Adrienne “Ade” Haugen was born with severe-profound hearing loss and progressive vision loss from Usher Syndrome Type 2A. She grew up in the Iron Range and Duluth area until settling in Olivia, MN.
Ade co-founded the Minnesota Speaking DeafBlind Group with a focused outreach toward the Speaking DeafBlind adults throughout Minnesota. By subscription, the MSDBG provides resources by email, monthly teleconferences and a bi-annual retreat. She previously served three terms in the Commission and she initiated in having the word “DeafBlind” added into the Commission’s original title. She passionately participated with the integrating of main Minnesota state agencies to work together on case assignments of DeafBlind clients. In this next term her goal is advocating to increase awareness about access support to Greater Minnesota agencies and institutions that serve adults who are affected with hearing and/or vision loss.
“Never accept the word handicapped, disabled or impaired; instead, have an attitude of figuring out how to gain access to achieve!” - Adrienne Haugen
