Indiana bill sparks debate in deaf community

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Indiana bill sparks debate in deaf community - 13 WTHR Indianapolis


Many people from Indiana's deaf and hard of hearing community converged on the Statehouse Thursday.

They were there to debate a bill that would take the outreach and consultation services out of the Indiana School for the Deaf and set up a new Center for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Education in the state.

The bill has proven to be very controversial and represents one of the few instances where the Daniels administration is proposing the expansion of government. Representatives of ISD feel they're being left out of the debate.

"They don't tell us who the experts they consulted were. They don't tell us much of anything at all. What we do know is that experts in deaf education at ISD were only minimally consulted. Here is the one-page document that was used to work with the experts at ISD," said Bert Pickell.

The bill assigns the Office of Management and Budget to handle the transition. If it passes, the new center would not be operational until the next budget.