WGVU: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services by Shelly Irwin, October 2nd, 2019

Shelly Irwin: Let’s talk about the organization that has to do with your hearing. Director of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Deb Atwood, in the house. It’s a West Michigan organization that for now almost 25 years has been working on behalf of the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing. Let’s be informational for you, and as always we’ll let you share a way for you to get involved or seek more information. Deb Atwood, you are the Executive Director. Good morning to you!

Deb Atwood: Good morning! How are you?

Shelly: I’m doing fine. Thank you for you and certainly the organization that you represent.

Deb: Thank you for having me today.

Shelly: What is your tie to this niche?

Deb: My tie to this niche actually goes back to 2001. We were approached by, oh let’s say a state organization that wanted to know if we would foster a great nephew who was Deaf. So they contacted us. We said “okay we can do this.” They said for about a year while the mom worked on some things. And so they called us on Thursday and said “come and pick him up tomorrow at 5 o’clock.” We did that. He was nine years old. Great kid. After a year and a half he decided he wanted to be adopted and that’s where it all went.

Shelly: Hmm great. Thank you for sharing that story. How long have you been the director?

Deb: Oh, 13 years.

Shelly: Really?

Deb: Yeah!

Shelly: You could do this in your sleep!

Deb: Okay [laughing]

Shelly: Alright let’s get into the meat of our conversation. I have a recent project from the Michigan Department of Civil Rights Division on Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing showed that the state has been what? Underestimating, uh, its Deaf. Uh, so if you could kind of finish this sentence, where are we going with this? What was your response to this?

Deb: Well the Not Without Us Project is the first statewide assessment of this magnitude in three decades! Unfortunately, but we’re not going to say that.

Shelly: Wow

Deb: Yeah, it’s a great project! And it will provide lots of good information for the State and organizations like us, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. The Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland population is close to 1.5 million people. 

Shelly: So there is this, I am just going to cut in because I don’t think I finished my, uh, paragraph. What, 7.4% of Michigan’s population does identify either as Deaf, DeafBlind, or Hard of Hearing?

Deb: Absolutely! Absolutely. And of course that is not everybody. So, we know there is more out there because we have been doing this for so long.

Shelly: Yes. Let’s have you give us a little of the history of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. Are the roots in a pretty dramatic moment?

Deb: Absolutely. In 1995 a Deaf community member, Marty Jansen, was having a heart attack. His wife was laying next to him. He signed to her that he was having a heart attack. She also actually has got quite a bit of hearing loss. She called 911 by a TTY if you’re familiar with that…

Shelly: Please tell us what that is.

Deb: Yep. It’s a telecommunications device for the Deaf. But the 911 center kept hanging up on her because they thought it was prank call because they weren’t aware on their end what that was. Finally she called and used a little bit of a voice that she had and told the operator their address and they got somebody there. So, it got even worse when they went to the hospital. The hospital did not have a roster of interpreters for the Deaf. And so they finally got one interpreter. One was stuck, well I shouldn’t say stuck, but one was interpreting for hours on end. So when the word spread, it was the final straw for many.

Shelly: Oh

Deb: So, interpreters, hearing services providers, Deaf and Hard of Hearing consumers, including the Jansen’s, came together and said, “Enough is enough! We need a comprehensive, full service agency addressing the needs of our Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities.” And that’s how we got started.

Shelly: Yay! I always like to, again, hear those and share those stories. So, 25 years later, how has Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, which is your formal name right?

Deb: Yes

Shelly: How have you evolved? What do you offer West Michigan?

Deb: Well today we are, what was originally envisioned, a comprehensive, full service agency serving the needs of the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing communities. We are the sole agency in West Michigan that provides these services. I like to say that we have a program or service for everyone. No matter what the age, what the hearing status is, the demographic, most likely we have something for you.

Shelly: Let’s start with, um, American Sign Language classes.

Deb: Now those we offer, right now in Grand Rapids, Holland, Grand Haven, Big Rapids, and Ravenna to name a few.

Shelly: Nice! How about this offering of sensitivity training? Expand here.

Deb: Oh that is very cool! We call that CAST, cultural and sensitivity training. There is a lot of ethnicity training that goes on, but there is really nothing out there for those that have disabilities. So, we are trying to expand that more and more. People want to hire the Deaf. They want to communicate with the Deaf. They want Deaf as consumers. They want them as customers. So we come in for a fee and we will train you on how to interact, because the Deaf have their own culture.   

Shelly: Hmm, yeah. Thank you for that. Another big area for you is you coordinate professional American Sign Language interpreting services. We forget courts, hospitals, colleges, expand.

Deb: Absolutely. According to the ADA, anyone who is offering services like the courts, hospitals, colleges, state and county governments, mental health, they must provide an interpreter. So we do that. We have licensed interpreters in 27 counties. 

Shelly: Goodness gracious. Um, let’s talk about youth. What’s happening with your youth program? What’s its mission and what’s happening?

Deb: That’s one of the newest, well probably in the last 5 years that we have rolled out. Because a lot of these kids, actually probably about 96% of Deaf kids that are born they born to hearing parents. So hearing parents don’t really have any idea of what to do. Us as parents we want to automatically fix our kids. When they are born we want 10 toes, 10 you know fingers, so on and so forth. We want them to be perfect. But, these kiddos are perfect, they are just a little bit different. And the only difference between a Deaf kid and a hearing kids is that they can’t hear. So we expose them to positive adult role models that are Deaf. Awareness and education. It’s just great for all the kids. They are with their peers. They are with kids that they can relate to.

Shelly: Mhmm, yes. Boy, you have seasonal activities all year round. Give me an example.

Deb: Well these are for kids that are 3 to 12 years old, and also for 6th to 12th graders. We like to zone in on those teens too, because we know how much they need. So we take them to the zoo. We do ziplining. We have a signing Santa that we do every year. You know little kids, they go to the mall and they want to see Santa. Well, all those Santas just talk. Ours actually signs for these little kids. It’s really touching. It’s just one of those that tugs at your heart. And then we have summer day camps.

Shelly: And since the great majority of the youth program’s activities are off site, you work with each venue on inclusivity.

Deb: Absolutely. We do that and we educate them on how to interact appropriately with Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing consumers. Because, again, a lot of people just don’t know what to do. You know they are just kind of stand-offish, and we teach them they are people just like you. This is how you communicate with them. This is how you get near them. Their space, that type of thing.

Shelly: Yes. And talk to me a little bit about your assistive technology center. I know you have a whole program here.

Deb: Absolutely. A lot of adults, well actually and younger people today, struggle with hearing loss. So we help these families to understand how to work with that hearing loss and how to work with that loved one. Because a lot of times it’s a brand new world and they’re just frustrated. You know it’s easy for us to put on glasses, but not everyone wants to put on a hearing aid.

Shelly: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services is the topic. Executive Director, Deb Atwood with us. Obviously the resources that are offered to our community by your services are fulfilling I would hope. So, let’s talk about how we get involved with your organization, either as customers or supporters.

Deb: Oh, thank you so much for that! There is so much work still to be done. We are always looking for volunteers for our Board of Directors, board committees, youth program, volunteers for events, that type of thing. We work with a lot of local corporations and we are always open to more partnerships. We don’t receive any state or federal funding whatsoever. We receive, well, let’s back up on that. We receive no federal funding whatsoever, and just a little bit of state funding. So budgets are tight. 

Shelly: Yes, so again anyone that has a heart or knows now the needs that you have, certainly get in touch with you on how to share time, talent, and treasures. How do we find out more?

Deb: We are online at deafhhs.org. We are on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Our offices are located at 3680 44th Street in Grand Rapids. And we can be emailed at info@deafhhs.org. 

Shelly: Great! Thanks for that, and keep on doing your good work to help those in your community. Deb Atwood, take care!

Deb: Thank you!