REGIONAL NEWS
Region I
BY MICHELLE CLINE & STEVE LOVI
Region I covers 13 states and the District of Columbia. While it has been a bit cold in recent months – we’ve had plenty of action behind the scenes in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states! Legislatively – there are several states that are very busy with bills in their states. Virginia faced challenges in passing a favorable language acquisition bill and preventing an unfavorable version, but have been able to postpone any bill until there is agreement among all groups. At the time of this article, the Pennsylvania legislature was seriously considering a bill that would establish permanent funding for SSPs to provide services to the state’s DeafBlind constituents. Vermont was working on passing S162 that calls for a state commission, and the support for this seems promising.
Region II
New England welcomes you to the NAD’s upcoming biennial conference in Hartford this July. New England is so excited to show their hospitality! Start planning your trip and join our celebration of 200 years of deaf education and our local/state/national advocacy efforts.
BY LINSAY DARNALL, JR. & RICHARD McCOWIN
State Associations in our region continue to be involved in various issues and we have seen an increase in people sharing videos online. Online videos allow our community to share issues and information, especially through ASL. The most trending issue in our region is LEAD-K, as most State Associations want to have a LEAD-K bill in their state. Deaf advocates in South Dakota celebrated in January the defeat of SB 109 which would have repealed the licensing requirements for interpreters for the deaf. Fortunately, licensure is still required for all interpreters.
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Other states are working on ensuring communication accessibility within their state commission and state agencies providing services for deaf and hard of hearing people. One example is to develop more ASL resources for the state’s programs and services. Another example is getting the state’s emergency services to establish text to 9-1-1 services.
Illinois Association of the Deaf is fighting against oppression and audism at the Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD). Deaf culture and ASL is not valued at ISD; advocacy work is ongoing to restore them. Richard’s term as Region II Representative will end at the NAD Conference in Hartford, Connecticut this July. If any of you are interested in running for the 2018-2022 Region II Representative position, please contact Linsay, Jr. or Richard.
