PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Many important issues regarding deaf and hard of hearing people in Maine became the focus of a public meeting at the Presque Isle Career Center last month. Officials from Vocational Rehabilitation Maine and Disability Rights Maine spoke about advocacy, communication technologies and employment services. The goal was to spread awareness of these services available to the deaf community in Maine.
Several officials gave presentations on the services they offer to the many deaf or hard of hearing people who attended the Nov. 17 meeting. Terry Morrell, a member of Vocational Rehabilitation and director of the state’s Division for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened, was the first speaker. Morrell is deaf and relies on American Sign Language, ASL, to communicate. One of the many ASL interpreters present at the meeting interpreted Morrell’s presentation.
Morrell told attendees that the main goal of DDHHLD, which is under the Bureau of Rehabilitation and the Maine Department of Labor, is to help deaf people find and maintain employment.
“We’re referring to competitive jobs out in the community,” Morrell said, through his interpreter. “I also work closely with the employment advocacy program at Disability Rights Maine, located in Portland and serving statewide.”
Another mission of the DDHHLD is to educate the community about the roles that job developers and job coaches provide in deaf peoples’ lives. A job developer, he explained, helps connect a deaf person to a likely job. A job coach gives support to a deaf person who is starting a new job.
“That lessens the load on the employer to make sure the deaf person learns the job and has the support they need to lead toward that person working independently. We provide training to both potential employers, current employers, as well as deaf and/or hard of hearing employees,” Morrell said. “So therefore, even deaf people who use sign language are highly employable.”
In addition to employment services, officials discussed communication technology available to deaf or hard of hearing people. Meryl Troop of the Deaf Advocacy and Communication Access Program at Disability Rights Maine showed many adaptive phones that are free to low-income Mainers with a hearing loss. One of those phones was the Captioned Telephone.
It utilizes a relay service that causes captions to appear on the screen,” Troop said. “The person with the hearing loss can read what their communication partner is saying.”
Troop talked about several other helpful technologies available to deaf people. This includes doorbells that flash and smoke/carbon monoxide detectors that can either flash or shake a deaf person’s bed. All apartment building owners, Troop stated, are legally obligated to provide these alarm systems to any deaf tenant.
Those flashing smoke detectors are something that Morrell wishes had been in his family’s Bangor home when a fire broke out. Morrell was 13 years old at the time.
“The way that the other people in the house alerted me to the fire was pulling the covers off of me and grabbing me by my hair,” Morrell said. “I had no idea what was going on and when I opened the door to leave the room, I had no idea where the fire was because there were no alerts. I opened the door wrongly to where the fire was.”
Officials also mentioned other agencies that serve deaf Mainers including the Maine Association of the Deaf and the Public School Outreach program of the Maine Education Center for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing. The MECDHH Public School Outreach program serves deaf or hard of hearing children from birth to grade 12. Parents of deaf or hard of hearing children who want more information should contact Polly Earl, the Aroostook County PSO consultant, at 493-4527.
Deaf advocacy services was another important topic of discussion. DDHHLD provides deaf identification cards that states that a person has a hearing loss and lists their preferred communication method, which could be ASL or spoken English. This helps deaf people if a police officer pulls them over or if they need medical assistance.
“Communication access is key. They already know that,” Troop said. “It’s the hearing people who often don’t know what to do when faced with a deaf person.”
