Human Services

Deaf & Hard Of Hearing Grants

Statewide Outcome(s):

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Grants supports the following statewide outcome(s).

Strong and stable families and communities.

Context:

Hearing loss occurs at all stages of life. Three out of every 1,000 newborns have hearing loss. Two-thirds of seniors over age 75 have hearing loss. In Minnesota, between 530,000 and 742,000 people are estimated to have some degree of hearing loss. Of those, about 15% are deaf and as many as 1,600 individuals are deafblind. The impact of hearing loss on each individual is unique, depending on the degree and type of hearing loss.  Isolation, loss of meaningful communication, diminished independence and misdiagnosis of mental health issues are common effects of hearing loss. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services grants assist Minnesotans of all ages who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing with communication access and other supports they need to be involved in their families and communities.

The purpose of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Grants is to provide statewide services that enable at-risk Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing to gain and maintain the ability to live independently and participate in their families and communities. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Grants supported 18,800 people in state fiscal year 2011.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing grants are primarily funded by the state’s general fund. Additional funding for real-time television captioning grants is provided through a fee assessed on phone bills and collected by the Department of Commerce. (DHS is not able to count the number of television viewers who use captioning.)

More information about other programs and services provided in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division is available at https://edocs.dhs.state.mn.us/lfserver/Public/DHS-6573-ENG.

Strategies:

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Grants provide services that enable deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing Minnesotans to live in their communities.  Services provided include:

·         Sign language interpreter referral and interpreter-related services that allow Minnesotans who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind to access emergency core services such as courts, medical care, mental health services, and law enforcement.  

·         Deafblind grants to support adults who are both deaf and blind so they can live independently and stay in their own homes.

·         Specialized mental health services that provide linguistically and culturally appropriate services including home-based outreach supports, a drop-in center, inpatient therapy, outpatient therapy, family counseling, and educational opportunities for families, schools, and mental health providers. A peer support program is being developed for individuals who are deaf and have a serious mental illness.

·         Mentors who work with families that have children with hearing loss to develop the family’s communication competence, including use of American Sign Language.

·         Real-time television captioning grants to allow consumers in greater Minnesota who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing to have access to live local news programming from some television stations.

DHS partners with statewide community providers, mental health professionals, local television stations and the Department of Commerce to provide services.

Results:

Consumers of deaf and hard of hearing grant-funded services are surveyed to measure satisfaction with the quality and timeliness of services.  Consumers have reported increasing satisfaction with services received.

Performance Measures Notes:

Both measures compare 2008 data (Previous) to 2011 data (Current).  Data source: Consumer satisfaction surveys. More information on these measures is available online on the Continuing Care Performance Report: http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/dhs16_166609#