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Dear (Insert name of Senator),
My name is ______, and I’m one of your constituents. I’m the parent of ______who is deafblind. (Insert a few lines to introduce your child/student here such as name, age, school attending, condition or etiology, etc.) I am writing to ask you to sponsor in the Senate a measure recently introduced in the House. The Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act, H.R. 1120, amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to improve special education and related services for deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind students.
The Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act is named for the first deaf student to be formally educated in the U.S. and the beloved teacher of Helen Keller. This Act takes important steps toward ensuring that deafblind, deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired students receive the educational and support services they need. Because these are low-incidence disabilities, most educators, administrators and service providers are unfamiliar with the needs of these populations.
Because my child is deafblind, I’m most interested in Title III of H.R. 1120, which addresses issues specific to the education of children who are deafblind.Among other important things, Title III designates intervener services in the Related Services listing; reflects the need for the recognition of and training for teachers of the deafblind; adapts the federal definition of deafblindness; and requires each state to specifically address deafblind issues in the development of its state plan.
I am strongly supporting the addition of intervener services to the list of related services in IDEA through H.R. 1120. Perhaps the most well-known example of an Intervener is Annie Sullivan who actedas Helen Keller’s Intervener and connected her to the world. An Intervener is an individual who works consistently one-to-one with a child who is deafblind and whohas training and specialized skills in deafblindness. Interveners are especially critical as individualized supports for children who are deafblind in educational settings, because they don’t have the same access to information, people or the environmentas typical children. Without this access, children who are deafblind cannot learn and progress.
(Insert one paragraph about your child/student’s positive experience with a school intervener or negative learning experience without an intervener and how an intervener could have provided a positive learning experience. Or add both experiences if you are fortunate to have an Intervener for your child.)
Supporting information can be found at and You can also contact Barbara Raimondo, Government Relations Liaison for the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf or Mark Richert, Director of Public Policy for the American Foundation for the Blind at .
I sincerely hope that you will sponsor the Alice Cogswell and Anne Sullivan Macy Act H.R. 1120. Without it my child will struggle, but with the provisions in the Act,my child can learn and grow into a contributing member of society. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
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