Provides various services for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind that are not available elsewhere.

Community Outreach Program for the Deaf | Community Outreach Program for the Deaf

A government-subsidized program that provides employment opportunities in the public and private sector during the summer months for youth age 14 through 21 whose family income does not exceed the federal poverty income guidelines. To be eligible, the youth must have a Social Security card, a legal right to work in the United States, and, if younger than age 17, a work permit. The youth must also register during the application period which takes place in the spring.

Summer Youth Employment Programs

One-stop centers that provide an array of employment and training services in a convenient, easily accessible location. Services may include job counseling, testing and assessment; resume preparation assistance, interview training and other prejob guidance services; job matching and referral; unemployment insurance and job registration; labor market and career information; information on financial aid for education and training; and referral for job training, transportation, child care, personal and financial counseling, health care and other human services resources in the community.

Comprehensive Job Assistance Centers

Programs that teach individuals with hearing impairments and others who have an interest to communicate using American Sign Language (ASL), a visual/manual communication system with its own syntax and vocabulary. ASL uses a combination of hand and body movements to represent words, ideas, objects, actions and other concepts; and is recognized as a true language in its own right. It is used extensively in the deaf community and is taught as the person's primary language with English as a second language. Also included are programs that teach preverbal infants and toddlers to use ASL as a way of communicating their needs.

American Sign Language Instruction

Programs that pay for or provide amplification equipment for people who have impaired but correctable hearing. Included are hearing aids that are placed in the canal, in the ear (ITE or intraural), or behind the ear (BTE); eyeglasses aids; body aids; and vibrotactile aids which vibrate to assist the wearer to recognize speech and increase environmental awareness.

Hearing Aids

Programs that offer hearing threshold tests for the purpose of identifying individuals whose ability to perceive sound falls outside the normal range. People who fail the screening test need an in-depth evaluation by an audiologist.

Hearing Screening

Mutual support groups whose members are people who have a disability, illness or other health condition, their families and friends. The groups meet in-person, by telephone or via the Internet; and provide an opportunity for participants to share information, resources, practical tips for daily living and encouragement about issues related to the disability or health problem.

Health/Disability Related Support Groups

Programs that offer the services of people who are proficient in sign language, one of a variety of communication systems in which hand and body movements represent words, ideas, objects, actions and other concepts, to help people who are deaf or have hearing impairments and hearing individuals communicate with one another. Included are programs for individuals who are proficient in American Sign Language (ASL), Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) as well as those who use systems like Signed Exact English (SEE), Conceptually Accurate Signed English (CASE) which involve manually coded English, signed French which involve manually coded French, cued speech in which words spoken by lips are supplemented by cues which aid speech reading, and oral transliteration in which words spoken by an individual are silently mouthed to the deaf person accompanied by appropriate facial expressions and gestures to facilitate conveyance of the information. Sign language interpreters interpret in two ways: voice-to-sign and sign-to-voice. Voice-to-sign means the interpreter is signing to the deaf person what the speaker is saying. Sign-to-voice means the interpreter is voicing to the hearing person what the deaf person is signing. Some individuals want an interpreter who can perform both roles. Others prefer to speak for themselves and limit the interpreter's role to signing to them.

Sign Language Interpretation

Mutual support groups whose members are individuals who have a disorder involving the use of drugs including prescription drugs and over-the-counter medication. The groups meet in-person, by telephone or via the Internet; provide emotional support, information and resources to help participants overcome their disorder; and may include faith-based and secular 12-step groups as well as non-12 step groups, and groups for anesthetists, pharmacists, psychologists, physicians or other health care professionals who are recovering from a drug use disorder.

Drug Use Disorder Support Groups

Mutual support groups whose members are individuals who have or are at risk of an alcohol use disorder. The groups meet in-person, by telephone or via the Internet; provide emotional support, information and resources to help participants overcome their disorder; and may include faith-based and secular 12-step groups as well as non-12 step groups, and groups for anesthetists, pharmacists, psychologists, physicians or other health care professionals who are recovering from an alcohol use disorder.

Alcohol Use Disorder Support Groups

Programs that develop plans for the evaluation, treatment and/or care of individuals who, because of age, illness, disability or other difficulties, need assistance in planning and arranging for services; which assess the individual's needs; coordinate the delivery of needed services; ensure that services are obtained in accordance with the case plan; and follow up and monitor progress to ensure that services are having a beneficial impact on the individual. Case management is a collaborative process characterized by communication, advocacy and resource management to promote high quality, cost-effective interventions and outcomes.

Case/Care Management

Provides information and referrals to services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, DeafBlind, speech-impaired, their families, professionals, and other interested people. Advocates on behalf of consumers when needed. Also, license sign language interpreter, offers sign language interpretations and telecommunication relay services.

Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing | Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing

Programs that intercede on behalf of individuals to help them establish eligibility for or obtain needed services when they have been denied benefits or services for which they are eligible, when they need assistance to communicate their needs to a service provider or to otherwise effectively represent themselves, or when they have a complaint about a service. Individual advocacy attempts to reach equitable settlements without resorting to litigation and seeks to meet individual needs without attempting to change social institutions.

Individual Advocacy

The principal executive divisions of state government in the United States including state offices, departments, divisions, bureaus, boards and commissions, that are responsible, by law, for the management and control of public business and property.

State Government Agencies/Departments

Programs that establish and enforce licensing and certification standards for the trades and professions that are subject to regulation, review applications for licenses, administer examinations to demonstrate competency, issue or deny licenses and/or revoke licenses and certificates or take disciplinary action for noncompliance with standards.

Occupational/Professional Licensing and Certification

Programs that allow people who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech impairments to communicate through a communications assistant with people who use a standard telephone or the Internet. The communications assistant relays TTY (text telephone or telecommunications device for deaf and hard of hearing individuals) to the telephone user and types that person's response back to the TTY user. Three options when using a telephone relay service are voice carry-over (VCO), hearing carry-over (HCO) and speech-to-speech (STS).  VCO allows a person with a hearing impairment to speak directly to the other party and then read the response typed by a communications assistant. HCO allows a person with a speech impairment to hear the other party and relay the TTY response back to the telephone user through the communications assistant. STS provides assistance for people with speech disabilities who have difficulty being understood on the phone. STS communications assistants are specially trained in understanding a variety of speech disorders, which enables them to repeat what the caller says in a manner that makes the caller’s words clear and understandable to the called party. The relay service allows individuals with communication disorders to communicate with all telephone users. Telecommunication relay services can be reached by dialing 711. 

Telecommunication Relay Services

Programs that provide information about the causes and origins, preventive measures, symptoms, screening/diagnostic procedures, and/or methods of treatment or management including the latest research for specific illnesses or disabling conditions.

Disease/Disability Information

Provides services for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, Deaf-Blind, and late-deafened. Services include interpreting, job placement, rehabilitation and independent living skills training, and employment-related counseling.

Valley Center of the Deaf | Valley Center of the Deaf

Programs that seek out and create job opportunities in various fields for individuals with special needs, limitations and abilities. Activities may include development of jobs that can be done in a home setting; development of markets for crafts and other items produced in the home; and identification of other work projects of benefit to the community that individuals with special needs, limitations and abilities are uniquely qualified to pursue.

Special Needs Job Development

Programs that assist people who have disabilities to learn the basic skills of daily living through individual and group counseling and instruction, experience and practice in coping with real or simulated life situational demands; or through the use of assistive devices, special equipment and specialized assistants. Services include but are not limited to training in the ability to travel about the community alone; to live independently in a private residence; to maintain health through self-care and use of medical services; to live within personal income; to maintain acceptable grooming and appearance; to deal with legal, family or social problems; and to cope with other requirements for successful independent living.