Disability Rights Ohio, Deaf Services Center release disability rights resources in American Sign Language
August 1, 2017 / American Sign Language
Disability Rights Ohio (DRO) and Deaf Services Center (DSC) are pleased to announce the release of 18 new videos, interpreting many of DRO's most requested resources into American Sign Language (ASL). The two organizations worked together on the project, thanks to a $15,000 grant from the Ohio State Bar Foundation.
The videos address a wide variety of important topics, from requesting accommodations at work to negotiating with your child's IEP team for special education services. The collection offers more than 3.5 hours of information, which was interpreted into ASL and signed on camera by Molly Estes, who is Deaf and who has a background in assessing and teaching ASL.
"When preparing for this project, it was important for us to work closely with John Moore and Molly Estes at DSC to select the resources that would be most useful to the Deaf community in Ohio," says DRO Executive Director Michael Kirkman. "We hope that the approximately 100,000 Ohioans who rely predominantly on ASL to communicate will be able to use this information to advocate for themselves and their families. We also encourage them to contact us if they need further assistance with any disability-related issue."
"DSC is proud to be a partner with DRO in tearing down communication access barriers with the development of the ASL videos," explains DSC CEO and Executive Director John Moore. "This will enable members of the Deaf and hard of hearing community who are linguistic users of ASL to know their rights in the language they are most comfortable with."
All 18 videos are available on the DRO YouTube channel, with links from the corresponding resources on the DRO website. A full list is also available on the Deaf / Hard of Hearing page of its Resource Center.
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About Disability Rights Ohio: Disability Rights Ohio is the federally and state designated Protection and Advocacy System and Client Assistance Program for the state of Ohio. The mission of Disability Rights Ohio is to advocate for the human, civil and legal rights of people with disabilities in Ohio. Disability Rights Ohio provides legal advocacy and rights protection to a wide range of people with disabilities. For more information, visit disabilityrightsohio.org.
About Deaf Services Center: Deaf Services Center is a non-profit 501c3 organization based in Worthington, Ohio, committed to providing direct-based services to Deaf, hard of hearing and late-deafened people. Our mission is to empower deaf and hard of hearing people and to promote access to communication, services and events in the community. For more information, visit www.dsc.org.