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I couldn’t have gotten through the first twenty-two years of life (at least not as easily) without the assistance from the state of New Jersey. They provided me and my parents with an endless supply of information on everything for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing – from vocational rehabilitation (VR) to a monthly newsletter, affordable speech therapy to referrals to doctors specializing in cochlear implant surgery. They were a factory of information, churning out materials and resources by the bulk. And they helped – a lot.

This is perhaps why it is important for every deaf and hard-of-hearing individual to make use of government-supported agencies – and this is precisely why the DeafNation crew paid a visit to Norman Weverka, who works as a Field Representative for the Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (NCDHH).

With Weverka, we quickly learned that the NCDHH has four offices in Nebraska, with each office focusing on one region: the Southeastern office is in Lincoln, the Northeastern/Eastern office in Omaha, Central office in North Platte, and the Western office in Scottsbluff. Together, all the offices oversee 26 counties in the state, serving nearly 9,000 deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing people in Nebraska.

Hearing people? Yes – hearing people, as NCDHH is in a position to certify and license interpreters, host workshops to educate police officers/highway patrol on how to work with Deaf/hard-of-hearing people in emergency situations, and much more. The offices also serve as an interpreter referral program, referring nearly 6,000 hours of requests.

However, the services they offer are mainly tailored for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing, and is quite plentiful:
•    Advocacy services
•    Mental health services
•    Monthly e-newsletter with ASL vlogs
•    A library on hearing loss, ASL videos, and the like
•    Handles referrals to vocational rehabilitation services
•    Runs a program called NSTEP (Nebraska Specialized Telecommunications Equipment Program), which issues vouchers to approved applicants to purchase specialized telecommunications equipment, such as pagers, telephones, videophones, and more
•    Loaner programs, loaning out hearing aids, TTYs, and other assistive devices
•    And much more (http://www.ncdhh.ne.gov/)

When asked what contributes to the success of NCDHH, Weverka credits the Board of NCDHH, which he feels is incredibly balanced with equal numbers of Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing people (9 members in total). “They really look out for the best interests of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people…[they’re] a great support system in helping NCDHH help others.”

After bidding Weverka and the rest of NCDHH goodbye, we headed to the Omaha Association of the Deaf. Armed with boxes of pizza and other goodies, we settled in to watch the ABC television show SuperNanny, where a Deaf family was being featured. It wasn’t even five minutes later when the DeafNation crew found out that the Deaf family on the show was also from Omaha, Nebraska!

The DeafNation crew closed up a great night with Mich Gerson and Jason Ruzicka presenting briefly on the perks of the newest videophone on the market – the Viable VPAD+! To learn more about the VPAD+, you can go to www.viable.net!