Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Deaf Access marks anniversary
With help from the Quota Club of Orillia and others, Deaf Access Simcoe (DAS) celebrated its first anniversary of providing services to this community.
“It’s key,” says Peggy Norton-Harris, who has run the Orillia DAS branch since it opened April 4, 2007. “Without the monies from the Quota Club, we would not be able to have the Orillia satellite office, and the people living in the area with a hearing loss would have significant difficulty receiving the assistance they require.”
About 15,000 area residents are hard of hearing or deafened, she explains. Because the main challenge between the deaf community and the hearing community is communication (often, neither sign language nor English are common ground), DAS works to assign interpreters and note-takers when necessary.
“We provide general counseling, information, referrals, community development, and work to increase the awareness of issues connected to hearing loss – primarily with communication access,” she adds.
With its head office in Barrie, DAS has also recently opened an additional satellite office in Collingwood.
In Orillia, the office is co-located with Information Orillia on the lower level of the mall at 33 Mississaga Street. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Thursday.
“We are so thrilled,” says Jean Eyre, president of Quota Club’s charitable association.
“They wanted to open the office in Orillia and we wanted to support them as much as possible.”
It is an effort in keeping with the club’s mandate to support deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired individuals, and disadvantaged women and children, says Eyre.
A current fundraising initiative has the club selling its new recipe book, Cooking with Quota!
With help from the Quota Club of Orillia and others, Deaf Access Simcoe (DAS) celebrated its first anniversary of providing services to this community.
“It’s key,” says Peggy Norton-Harris, who has run the Orillia DAS branch since it opened April 4, 2007. “Without the monies from the Quota Club, we would not be able to have the Orillia satellite office, and the people living in the area with a hearing loss would have significant difficulty receiving the assistance they require.”
About 15,000 area residents are hard of hearing or deafened, she explains. Because the main challenge between the deaf community and the hearing community is communication (often, neither sign language nor English are common ground), DAS works to assign interpreters and note-takers when necessary.
“We provide general counseling, information, referrals, community development, and work to increase the awareness of issues connected to hearing loss – primarily with communication access,” she adds.
With its head office in Barrie, DAS has also recently opened an additional satellite office in Collingwood.
In Orillia, the office is co-located with Information Orillia on the lower level of the mall at 33 Mississaga Street. It is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Thursday.
“We are so thrilled,” says Jean Eyre, president of Quota Club’s charitable association.
“They wanted to open the office in Orillia and we wanted to support them as much as possible.”
It is an effort in keeping with the club’s mandate to support deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired individuals, and disadvantaged women and children, says Eyre.
A current fundraising initiative has the club selling its new recipe book, Cooking with Quota!