Advocacy
Personal Advocacy
Services and ALDs
Accommodations: Needed Services, ALDs, and CART
1. When accommodations are provided, use them. Ask for FM or infrared at the
theaters. Providers need to know that the money they are spending for
accommodations are really needed and appreciated.
2. Coaching for late-deafened folks is an example of a service that can be
crucial to the success of some of us and is not provided by existing Deaf
and Hard of Hearing agencies. By working with a personal coach, a deaf/HOH
person can gain needed help with self-image problems, set reasonable goals,
determine strategies and utilize a system of accountability.
3. Needed services may also include psychological counseling and/or support
groups to help us work through the emotional aspects of living with a hidden
disability, and gain the assertiveness which is so necessary to living
successfully with hearing loss.
4. Get the most out of Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs). ALDs are
reasonable accommodations for schools and places of employment to purchase
for us. Consider requesting listening device orientation and training.
5. CART, which stands for Communications Access Realtime Translation is a
type of captioning. The system generally uses a court reporting machine and
computer to do the processing, and displays the text on a monitor or
projects it onto a screen. The Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes
CART as an assistive technology that affords "effective communication
access." To better understand the benefits of CART and how to obtain it,
follow the link to the Communication Access Information Center.
http://cartinfo.org/