FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL
FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING
Gainesville, Florida
August 17, 2006
Joan Haber, vice-chair, called the meeting to order at 1:04 pm.
Members present: Joe Naulty, Julie Church, Evy Friend, John Jackson, Eloise Williams, Carolyn Franklin, Joan Haber, Sarah Harris, Randy Ellsworth, Rick Kottler, Lisa Shaefermeyer, Stan Gustetic. Staff: Karen Anderson, DOH Liaison and Mary Grace Tavel, administrative assistant.
Members late arriving: Chris Wagner, Laurie Gaylord.
Members absent: Carol Christopherson, Tanya Ward English.
All members introduced themselves and the groups that they were representing. Joan introduced the sign language interpreters, Marvin Mollinedo, Brenda Stansbury, and Tina Rinehart; Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) provider, Deanna Boenau; support services provider, Amanda Brata; and sound system assistance, CODA, by Alex Cora.
Joan went over the meeting protocols, and reminded everyone to turn their cell phones off.
There was a discussion about rearranging the agenda, due to unanticipated scheduling conflicts. The order and times of the Friday presentations were altered slightly to make room for the budget review in the early morning.
The legislative review committee meeting was canceled, and that group joined the review of the FCCDHH website with the information and referral committee. Mary Grace Tavel provided a tour through the new features of the website. Joe Naulty reported that individuals from the Florida Deaf Blind Association have navigated through the website successfully. (ACTION) Joan requested that Joe and some members from FDBA check all of the links from the FCCDHH to ensure that they are compatible to JAWS software. Joe Naulty suggested that the Technical Assistance webpage include a link to Freedom Scientific as a resource for persons who have difficulty with computer use issues. Joan raised the question about the possibility of FAAST providing assistance in computer upgrade questions. Mary Grace looked at the link on the FCDHH website and it did not seem to provide computer upgrades. Sarah Harris said that she has used FAAST with some of her clients and that they put equipment on loan for 30 days so that an individual could develop an idea what would work for them. FAAST also has low interest loans. Joan recommended that the website have a search function. Laurie Gaylord emphasized that the website should have the ability for a parent of a newly identified child with hearing loss to easily find out where they should get help. (ACTION) Mary Grace suggested that the SHINE webpage be linked to the Education page as well as the Coordination of Services page. (ACTION) Laurie indicated that she would be willing to work to develop ‘Getting Started’ written material to post on the Education webpage. Julie reported that it is difficult to find out who the Council members are. The group agreed that the ‘Who We Are’ information about the FCCDHH should be included on the front page. All email inquiries are supposed to go to Mary Grace and not each individual member. (ACTION) These instructions should be included on the “Who We Are” and “Contact Us” portions of the website. Lisa indicated that FRID has developed a searchable database for interpreters in Florida but it is not ready to post yet – but will be soon. There is a location to describe CART and ultimately identify providers in Florida. (ACTION) Tanya has indicated that she plans to supply the link to the Florida Court Reporters Association to provide a searchable database. Rick indicated that two more Deaf Service Centers have joined the Deaf Service Center Association. The DSC webpage will need to be updated to reflect these additions. Sarah said that there is nothing that describes what an SSP is, communication methods and other resources for individuals who are deaf-blind. Joe has supplied this information to Mary Grace. Under Quick Links these resources can be found, although the information about SSPs could not readily be found. (ACTION) Joe offered to submit information about the newly incorporated Florida Deaf Blind Association and a group that is working to identify SSPs nationally and the new division of the National Blind Association (CHECK THIS) for Deaf Blind to Mary Grace to include on the web page. Laurie suggested that Key Resources for Deaf Blind be included under the Key Resources webpage. (ACTION) It was also suggested that the links to organizations represented by Council members be inserted directly under the name of each person’s name in the Who We Are section of the website. Laurie indicated a preference that all of these organizations be included at the bottom of the web page within the Quick Links section. Mary Grace stated that the site is complicated with much information and that a search capability is important to be developed, even if it costs money. The keyword search on the homepage of the site is not working – this feature needs to be activated. (ACTION) Mary Grace will contact Ecisive; the contract included a provision to provide three years of maintenance. If necessary the Council may need to identify another provider to fix the keyword search function and provide maintenance. Laurie Gaylord emphasized that a termination letter should be generated to Ecisive stating that they did not follow through with website maintenance of the FCCDHH site, thereby causing the contract to be null and void. The Knowledge Center on the front has a lot of information for school age children that should be linked into the Education page. Julie indicated it would be appropriate to link to the Resource Manual developed by FSDB Outreach Services to the Education page. Stan pointed out that it is important for all members of the Council to regularly check the website, point out errors, and make suggestions to Mary Grace. Joan said that the next step is for Tanya to take the comments from this meeting. Stan will report to the Council about the availability of Dorothy Hesson to assist with website maintenance.
At 2:15 p.m., Joan introduced Mr. John Lake of the State Fire Marshal’s Association, who spoke about issues with smoke alarms, via a Powerpoint presentation. Copies of a white paper and CD were passed out to members of the Council. He discussed percentages related to fire tests and surveys, and some of the latest fire safety devices, such as bedshakers
He also discussed the “Generic Fire Act Grant”. He addressed the Council and wanted to know if the Council was interested in partnering in trying to procure grant money for smoke detectors for the deaf and hard of hearing.
During Q & A he discussed the three-in-one system. Joan said she hoped that that would be part of what was pursued for grant funding. Mr. Lake indicated that he really needs to know different types of hearing disabilities so that they know what to put in the grant.
3:20—3:40: Break
3:40 meeting re-convened. Laurie Gaylord had joined the meeting.
Joan explained that we had been waiting for Chris Wagner to arrive before beginning the public comment portion of the meeting. (Chris arrived during the public comment.) Introductions all around the table were made, as well as introduction of the service providers.
Next, the meeting was opened to public comment:
- Lynn Rousseau: She gave a copy of her presentation re communication access issues. She wondered if the phone company could make the item on the bill about phones from FTRI a little bigger so older people could read it. Also could the phone company add a notice with the phone bill about availability of FTRI phones? How can we best approach Sprint, Verizon, etc., about this? Her next item was about television captioning for alerts (emergency). Some channels are getting lazy or sloppy about providing this. Next, is there a way to reach out to doctors and hospitals about the needs of hard of hearing patients? Often deaf patients get accommodations they need, but the hard of hearing don’t. She is a lip reader and had trouble recently in a hospital setting with people not looking at her. Simple common sense would take care of most of it. Signing would take care of part of it. What else can we do? Joan asked her to stop at this point and to resume later if there is time. Rick addressed her medical accessibility question, and told her about the Medical Accessibility Task Force work. James Forstall addressed the question of phone companies including inserts with their phone bills. James suggested FCCDHH contact the PSC and make that recommendation. Kathy Borzell, a member of the audience, said they might be able to do that from the FHLAA Board.
- Wayne Cook, Jr., recently moved to Florida from Rhode Island. He is concerned about hearing aid insurance. Stan asked for clarification—what kind of insurance? Are you talking about a tax benefit or an insurance benefit? He said health insurance benefit, like BCBS, etc. He is thinking more on a state level (as opposed to federal hearing aid tax credit bill).
- Kathy Borzell: Here representing FHLAA and the national board of HLAA. Something that keeps popping up—education of hearing loss and how it affects people in the workplace. She worked in a DSC which was a protected environment. Employers and employees need to be educated. Joan mentioned FLJobConnections.com. Mary Grace will be attending this meeting in October and she will report to us.
- Chris Wagner joined the meeting.
- Flo Innes: Asked at the hotel desk for a package for the hard of hearing. Three people at desk didn’t know what she was talking about. They brought out a TTY and a master alert. What she wanted was an amplified phone. She wants to be able to ask for package for deaf and hard of hearing. She also wants captioning at airports, because she can’t leave her gate because she is afraid they will change her flight and she won’t know about it. Joan said every time she has raised the complaint herself about the airports, they say it’s the airport authority.
- Colleen Metcalf: Concerned about children’s services. She said her income was too high for her child to get services. Evy Friend told her she worked with school districts for children 3 to 22—Child Find is required by federal law. They will screen your child for free and determine what services the child is eligible for. Colleen also commented on CDS (Childrens’ Development Services). (Colleen works for the local CIL). Another person she is working with, another mother, said CSD sent her child a paper saying she needed to be there and she went and thought it was at the same place as last year’s meeting. They didn’t tell this deaf parent that they were sending out that information, and they looked at her as an unfit mother because she didn’t attend a scheduled meeting, but she didn’t get the information.
- Jim Diaz is on the FHLAA board and is its president. He spoke about aural rehab and its importance. The hospital had a lot of signage regarding availability of interpreters, when his mom was recently ill. We really need some way to let people with hearing loss know what is available and what is out there. He had a pamphlet from the Kennedy Center which is very informative. It lets you know when you are entitled to ALDs. Rick addressed the medical issue, reiterating what the MATF is doing. Unfortunately, churches fall outside the purview of the ADA. Joan asked if she could borrow the document he had and copy down the website. He loaned it to her.
- Crystal Holmes w/ mid-Florida Area on Aging. She wanted to let the Council know of some resources that could be accessed through the Florida Relay. One is the Elder Help line and the second is the Abuse Hotline, with a toll-free hotline available 24/7.
- Rick Kottler read a letter from Tom Austin from The Deaf and Hearing Connection of Tampa Bay – Case involved deaf woman and hard of hearing man and Children and Family Services worker inappropriately not getting an interpreter and violating confidentiality.
- Joan Haber read a letter from Grace G. Morgan who had issues with her recent hospitalization on emergency admission and then stay at hospital. She had several suggestions as to how to help people in a medical setting. Stan addressed ADA compliance across all areas in the state of Florida. He is president elect of Florida Academy of Audiologists, and he will address that in their meeting next week.
- Laurie Gaylord read a letter from Holliday Lisowski. Consumer was refused communication—she does not sign. Went to re-certify for Medicaid benefits because she recently started working part-time. Holliday took care of her issues, but wanted to bring it to the Council’s attention.
- Randy Ellsworth read a letter from Mario Rivera with the Stenotype Institute of Jacksonville, who requested the Council to send a letter to Congress in support of a grant for federal funds to support the Institute for the training of CART reporters.
- Lynn Rousseau was invited to come back to the microphone and further describe her issues, since there was time available. First, she thanked the Council for the HLAA scholarships. Then, she suggested that audiologists, doctors, and medical offices supply helpful information in their waiting rooms so that patients could take them home and study them? Stan offered to bring that up at next week’s FLAA meeting. Not only assistive devices, but peripherals as well. She also thanked the Council (especially Joan) for all her work on behalf of captioned movies.
- Flo Innes came back up to talk about hospital issues. Her husband had been hospitalized many times, but hospital personnel tended to talk to her husband, not her, and she was the one who had to make the decisions for her husband. She and Joan put together a wonderful hospital package, unfortunately they don’t seem to get to the patients they were designed for. She has ordered a lot of devices herself to try them out, but nothing yet works like a Pocket Talker. Joan asked her to explain about her resource center: Advocates for Better Hearing. Amplification with telecoils are key to using phones. 2075 Main Street, Suite 5, Sarasota, Florida.
- Lynn Rousseau came back to the microphone and talked about hotels borrowing ADA kits from other hotels when they run out. Stan suggested Harris Communications Catalogue (possibly add it to our website) as a resource for devices.
- Kathy Borzell came back to the microphone and commented on what a positive influence the two audiologists she has worked with have had on her life. They are going the extra mile, wanting information from Kathy, and giving her information.
- Wayne Cook came back to the microphone and bolstered up the Council, telling them not to get disheartened—keep the faith, it takes time.
- Joe Naulty spoke about his new technology.
- Chris Wagner spoke up and said it was important for members of the audience to address their doctors, nurses, etc., to take on some actions as well. The more people address concerns on their own, the more credibility we will have when we go to work with them, e.g., FMA. Citizens need to get involved. Another thing he wanted to share is the development of a training video on poll workers. It will go to all 67 counties in Florida. We also have a training video coming out soon on Emergency Preparedness.
- Joan asked for comments—there were none.
Meeting concluded with audience interacting with the Council members.
Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.
FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL
FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING
Gainesville, Florida
August 18, 2006
8:09 a.m. Chris Wagner called the meeting to order.
Introductions began with Chris and went around the table starting with Joe Naulty.
Members Present: Joe Naulty, Julie Church, Evy Friend, John Jackson, Eloise Williams, Carolyn Franklin, Laurie Gaylord, Joan Haber, Chris Wagner, Sarah Harris, Randy Ellsworth, Rick Kottler, Lisa Schaefermeyer, and Stan Gustetic.
Staff members: Karen Anderson, DOH liaison and Mary Grace Tavel, administrative assistant.
Accessibility providers were introduced: Amanda Brata, SSP, Marvin Mollinedo, Tina Rinehart, Tony Bray and Brenda Stansbury, Interpreters, Dee Boenau, CART provider and Alex Cora with CODASound.
Chris Wagner introduced the minutes from the May quarterly meeting. John Jackson moved to accept the minutes, seconded by Randy Ellsworth. The minutes were approved unanimously.
Stan Gustetic introduced the budget. He pointed out that the Council didn’t spend about $55,000. He pointed out that as the Council decides on a budget for the upcoming year, the amount of unencumbered funds should be as small as possible. He wants all of the dollars encumbered in line-items as early as possible. Starting with blank budget for ’06—’07, he went through each category and asked the Council to decide where to increase or decrease funds.
Accessibility: Stan projected that we go as high as $70,000. The budget last year was $57,000 and we overspent by $13,000. Laurie Gaylord asked for clarification on “overspent”. John Jackson asked what expenses went into that category. Rick Kottler questioned whether $70,000 was enough. Laurie Gaylord asked if August and November were considerably higher because of task force meetings.
Next is meeting rooms. Stan earmarked $25,000, which is what the Council budgeted last year. Joan Haber asked why so much this year when we underspent last year. Laurie Gaylord thought it was better to plan ahead, if funds can be shifted if we see we can’t spend them in one category, we can move them. Stan explained that the Council has a line item budget, but that DOH doesn’t require it. Karen Anderson pointed out how many additional meetings that amount would cover, above the requisite quarterly meetings.
Travel: Julie questioned the level of task force meetings. Should we increase or not, it seems that task force meetings are a very effective way to get things done?
Website: Stan talked with Dorothy Hesson yesterday and we will be getting some search engines turned on. Joan asked if Dorothy would be the provider. Stan said not at this time, but he and Dorothy would be working on it. The search engine is a very simple fix. Sarah said she was confused about the $5,000 for website last year. Laurie moved that we send Ecisive a termination letter. Rick seconded the motion. John suggested we look at agreement itself before we vote to send a letter. Chris stated that the chair should get a copy of the contract and then write a letter. Randy agreed that an attorney needed to look at the contract. Rick suggested that we not wait three months. Motion passed unanimously.
Consultants: Stan suggested we merge two of the categories. Could we do “consultant and website maintenance”? Chris thought we should put more money in there for consultants especially for outreach. Because we are limited by the state as to what we can hire, we could contract with a person with a background in Deaf culture and Deaf issues. Julie wanted to add a consultant in the field of marketing and public relations. Just to be safe, Chris suggested budgeting $40,000 to 50,000? Stan suggested leaving that category blank for now. We are consolidating two areas. Karen suggested that her part would actually decrease by about $7,000 in the coming year. Stan suggested $5,500--$6,000.
Personnel. Stan suggested going to $50,000 for that line item. Randy suggested we go with $45,000 as a real number. Evy Friend reminded the Council about the 3% state raise, and asked if that was figured in already. Stan said no. Laurie suggested we look at it again at the January meeting. Stan suggested the public relations line be worked into the consultant’s line item. Julie wanted to reiterate that there is a huge difference between PR and outreach. She wanted to keep these areas discrete. Rick mentioned the hospital training video. He said we don’t have any $$ budgeted for that as of now. $50,000 was budgeted for personnel.
Stan reiterated what we had so far in terms of line items and dollars.
There was a total of $200,000 budgeted, with three remaining categories to budget the remaining $50,000.
Rick suggested putting the $50,000 in unencumbered now, and examine the PR and consultant categories at the next meeting. Karen wanted to re-visit the amount budgeted for meetings, and suggested that $10,000 from that category could easily be taken from there and applied to consultants. Joan asked where the “conference” monies should be applied—under PR or outreach. Julie said she would be able to look in PR costs. Stan said let’s stay on point. It was decided to reduce the amount budgeted for meeting rooms to $15,000. Stan summarized:
$70,000 Accessibility
$15,000 Meeting Rooms
$50,000 Travel
$00 Website
$32,500 Consultant
$50,000 Personnel
$25,000 Public Relations
$ 7,500 Other Expenditures
Chris wanted to recommend $50,000 instead of $55,000 for travel.
Joan asked about other “unemployment”. Eloise pointed out that even if the former Council assistant got another job and then lost it, we would have to pay unemployment again.
There was $57,500 remaining at this point in the discussion.
Julie said a rule of thumb for a finished video was about $1,000 a minute. Chris asked if someone else could pay for the MATF video. Rick responded with an iteration of all that FHA is paying for now.
Tanya had e-mailed in that she wanted a searchable database person. Discussion ensued about what the best alternatives were. Eloise suggested MG go to CompUSA and take a tutorial in Access for $77. Chris just wanted to leave $32,500 in the consultant category. We need to gather information before the next meeting and discuss it then.
Chris went over the budget again by items and dollar amounts and asked for a motion to accept the budget. Rick so moved, seconded by Lisa. Budget passed unanimously. Chris thanked Stan for all his hard work.
Chris turned the floor over to Joan to take the lead on the public hearing comments.
Lynne Rousseau made the point about inserts in the phone bill. There is a possibility of sending a letter to the PSC on behalf of the Council about the size of the print and the information about the FTRI service. Rick suggested Julie should be the person to bring that up at the next TASA meeting. (ACTION) Julie said she planned on it. Joan suggested doing that and sending a letter to the PSC.
9:18 am: Short break before CapTel presentation.
9:30 am: CapTel Demonstration by Tom D’Angelo.
10:15 am: Carol Christopherson joined the meeting.
10:25 Rick Kottler presented his report on the medical accessibility task force. Rick made a motion to approve the travel funds for the September 8 meeting. Sarah seconded the motion. The motion is to approve $1,500 for the September meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
10:30: Chris discussed the upcoming legislative session and the impact of a large number of freshmen senators. Four actions were presented: Licensure and interpreters bill; amending the telecommunications act (TASA); requiring school districts and public schools to submit an RFP to provide Closed captioning for their videos; and support for FCCDHH. The need to increase funds was expressed, so that FCCDHH could have more staff and PR and outreach.
Chris reported that Senator Stephen Wise is very interested in supporting FCCDHH. There are a couple of house representatives who support FCCDHH, but they only have a limit of 5 bills they can sponsor. The senators can sponsor unlimited bills.
10:35: Break.
11:00 Re-convene.
Chris gave a report on the national meeting of state agencies for the deaf and hard of hearing in Palm Springs, CA. There were 43 out of 50 states represented. There were two days of meetings talking about different issues such as budgeting, interpreters, CART and C-print. The Council will receive a CART transcript of the meeting. Some states get grant funding to provide training for more CART reporters. There was lots of talk too about budgeting. Some agencies merged, for instance, Texas Coalition of the Deaf merged with VR. Now the state is realizing something is not working and they are trying to separate them again. Statistics was an issue, with the new CDC report that says 16% of the population has a hearing loss, and that’s only adults. We are currently trying to collect Florida population data. Texas, Arizona and California have added to their percentages because they have such a high incidence of elderly population. If we did that, the number in Florida would go up to 20 to 21% of the population as having hearing loss. Good news for us to justify the need for services in Florida. Average age of a person with hearing loss used to be 64, now they are saying it is 46. Employment issues were also discussed. Another thing other states with a group analogous to FCCDHH have is a five-year strategic plan. The Council needs to spend some time developing a blueprint, which we can turn into our legislative report for this year. Chris asked for a motion from the Council to establish a small committee to set up this blueprint that would then be brought back to the full Council. Laurie moved to form a steering committee, seconded by Joan. Joan asked if the plan was to issue a 2007 report, even though one is not required legislatively. She wanted clarification between blueprint and annual report. Motion passed unanimously. The discussion went back to the organization of deaf and hard of hearing state councils. They are considering membership dues for a new national coalition. Florida does not have a director. Chris stated he would like to remain the liaison from the Council. This meeting occurs every two years, and there was talk of changing it to annually. They would like to partner with HLAA but there are administrative issues. They would also like to partner with FAD and AG Bell, and have alternating meeting sites. There are some state councils that have even less money than FCCDHH.
The next item was the website: Chris asked Karen to give Tanya’s written report. Tanya sent a message and an attachment. Karen read report from Tanya, starting with assessment and goal making, I & R, promotional materials, etc. Tanya suggested forming new subcommittees.
Website: Tanya
PR: Julie
DATABASE: Stan (elected in absentia).
11:30: LUNCH and reconvene at 12:30.
12:35 Reconvene.
12:40: Presentation by Michelle Pearson, Technical Assistance Specialist, representing the Florida Outreach Project (FOP).
Chris introduced her and said the Council had need for more information about the Florida Outreach Project for the deaf-blind and that is why Michelle was invited here to speak.
Introductions were made to Michelle of present Council members, and Chris introduced the members who were unable to be present.
Michelle deals with children birth to 22 years of age. The younger the child is identified and receives appropriate services, the better it is for the child. FOP consultants go to the homes and school systems and meet with the clients and those involved with them. Training can go all the way up to district administration. Michelle actually goes out and does the one-on-one work. FOP also has a lending library and does trainings for school districts, teachers, etc. They also do a data census every year. A lot of their students are of an age where they are starting to graduate. FOP cannot go out to school districts without being invited because of HIPPA laws.
Q&A followed. Chris thanked Michelle for coming.
Chris opened the floor to new business.
Randy talked about John Lake’s presentation the day before, and how he said the Fire Marshal’s Association was buying the fire alarms for $68 and selling them for $130. Randy thought it would be worthwhile to investigate the Council’s purchasing fire alarms for $68 and making them available at cost for people that need them. Chris responded that the Council might be able to get some grants.
(ACTION) Joan moved to send a letter to Mr. Lake thanking him for coming and saying that we would like to be included in whatever they are working on. John Jackson seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Julie Church talked about the Generic Fire Grant Act. Our letter would indicate our support of that.
Carol apologized for and explained her absence the first day of the FCCDHH meeting. She talked briefly about the results of the mediation hearing she was attending. There was a positive outcome from a two-hour mediation session regarding Shands’ ADA compliance policy that they will send to Carol when they finish writing it.
Lisa moved that FCCDHH donate copies of licensure report, some promotional items and that FCCDHH be a silver sponsor ($2,500) of the upcoming FRID conference, October 12—15 in Daytona Beach . Lisa would investigate price of banner for the FCCDHH table, which FRID could donate in exchange for the sponsorship. There would also be a mention in the program about FCCDHH. Sponsorship includes two registrations, which Lisa would like the Council to donate. Rick seconded the motion. Discussion ensued. Motion passed unanimously. (ACTION) Execute purchase order request for FCCDHH to be a sponsor of the FRID convention.
Joe Naulty asked about the blueprint that Chris talked about in the morning meeting. Joe asked for a way for FCCDHH to help the Florida Deaf-Blind Association get funding.
Lisa moved to replenish the public awareness items and purchase a backdrop board, to eliminate having to borrow FAD’s display, in the amount of $3,000. Chris talked about what we need. More discussion followed. It was decided that pens, letter openers and magnets were probably going to get us the most for the dollar. Julie seconded the motion and asked that we consider teeny-weeny highlighters. Motion passed unanimously. (ACTION) Execute purchase order for informational items and display board.
Randy asked that we consider any person 18 years of age and younger whom we come across in the next couple of months that needs a hearing aid for a free hearing aid for someone from his dad’s newly formed foundation, the Don Ellsworth Children’s Fund. Randy will take care of fitting, aids, products, etc. There are 30 hearing aids available.
Chris asked if there were any other motions before moving onto elections? No.
Chris gave a short speech thanking everyone on the Council for their dedication and hard work. He talked about the inception of the FCCDHH and the Council being his pride and joy. He stated that he was just moving to another chair, not abandoning the Council, and warned everyone that he would still be a voice.
Election of chair. Chris called for nominations. Rick nominated Joan Haber, seconded by John. Vote: Unanimous!
Vice chair: Carol nominated Rick Kottler. The nomination was seconded by Lisa. Vote: Unanimous!
MG to investigate other hotels in Tampa.
Reappointments to the Council were made by the Governor’s office and a press release is being drafted by that office.
New committee chairs were reiterated and new committees discussed.
Chris volunteered to chair the strategic planning committee.
Evy asked James Forstall to come to the microphone and explain about the educational kit he has been helping to develop for Florida, in cooperation with DOE.
Chris made the announcement that he just became a vice president of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD).
Laurie wanted to talk about school’s disability awareness week. Evy said that was Exceptional Student Week and it’s the first week in October. It is in the pilot stage now. Rick added that at Jensen Beach this spring they had something—that was Disability Awareness Day, and it’s for the whole state, all populations.
Thanks to Amanda and ASL and Deeana for CART and to Alex for CODASound.
2:08: Council adjourned until November!
Action items from FCCDHH meeting
August 17 and 18, 2006
- Joan requested that Joe and some members from FDBA check all of the links from the FCCDHH to ensure that they are compatible to JAWS software.
- (ACTION) Mary Grace suggested that the SHINE webpage be linked to the Education page as well as the Coordination of Services page.
- (ACTION) Laurie indicated that she would be willing to work to develop ‘Getting Started’ written material to post on the Education webpage.
- All email inquiries are supposed to go to Mary Grace and not each individual member. (ACTION) These instructions should be included on the “Who We Are” and “Contact Us” portions of the website.
- Tanya has indicated that she plans to supply the link to the Florida Court Reporters Association to provide a searchable database.
- Rick indicated that two more Deaf Service Centers have joined the Deaf Service Center Association. The DSC webpage will need to be updated to reflect these additions.
- Joe offered to submit information about the newly incorporated Florida Deaf Blind Association and a group that is working to identify SSPs nationally and the new division of the National Blind Association (CHECK THIS) for Deaf Blind to Mary Grace to include on the web page.
- It was also suggested that the links to organizations represented by Council members be inserted directly under the name of each person’s name in the Who We Are section of the website.
- The keyword search on the homepage of the site is not working – this feature needs to be activated. (ACTION) Mary Grace will contact Ecisive
- Stan will report to the Council about the availability of Dorothy Hesson to assist with website maintenance.
- sending a letter to the PSC on behalf of the Council about the size of the print and the information about the FTRI service. Rick suggested Julie should be the person to bring that up at the next TASA meeting.
- Joan moved to send a letter to Mr. Lake thanking him for coming and saying that we would like to be included in whatever they are working on.
- Mary Grace to execute PO for FRID convention.
- Mary Grace to execute PO for informational items and display board.
- Mary Grace to update website to reflect new officers.