Welcome to the Florida Coordinating Council
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Our mission statement: “To provide a forum for public input and outreach resulting in technical assistance, advocacy, education, and improved communication access among public and private entities to meet the needs of deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened and deaf-blind persons.”

WELCOME MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

Joan Haber, Council Chair

Thank you so much for visiting the website of the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The Council was created by state statute in 2004 click to see the actual Statute and is now beginning its fifth year of working to address the needs of Florida’s 3.1-million residents who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened or deaf-blind.

We are a Governor-appointed council of 17 hard working and diligent members representing various stakeholders in the deaf community and professionals who work with individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened or deaf-blind. Click here to see the Interim Notes from our most recently held Quarterly Meeting.

Over the past five years, we have traveled across the state and listened to the needs of hundreds of Florida residents. What we have heard is that improvements are needed in our state to make communication more accessible and services more available to our residents with hearing loss.

Our Medical Accessibility Task Force recently created a training-manual and video for the medical community to learn more about deafness and how to improve communication with patients who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened or deaf-blind. We also have a Legal Systems Accessibility Task Force in place that is working on a similar project that will make improvements in communication access for people involved in the legal system.

We have several new members who were appointed August 2008, and they are enthusiastically working on the issues we face in our state. Check out our schedule of upcoming meetings and plan to visit us when we are in your area. If you are unable to visit one of our meetings, please use our online comment form (click here) to share your concerns and suggestions with us.

Sincerely,

Julie Church

Chair

Florida Coordinating Council

For the Deaf and Hard of Hearing