Maine Center on Deafness

Filing Period

Jul 1, 2011 to Jun 30, 2012

Signed

May 15, 2013

Return Version

2011v1.5

Gross Receipts

$728,038

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Civil rights program: during the 2012 fiscal year our advocacy staff fielded hundreds of phone calls, tty calls, calls made via the telecommunications relay system, e-mails and walk-in client visits. The program received at least 400 referrals during the fiscal year, although it is possible that there others that were undocumented due to the brevity of the interaction. Over 20 new cases were opened with over 30 continuing from the previous fiscal year. Mcd's total caseload exceeded 50 cases. Maine center on deafness's major accomplishments in fiscal year 2012 were: proving information and advocacy to over 400 persons relating to civil rights for d/hh/ld people; participating in systemic advocacy on behalf of maine's d/hh/ld persons; providing training to emergency responders on appropriate interactions with d/hh/ld people; providing information and advocacy support to families needing special education assistance; providing information and advocacy support to high school students transitioning to adulthood; hosting meetings for american sign language users twice a month in various locations around the state; hosting quarterly meetings of the deaf rights group, a cross-agency collaboration providing systemic advocacy to d/hh/ld individuals; providing information to the maine legislature on bills relating to d/hh/ld issues and civil rights; participating in the maine employment lawyers association; distributed monthly newsletter and weekly e-mail bulletins including articles on civil rights issues affecting d/hh/ld individuals; holding workshops on civil rights issues at an annual conference for d/hh/ld service providers; and ; participating in quarterly meetings of the commission for the deaf, hard-of-hearing and late-deafened.

Activity 3

Hamilton relay services: many of the clients served through mcd's equipment program use equipment that depends on access to maine's telecommunications relay service (mers). The relay service utilizes the skills of 'communication assistants' (ca who facilitate phone calls between people using two different types of phone equipment. An example would be a deaf person using a tty or videophone making a phone call to order a pizza; chances are the pizza parlor will not have a tty or videophone ready to answer the call; therefore the deaf person makes the call through the relay service. Everything the deaf person types or signs is then voiced by the ca to the pizza parlor staff. Voiced responses are then typed or signed by the ca back to the deaf person. The relay service ensures that the deaf person has equal access to the phone line and is not limited in their calling access. Hamilton relay also offers a variety of additional relay services including: speech-to speech (sts), voice carry over (vco) hearing carry over (hco), spanish relay and captioned telephone relay - all of which are included in the outreach presentations. Unfortunately, many relay callers find that their calls are rejected by businesses, doctors, and other entities that do not understand the relay service or the ada that mandates they respond to those calls as they would any other call. Mcd is under contract with maine's current relay service provider, hamilton relay, to deliver educational and outreach trainings and materials throughout the state of maine in an effort to reduce the misunderstanding and mishandling of relay calls. Mcd has given presentations to hospital staff, university administrators, college audiology classes, various agency staff/manager meetings and several maine career centers. Outreach staff has made visits to medical providers such as ents, audiologists, assisted living facilities to both staff and residents, and others who tend to work with populations requiring relay-dependent equipment. Mcd conducts outreach efforts at various events and community health fairs, as well as to applicable town offices and governmental agencies. In addition to chamber of commerce mailings, we also utilize the mcd website and newsletters to promote awareness of issues connected to the relay service. Thousands of people are exposed to these messages over the course of a year.

Filer

EIN

01-0416755