Nonprofit Spotlight: Indiana Hands & Voices

BY ANGIE ARLINGTON

Indiana Hands & Voices is a parent-driven organization that supports families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), without a bias around communication modes or methodology.

“We provide parent-to-parent support through two programs. The Guide By Your Side™(GBYS) program supports families that start their journey when their child is identified with hearing loss. ASTra (advocacy, support and training) is designed to provide educational advocacy support to families with students navigating the special education system,” explained Mariana Barquet, GBYS and ASTra Programs Coordinator.

“Our goal is to support families while they are learning how to support their DHH child from the beginning, navigating the medical and educational systems, so that they can see their child reach their potential,” Barquet said. “Our support is completely free for all families that have a DHH child. This is possible due to the great support that we received from the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program, part of the Indiana Department of Health.”

“We are always looking to learn new ways to support families in this evolving world,” Barquet added. “We have a board of directors that is 100% volunteer which grows our mission in our state through advocacy efforts, events and direct support to families.”

Guide By Your Side™ provides emotional support and unbiased information from trained parent guides to families of children who are newly identified as DHH and to the systems that serve them.

Key Elements of the Program:

• Provides early support to parents after confirmation of hearing loss

• Offers unbiased resource dissemination about hearing loss

• Provides Emotional support from another parent who “understands”

• Facilitates creation of a Guided Family Notebook

• Ensures smooth entrance into early intervention and medical services

• Offers the opportunity for continued support through the Indiana Hands & Voices Chapter

Advocacy, Support, and Training (ASTra) Program

Many families struggle in their attempts to improve educational programs for their children, and the support they find is usually

not experienced with the unique issues facing DHH students. Hands & Voices is often asked to provide educational advocacy support to families (and professionals) who have questions about special education law and its applicability to DHH students.

Hands & Voices has a great team of trained parents that are ready to provide different levels of support for families that want to become strong advocates and help their children reach their full potential.

To reach out to them and learn more about their events go to www.inhv.org