State of the State, Collaborative Plan (2025-2030), CEASD, aging task force, accessible prescription labels, and more
5/21/2025 8:19:29 AM
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Hello everyone! My name is Darlene Zangara and I’m the executive director of the Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing.
I will start with a visual description of myself. I am a white woman with blonde hair, glasses, and wearing a black shirt.
I’ll update you about some of the things my team and I have been working on these recent months.
The Commission would like to recognize the crew of TPT Twin Cities PBS engineering, technology, and marketing teams and interpreters Nic Zapko and Patty McCutcheon from Keystone Interpreting Solutions for their work at making the 2025 State of the State address accessible for Minnesota’ deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing audience. The Legislative Coordinating Commission and the Governor’s Office were essential partners in this collaboration. The Governor’s speech was streamed live, with ASL and captions, on TPT’s Almanac at the Capitol on April 23, 2025. If you missed the live event, you can catch the recording on TPT.
The Collaborative Plan is a network of agencies, schools, and organizations that work together to create positive, systemic changes to achieve better education and career outcomes for students who are deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing.
In 2018, the Commission researched the needs and gaps in serving deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing children ages 0-22 and their families. This resulted in a list of identified strategic issues and action steps to work on from 2019-2024. A lot has changed since then, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is now time to follow up on the five-year plan and find out if these issues are still essential and if there are any new action steps we need to pursue.
Last fall, the Commission hired Wilder Research Center to develop a new five-year Collaborative Plan for 2025-2030.
We completed a statewide survey during the Collaborative Experience Conference in November. In January, we hosted interviews and focus group meetings with approximately 60 professionals and parents. Then on May 8th, the Commission hosted a statewide summit with over 50 professionals and parents. Together, we will finalize the priorities.
The summary of the report will be completed in July 2025.
Danelle attended the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD) in Pittsburgh, PA, from April 9–12. CEASD advocates for individuals on the national level by working with government agencies to influence educational policy and implement federal legislation.
This year's conference featured a range of topics focused on building connections that transform deaf education, exploring the meaning of the Least Restrictive Environment for deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing students, and examining how the current political climate impacts special education, among others.
Looking ahead, the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (MSAD) will have the honor of hosting the 2026 CEASD conference at Mall of America (specifically the Radisson Blu) from April 22–24, 2026. We look forward to welcoming more Minnesota educators to this important event.
Danelle and the Commission team continue to monitor the political climate with the federal education department. As of this filming, there have been no changes to the Minnesota's Early Hearing Detection Intervention and Minnesota Department of Education DHH Program. We will keep you informed of any upcoming changes within Minnesota's educational system for deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing students.
Last year, the Commission provided a presentation with recommendations to the Legislative Task Force on Aging.
In January 2025, the task force submitted a final report to the legislature with recommendations on how to support an aging population in Minnesota. We are pleased to share that our recommendations were included in the report.
The recommendations include:
We have a lot of work to do but we are happy these recommendations have been recognized and are included in this report. Once implemented, these will make a difference for aging Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing and their loved ones.
The report is available online at the Legislative Reference Library.
The Commission’s government relations director, Alicia Lane, worked with legislators and pharmacy representatives to agree upon requirements for providing accessible prescription labels. Those requirements for Braille, large print, and audible labels are now law and in the process of being implemented.
For Braille and large print labels, the Minnesota Department of Health has updated its list of pharmacies offering Braille and large print labels.
For audible labels, MDH did an assessment and has published their final report. Key takeaways from the report include:
Learn more about accessible prescription labels online.
Anne Sittner Anderson is gathering stories, photos, and video about the Commission, community advocacy, and deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing history during the Commission’s 40 years of existence. We have gathered a lot of great stories over the years, and they are available on the Commission’s history section on the website but we know there are stories missing. If you know anyone who should be interviewed or if you would like to be interviewed, please let Anne know!
Here are pictures of recent events.
Did you know that Commission staff frequently provide workshops and presentations to state agencies, community organizations, and nonprofits? We are available to present on topics such as legislation, how to meet your legislator, voting 101, accessibility, and other deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing issues. If you would like for us to present on a topic, let me know.
My door is always open. Please contact me anytime you would like to discuss deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing issues in Minnesota. Thank you!
Featuring Dr. Darlene G. Zangara, Executive Director. The Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing thanks:
Hannah Merren for voiceover.
Keystone Interpreting Solutions for film production
