so that people who are deaf or hard
of hearing can borrow assistive listening devices from libraries
in Montclair, Piscataway, Toms River, Whippany, Mullica Hill
and Trenton;
- advocating on behalf of legislation and programs, such as
a program for screening all newborns for hearing loss that is
scheduled to begin this month, or the continuing need for more
closed captioning on television and movies;
- developing a site (scheduled to open in March) at the Joseph
Kohn Rehabilitation Center in New Brunswick where assistive
listening devices will be on display for hands-on demonstration;
- meeting with groups and individuals to provide information
and discuss the needs and rights of people who are deaf and
hard of hearing; and
- working closely with the New Jersey Department of Education
and local school districts on issues affecting children with
hearing loss.
The Division continues to seek ways to help end the isolation
of people with hearing loss. You can help by bringing your ideas
to the forum on Jan. 17 at Union County College in Cranford. If
you can’t join us there, please call 1-800-792-8339 (V/TTY) for
information on forums to be scheduled later in the year. I look
forward to hearing from you.
