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Howard Dean’s Platform for Members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community

As President, Howard Dean intends to promote the progress of the American Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community. As a physician, he understands the issues associated with hearing loss, and as a Governor, he knows how to address them.

Howard Dean’s Statement of the Problem:
There is no precise count of the number of deaf people in the United States. Part of the problem is that there is no precise definition of deafness. According to the US Census, about 3.8% of Americans have some difficulty hearing. This amounts to about 8 million people. About 0.4% of the population (832,000 people) is classified as having "severe" hearing problems. More than 1.5% of the senior population has a severe hearing impairment.

The Census Bureau estimates that, among school-age children age 6-14, about 0.7% (234,000) have some hearing impairment; 0.2% (57,000) are classified as "severe."

However, other estimates place the number of deaf people much higher. For example, the National Health Interview Study reports that over 25 million people have some trouble hearing, and about 6 million have a lot of trouble hearing. While precision is elusive, it is clear that deafness and hearing loss affect millions of Americans.

The deaf and hard of hearing face unique challenges in school and in the workplace. Only 46.5% of persons with severe hearing impairments are employed. And nearly a third of persons with severe hearing impairments did not finish high school.

A large number of deaf children are not receiving an adequate education. A 1994 study of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students entering post-secondary school found that "two-thirds of the severely to profoundly deaf students leaving school attend some type of postsecondary institution for training, but only one fourth read at the fifth grade level or above, then it is fairly obvious that a large number of deaf students are enrolling in colleges with very limited skills ... Unfortunately, the expansion of postsecondary educational opportunities for deaf students in the past 20 years has not been accompanied by the necessary improvements in academic preparation at the elementary and secondary levels. This has left many postsecondary institutions in a quandary as to how best to serve an eager, but under-prepared pool of students."

Government has an obligation to ensure that all Americans have full access to educational and employment opportunities. We clearly have much work to do if we are to fulfill this promise for the thousands of Americans with hearing impairments.

Here are a few ways Howard Dean proposes to build a more inclusive society with respect to the deaf and hard of hearing:

A Federal Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

A Commission should be formed to study the needs of the deaf community;

specifically, to analyze ways by which private employers could be given an incentive to hire and promote deaf workers, and to examine the best means by which deaf and hard of hearing youth can be provided with equal and sufficient educational opportunities.

Passage of an improved version of the Hearing Aid Assistance Tax Credit Act (HR 943)

This bill offers a tax credit of up to $500 to cover costs for the puchase of a hearing aid that is not covered by insurance. The goal of this bill is laudable. However, hearing aids can cost thousands of dollars. I would prefer a bill that would either increase the amount available through a tax credit, or require insurance companies to pay for hearing aids.

Passage of the Real-Time Writers Act (S480)

Real-time writers are the individuals that provide live captioning for television programs. Senator Tom Harkin introduced this bill to provide $20 million for a competitive grant program to promote training and job placement for individuals with these skills. I strongly support this legislation.

Passage of the Senate version of Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is currently up for reauthorization. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) proposed several modifications to IDEA to ensure that the needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals were met:

The IDEA reauthorization bill passed by the House of Representatives included none of these features. Further, the House bill severely weakened several long-standing provisions of the IDEA including the provision for funding captioned videos and broadcast programming.

If these ideas are not incorporated into the IDEA reauthorization bill due to pass Congress this year, then I will, to the extent possible, implement these policies through regulatory action.

Video Relay Service (VRS)

In June, 2003, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) reduced the Video Relay Service (VRS) reimbursement rate from $17.044 per minute to $7.751 per minute. Thousands of hearing-impaired individuals depend on VRS for access to telecommunications services. Reducing the rates that providers charge could threaten the availability of this service. The provider industry strongly believes that the new rates are unreasonable. The sudden nature of the FCC decision is curious. As President, I will appoint FCC Commissioners who understand the importance of enhancing access to television programs for individuals with hearing impairments.

HOWARD DEAN SUPPORTS THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING COMMUNITY, and remains committed to finding solutions to the problems currently preventing full economic and social inclusion of the community. A Dean Administration will make that a top priority of its disability rights agenda.

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