NORTH CAROLINA COUNCIL FOR THE DEAF AND THE HARD OF HEARING
Quarterly Meeting Minutes
August 5, 2016
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Joint Forces Headquarters, Raleigh, NC
Members Present:
Kathryn C. Aldridge
Julie Bishop
Rep Hugh Blackwell
Timothy Boyd
Mary Crump
Kevin Earp
Mary Edwards
Ericka Gagnon
Lester Latkowski
Johanna Lynch
Kunal Mitral, M.D.
Betsy Moore
Denise Nelson
Dr. Rachael Ragin
Deborah Stroud
Brad Trotter
Tovah Wax
Ex Officio:
Jan Withers (Present)
DSB Liaison:
Kim Harrell (Present)
Members Absent:
Craig Blevins
Christina Bryant
Bud Cayton
Rep Beverly Earle
Meredith Kaplan
Ray Lewis
Johana Lynch
Senator Bill Rabon
Amy Shuey
Senator Jeff Tarte
NORTH CAROLINA COUNCIL FOR THE DEAF AND THE HARD OF HEARING
Quarterly Meeting Minutes
August 5, 2016
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Joint Forces Headquarters, Raleigh, NC
Introductions, Announcements, Approve Minutes from May 20, 2016
May 20, 2016 minutes were approved.
Motion 1: Moved by Deborah Stroud to approve the minutes from the May 2016,
Council Meeting, Motion Seconded by Tim Boyd. Motion passed.
None of the members acknowledged having a conflict of interest or appearance thereof on matters listed on this agenda
NC General Assembly: Review of 2016 Short Session
Jan Withers, Director, DSDHH
· Licensure for Sign Language Interpreters (HB1007)
- The whole bill passed in the House and crossed to the Senate and died there.
· Filing Discrimination Suit in NC State Court System (HB2)
- People within protected classes, including people with disabilities, now have the ability to file suit in the North Carolina state court system. Before HB2 passed people had up to three years since the alleged discrimination action to file suit, now people will have only a year.
· DSDHH’s Two Legislative Priorities (Special Provisions)
- Allows DSDHH to create a new web-based database system, since the current system is on its way out.
- DSDHH provides telecommunication equipment and right now it’s at four cents per month cap; the issue is not the cap itself but the fact that it is on a per month basis. The administrative language has been amended and this allows us to have more flexibility where we can spend all we can up to the maximum and still comply with the law. We will be able to serve more people without going over the cap and this is good news.
· Dix Trust Fund
- Brad Trotter was absent, so there is no information regarding this topic. Jan will try to follow up with Brad and ask him to share an update by way of e-mail.
Review of Action Items
Julie Bishop, Chair, NC Council for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing
· Letter to Legislature: Retain Licensure for Sign Language Interpreters
-The letter was sent out to all members of the General Assembly individually on June 15, 2016.
· Letter to Legislature: Reinstate Ability to File Suit in NC State Court System
-The letter was sent to Governor McCrory and each member of the General Assembly: it expressed opposition to section 3 of HB2 and requested that it be removed.
· Letter to Hussey: Spoken Language Facilitators and Deaf-Blind Intervenors
-The letter was sent to Bill Hussey on May 31, 2016. We have not received a response.
· Status: Pre-K; Age 3-5; Licensure for teachers
- The letter was sent to DPI asking status of Pre-K licensure for teachers.
Ivy v. Morath
Holly Stiles, Lead Attorney, Community Access Team, Disability Rights North Carolina
The case of Ivy v. Morath currently is in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, The case involved individual Deaf students in Texas who wanted to get a driver’s license but experienced barriers to effective communication in the driver education system in Texas. The issue here is: is the State of Texas, which requires students to participate in driver education classes and which provides materials for these classes but does not directly conduct classes, responsible for providing accommodations as mandated in the ADA? In Texas, the State licenses private businesses to provide these classes. The larger issue is: will the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision make it easier or more difficult for individuals to seek legal remedies when they encounter barriers to effective communication?
Update on Interpreter Certification and Licensure
Lee Williamson, Communication Access Manager, DSDHH
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) Certification: RID imposed a moratorium on all testing and on the issuing of all certifications in August of 2015. The purpose of the moratorium was to provide RID the time and means to evaluate issues relating to testing, certifications and the overall operation of RID. The moratorium was lifted, effective July 1, 2016. However, the moratorium was lifted for only two types of certifications due to the high need for them; they are NIC (generalist) and CDI (deaf interpreter). The moratorium is still in effect for all other types of certifications.
As a result of RID’s assessment, RID established a separate entity called The Center for the Assessment of Sign Language Interpreters (CASLI), effective July 1, 2016. CASLI’s sole purpose is to manage the testing of prospective interpreters; CASLI has an autonomous board of managers to oversee all aspects of CASLI’s operations.
RID will continue as a membership organization and will retain responsibility for the development of tests and for issuing certifications based on results of tests provided by CASLI to individuals. CASLI is owned by RID.
More information can be found on these websites: www.rid.org and www.casli.org.
Recent Conferences
Julie Bishop, Chair, NCCDHH
As President of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), the North Carolina chapter, Julie Bishop attended the Hearing Loss Association of America’s annual conference in Washington, DC in June. What made this conference unique is it was a combined conference with the International Federation of Hard of Hearing. There were 72 different countries that were there.
The biggest news coming out of the conference was a new report that was issued by the National Academy of Sciences and Engineering and Medicine. The title is “Hearing Healthcare for Adults, Priorities for Improving Access and Affordability.” This was considered a groundbreaking report and documented the critical nature of hearing loss and provides 12 recommendations that underscore hearing loss as a significant public health issue. We discussed this at the last meeting, including dementia, hearing loss and diabetes and a whole host of medical conditions, especially as people age with hearing loss that can be possibly prevented with use of hearing aids or Cochlear implants. This report has recommendations for providing greater access to accurate information and affordable choices for hearing healthcare. The report says over 48 million people currently have a hearing loss that don't use or don't have access to hearing healthcare. People felt that the most important thing coming out of this report was the introduction of a new term called Accessibility of Hearing Healthcare.
Another topic that was discussed is hearing loop; it’s a wire that is attached to the sound system in a room. There are all kinds of things out there called loop initiatives going on and that was the focus of many talkson how to get more rooms and facilities looped. Some states are more advanced in their loop initiatives. I talked to David Litman, DSDHH Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator, and the Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is interested in pursuing initiatives for North Carolina and wants to work with the Hearing Loss Association of North Carolina. This is a big thing and hopefully you will hear more about loop initiatives in North Carolina.
Another topic of interest is a group called the American Cochlear Implant Alliance and their main focus is on research advocacy and awareness of Cochlear implants.
In the state of North Carolina, the Hearing Loss Association has five different chapters and it’s time for us to get together to see what works in our different chapters.
Jan Withers, Director, DSDHH
Jan Withers attended the HLAA conference in Washington, D.C. too. and had an amazing experience. She also visited the exhibits. The technology and their products are amazing. There’s a clear focus on making technology more affordable and easier to get. Jan was thrilled to hear about the two reports provided at the conference. They are really making similar recommendations and that is something DSDHH has been looking at, too. Now DSDHH can use those reports to further substantiate what is being done in North Carolina.
There were several workshops done by audiologists regarding their work in their individual states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Maryland and their efforts to bridge technology and human services, making those services more available, reducing the number of days between initial requests for appointment for testing, and actually receiving a hearing aid.
Jan Withers also attended the National Association of the Deaf conference and found it to be a great conference as well. NAD identified five priorities for the 2016 – 2018 timeframe.
The five priorities are:
1. Campaign to end language and cultural deprivation
2. Enhance NAD information clearinghouse and communication strategy
3. Creation of mental health training program and communication hub on health related information
4. Child protective services and best practices with respect to language and culture
5. Establish employment resource center
These are consistent issues we see here in North Carolina as well. However, it is good the things they identified as priorities also validate things we are already working on here. The day before the NAD conference started, the National Association of State Agencies for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing had a full day meeting. In the morning we had professional development into the afternoon and ended with a business meeting with election for board members..
The professional development portion included trainings on diversity and strategic management. Roberta Cordano, President of Gallaudet University, and representatives of RID and NAD spoke as well.
David Litman, Hard of Hearing Services Coordinator, DSDHH
David Litman also attended the HLAA conference in Washington, DC and reviewed with the Council several keys technological developments, specifically Ava, Ditto and Innocaption. David also shared information regarding a number of workshops he attended, including those on equal access to health care services, updates on the Federal Communication Commission, the hearing loop initiative as well as the two major reports Julie Bishop referenced.
Videos
Lee Williamson, Communication Access Manager, DSDHH
Lee Williamson showed the Council several videos to demonstrate how DSDHH has been providing information to consumers using videos. Videos are:
· National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service
· Diversity and Inclusion: For NC Valuing Individual Performance
· Vlog: Wilmington Regional Center
· DSDHH Facebook
Williamson stated that DSDHH is planning to increase its use of videos as a way to educate/inform consumers and the public on issues relating to hearing loss.
Reports from Committees
Education Committee
Denise Nelson drafted a letter addressing how we can best provide services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing ages 3-5. There was a stakeholders group that was convened exactly a year ago to look at this problem. That stakeholders group over the course of an entire day listed all of the areas of concern. Then it was to proceed from there as how we start to address these issues. The group hasn’t met since then. One part of that letter is asking what’s next. The second area of the letter is addressing the license issues. Teachers for the deaf and hard of hearing are licensed K-12 but students ages 3-5 can't be taught by a teacher who is licensed to teach deaf and hard of hearing because they are not licensed to teach the 3 and 5-year-olds. Many of them need the special expertise of a teacher. We have a conflict as far as licensure and needs. That is an area we would like to see addressed as well that we put in the letter. Nelson noted that answers need to be provided to certain questions before a decision could be made on how the Council could proceed.
Community Access Committee
Julie Bishop: Tovah Wax had some questions regarding Medicaid Reform and what the status of it was. Jan did a good job updating us. She informed us that Dee Jones presented a timeline and a meeting for implementation of this Medicaid Reform. We all agreed that this would be an action item and we would put that on the agenda for our next meeting to invite Dee Jones to give an update on Medicaid reform. We will also invite Dave Richard from Division of Medical Assistance (DMA). The committee also discussed nursing homes and the isolation that goes on with deaf and hard of hearing patients. Jan gave committee an update of what Jeff Mobley has been working on and it continues to be an issue and we will be discussing it more at the next meeting.
Announcements
Jan Withers:
· Introduced Blaire McCorkle, new Charlotte Regional Center manager; and Ashley Benton, new Deaf/Deaf-Blind Services Coordinator.
· In the month of June, during Deaf Blind Awareness Week, Ashley received an award from Helen Keller National Center (HKNC) in recognition of her years of outstanding services to Deaf-Blind people.
· On September 28th, there will be an emergency alert system test and everyone will have the opportunity to participate in making sure that the emergency alert system is accessible. More information about the testing opportunity will be provided later.
Julie Bishop: The Walk4Hearing will take place on Sunday, October 16th, 2016, at the Wake MED Soccer Park in Cary. There will be a free kick off luncheon on August 27, 2016 at Maggiano's Durham South Point starting at noon.
Adjournment
Future Meetings: November 4, 2016 NC Joint Force Headquarters
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