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Advocate for deaf leads fight | news-press.com | The News-Press
Twenty years after the Americans with Disabilities Act’s passage, Fort Myers resident Lisa Myhand believes the public still needs more education about people with disabilities and their challenges. Myhand runs into discrimination when people learn she is hard of hearing.
“My goal is to reduce discrimination and tear down the barriers for the deaf,” said Myhand, who teaches parents how to read to deaf children at the Deaf Service Center of Southwest Florida. “I want people to know we’re just like you. We can do the same things as you. We just can’t hear.”
Myhand, who has worked at the Deaf Service Center for the past eight years, said Lee County has adapted well to ADA but there are some places for improvement.
“We still have issues with lack of (sign language) interpreters at doctor’s offices,” Myhand said through an interpreter. “Some doctors will provide one. Some doctors refuse to have one.”
Myhand is thankful for the Deaf Service Center of Southwest Florida, which provides free specialized adaptive telephone equipment to deaf Florida residents. The equipment includes tone control phones and increased volume and visual phone signalers.
The Deaf Service Center was also integral in getting local television stations to use closed captioning during disasters. The captioning, for instance, helped the hearing impaired when Hurricane Charley, a category 4 storm, churned through Southwest Florida in 2004.
Twenty years after the Americans with Disabilities Act’s passage, Fort Myers resident Lisa Myhand believes the public still needs more education about people with disabilities and their challenges. Myhand runs into discrimination when people learn she is hard of hearing.
“My goal is to reduce discrimination and tear down the barriers for the deaf,” said Myhand, who teaches parents how to read to deaf children at the Deaf Service Center of Southwest Florida. “I want people to know we’re just like you. We can do the same things as you. We just can’t hear.”
Myhand, who has worked at the Deaf Service Center for the past eight years, said Lee County has adapted well to ADA but there are some places for improvement.
“We still have issues with lack of (sign language) interpreters at doctor’s offices,” Myhand said through an interpreter. “Some doctors will provide one. Some doctors refuse to have one.”
Myhand is thankful for the Deaf Service Center of Southwest Florida, which provides free specialized adaptive telephone equipment to deaf Florida residents. The equipment includes tone control phones and increased volume and visual phone signalers.
The Deaf Service Center was also integral in getting local television stations to use closed captioning during disasters. The captioning, for instance, helped the hearing impaired when Hurricane Charley, a category 4 storm, churned through Southwest Florida in 2004.