I wonder about the future of services for deaf people in Florida.
I came to Florida in search of a job in the mental health field (working with deaf clients). I was surprised at what I found there. I had travelled to the localities of Clearwater, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach. I was shocked at how poorly funded the services were. One place that I visited in Pineallas County, which is close to Clearwater, looked like a trailer. This place looked very good on the Internet, so I was very surprised to find that it was very small.
I went to the Deaf Service Bureau in New Port Richey, Florida and spoke to the employees who worked there. They explained that deaf people in the area are in dire need of better mental health care and other necessary services. The reason why service centers in Florida are so poorly funded is due to the lack of state taxes.
Deaf community fundraising efforts could provide the money to develop higher quality services for deaf clients. But that depends on altruism and advocacy. We need to learn the value of contributing or money, time, and faith towards the needs of the deaf community. There may be a lot of deaf people with time on their hands, and that time could be used productively by volunteering at fundraising events. We need to be creative with advertising our abilities as deaf people and show that we are worth the money we raise. Above all we need to emphasize advocacy.
I lived in Washington DC for several years. I was exposed to so many deaf youth and adults with ingenious and innovative minds that I realized the potential for deaf people to unite together and build a stronger community, especially if we assessed what deaf people need and adjusted our values accordingly. For example, we are aware of the difficulty of deaf people in obtaining jobs, especially in today’s shaky economy. We could be instilling a work ethic by looking at what kind of fields deaf people need training and/or education in and putting our minds together to create solutions. One of my friends mentioned that there seemed to be less of an emphasis on vocational training (in areas such as culinary arts, welding, mechanic training, and so forth). I went to a residential high school where we were required to do three weeks in a specific vocational area for a year or so. At the end of that time period we had to decide whether we wanted to pursue a vocational or academic track. I found this experience broadened my horizons in terms of what kind of skills I had and what fields were open to me. This kind of experience could be invaluable to other deaf people, yet programs like this seem to be disappearing.
Most employers nowadays are looking for skills. An ideal job candidate would be able to bring skills, education, and experience to the workplace. Deaf people are prime candidates for those three areas, but we need the funds to enable our people to prove themselves.
I decided to write this article to see what kind of ideas and solutions that the general deaf community can offer to the deaf community of Florida. The feedback to this article could be applied to any state in the US, because it is not just the deaf community of Florida that is impacted by the lack of state tax revenue.
[Editor's note: The sign near the door of the building pictured above is too small to read in the photo. It says "Family Center on Deafness."]
