Posted on [post_published]
EHDI Reauthorization Passed!
NAD Education Policy Counsel Tawny Holmes shares good news regarding the EHDI Reauthorization.
https://www.nad.org/2017/10/11/ehdi-reauthorization-passed/
Video: https://youtu.be/6TdGf8t-jCwVIDEO DESCRIPTION AND TRANSCRIPT: Tawny is standing in front of a green plant inside. A small white NAD logo appears on bottom right corner. TAWNY: Remember the federal bill for EHDI (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention)? We sent out several videos and alerts asking you to contact your Congressional representative to let them know you want the EHDI bill to be changed in a positive way. Well, good news! The EHDI bill with our changes has now passed both sides of the Congress! First the Senate, and then the House of Representatives passed the amended EHDI bill. Now it’s on way to the President’s desk for his signature before it becomes law. Your willingness to contact your Congressional representative truly made a difference. With your support of our amendments, the U.S. Congress decided that we were correct that language acquisition was important for deaf babies. These amendments added three changes: requirements for language acquisition assessments; requirements for families to receive services in both oral and visual modalities (which means how you express and receive language: signing, writing, reading, spoken, and other ways) and requirements for provision of Deaf mentors to families. All three changes are very important. And who made it happen? YOU and all of us! You contacted Congress and let them know you supported the NAD amendments. We thank you! Why? Congressional representatives actually contacted us and said, “I’m a senator and people contacted me, so can you tell me more about the NAD amendments?” That led to open communication between us at NAD and Congressional representatives. So again, thank you! We really appreciate your time and work. We also look forward to continuing our work to further change the EHDI law, as we are not finished. Let’s continue collaborating so we can make more changes and improve the system for our deaf children! Right? Yes! Video fades to a soft white background with several different font types showing “NAD” very quickly. Copyright video ends with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) logo centered. Blue text below the logo appears, “A production of the National Association of the Deaf (copyright) 2017 All Rights Reserved”.