Deaf Access Simcoe Muskoka was founded in 1984 (under the name Huronia Association for the Advancement of the Hearing Impaired Inc.) after it was recognized that the needs of deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals in Simcoe County were not being met. The organization was set up with the help of a Canada Works Grant and the hard work of staff and volunteers. Such determination and accomplishment led to eventual funding from United Way and the Ministry of Health.
Values
- The right to individual privacy and self-determination
- The right to equity and communication access to participate in our community
- The provision of programs and services to ensure equity
Programs
American Sign Language (ASL)/English Interpreters
are available to facilitate communication between hearing and culturally Deaf people. We receive request for this service in a variety of settings including medical and mental health appointments, workplace interviews, educational settings and legal situations.
General Support Services
assists with short term councselling and referral for individuals to locate affordable housing, order and purchase technical devices, access government offices, complete forms, brdiging English challenges and identifying community resources.
Employment Services
assist culturally Deaf, oral deaf, deafened or hard of hearing persons in their search for employment. We determine their job preferences and skills, and then assist them with preparation of their resume and cover letters, as well as identify potential employers. In addition, we support individuals who may be experiencing hardships in current jobs.
American Sign Language
instruction is based on the Signing Naturally curriculum and is offered at a variety of levels, depending on the demand. the introductory course is 36 hours in length and a certificate is awarded to successful candidates. Our instructors are culturally Deaf and first language users of ASL.
Advocacy and Communication Accessibility Education
is an important part of our services. We intervene and provide assistance those who face inequitable barriers in the community due to their hearing loss. We educate the community on how to be accessible to individuals and how to provid proper accomodation. We work with public and emergency services to by TTY accessible and improve their TTY service.
Other services include:
- Information/Resouces and referral service
- Message relay assistance
People with a hearing loss may identify themselves as:
Deaf
This term is generally used by individuals who have been deaf since birth or prelingually deaf. They have a severe to profound hearing loss with little or no residual hearing. They may uses speeck to communicate with the help of hearing aids, technical devices or cochlear implants, speech reading and/or sign language.
Culturally Deaf
This term is used by individuals who identify with and participate in the language, culture and community of Deaf people based on sign language. Most of these individuals have a severe to profound hearing loss.
Deafened or Late-Deafened
These terms are used by individuals who have developed language skills prior to gradually or suddenly losing their hearing. Generally, deafened people do not identify themselves with the culturally deaf community. They have a greater connection to the hearing community and communicate with visual supports such as speech reading, print or captioning.
Hard of Hearing
This term is generally used by individuals with a mild to severe loss. Many hard of hearing people can understand some speech with or withoug a hearing aid/s. Many of these individuals supplement thier residual hearing with speech reading, visual aids, hearing adis and technical devices. Although they mainly communicate by speech, some hard of hearing people also use sign language.
TTY tipsA TTY is a special device available as a stand alone and also specialized through computer equipment that allows culturally Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals to communicate on the telephone. Both parties having a TTY allows for a direct one to one coversation.
For those who do not have a TTY, they may contact Bell Relay Service (BRS). If you call (800) 855-0511, a BRS operator will type out what you wish to say to the TTY user and read what is typed back. For TTY users, 711 is dialed to access BRS.
Appropriate TTY etiquette dictates the use of some abbreviations. Two of the most common are "GA" for Go Ahead to indicate it is the other person's turn and "SK" for Stop Keying to indicate the call is complete.
