The Charity
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Hands & Voices
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support for children who are deaf or hard of hearing
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13 Donors
1 Project since June, 2007
1 Active Project since June, 2007
Charity Info
Based in: Carthage, Illinois
Year founded: 1997
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Project Info
We are Hands & Voices…families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing working in collaboration with the professionals who serve us. We created our own parent-driven organization because the existing special interest groups supporting families like ours were strongly biased towards their own philosophy of communication. There was the “all deaf kids should talk” group and the “all deaf kids should sign” group, and for over 100 years they’ve been fighting the “methodology wars” that have kept our small “low incidence” numbers contentious and divided.
In 1997, a tenacious group of parents and like-minded professionals decided to try something that had never been done before: bringing everybody together on the things that unite us--like the right of our children to effectively access their education --regardless of which mode of communication they used. So we started Hands & Voices, and today it is the largest deaf/hard of hearing family support organization in the United States with chapters in over 30 states. We are comprised of signers, talkers, cuers, and total communicators in deaf and hearing families.
Hands & Voices is a national non-profit organization that is non-biased about communication methodologies. We believe that families can make the best choices for their child if they have access to good information and support. Our motto is “what makes the choice work for your child is what makes the choice right.” Through parent and professional collaboration, we are working to help all children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing receive an education where their unique mode of communication is respected, utilized, and developed to proficiency. The goal of our organization is to improve the quality of life for all of our children—however they communicate in their world.
"Communication is at the heart of everything human beings do; it defines and gives meaning to our emotions, beliefs, hopes, creativity, and life experiences. Without communication, a child is lost. The effective development, understanding, and expression of language is fundamental to any educational experience - and is particularly crucial for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing children." (Lawrence Siegel, Esquire, Director of the National Deaf Education Project).
Unfortunately, our current education system does not provide an appropriate education that recognizes the unique language and communication needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. This results in an inability to effectively access instruction. The grim statistics bear this out. The average deaf high school student graduates with reading skills at the third grade level (Bloomquist-Traxler, 2001). Our kids drop out of high school more often than their hearing peers, and have disproportionally higher levels of unemployment. Only eight percent of deaf and hard-of-hearing students graduate from college. In his book, Raising and Educating a Deaf Child, author Marc Marschark, PhD, acknowledges that “…such findings have led to the general conclusion, similar to that for reading that the average deaf 18-year-old writes on a level comparable to that of a hearing eight-year-old.” (Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2007)
Clearly, we’ve got a problem. At Hands & Voices, we’re doing something about it. We know that the strongest predictor of a deaf child’s success is the meaningful involvement of his parents, (Yoshinaga-Itano, 2002). Meaningful involvement doesn’t happen without the right preparation. It takes mentoring, training, and a sense of empowerment to partner with professionals since 90% of all parents of deaf or hard of hearing children are born to hearing people with no background in deafness or hearing loss. We have to quickly climb a steep learning curve to prepare ourselves to navigate new systems and “quality control” the experience for our children. And Hands & Voices is where families come to gain those skills. Our parent leadership training, innovative programs, and technical support to our growing membership are unparalleled and highly impactful.
We hope you will help us change the world for all kids who are deaf or hard of hearing by a donation in support of Hands & Voices.
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