AG Bell Association - "Empowers hearing impaired individuals to function independently by promoting universal rights and opportunities to learn to use, maintain and improve all aspects of their verbal communication, including their abilities to speak, speechread, use residual hearing and process both spoken and written language."
American Foundation for the Blind - A information and referral resource for people who are blind or visually impaired, the organizations and individuals that serve them, and the general public. Serves as a national advocate representing the interests of blind and visually impaired people before Congress and government agencies.
Hearing Loss Association of America - Formerly known as "Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc"., Hearing Loss Association of America is a consumer, educational organization devoted to the welfare and interests of those who cannot hear well, their relatives and friends. SHHH has 12,000 National members and 9,000 chapter members in all 50 states. It acts as a "catalysts that make mainstream society more accessible to people who are hard of hearing. We strive to improve the quality of hard of hearing people's lives through education, advocacy and self help."
Independent Living Resources - Links to: state associations, statewide independent living councils, state-by-state and international listing of independent living centers with web sites. The site also includes resources on such topics as independent living and traditional paradigms; an orientation to independent living centers; and language issues such as You and I, Time to Get Rid of "Special"?
National Association of the Deaf - "Safeguards the accessibility and civil rights of 28 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans in a variety of areas including education, employment, health care and social services, and telecommunications." 51 state association affiliates, sponsoring and organizational affiliates, and direct members.
Programs and activities include:
- grassroots advocacy and empowerment
- captioned media
- certification of American Sign Language professionals
- certification of sign language interpreters
- deafness-related information and publications
- legal assistance
- policy development and research
- public awareness
- youth leadership development
National Federation of the Blind - (NFB) has affiliates in 50 fifty states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Consumer and advocacy organization which "helps people who are blind achieve self-confidence and self-respect and to act as a vehicle for collective self-expression by the blind. By providing public education about blindness, information and referral services, scholarships, literature and publications about blindness, aids and appliances and other adaptive equipment for the blind, advocacy services and protection of civil rights, Job Opportunities for the Blind, development and evaluation of technology, and support for blind persons and their families, members of the NFB strive to educate the public that the blind are normal individuals who can compete on terms of equality."
National Parent Network on Disabilities - (NPND) provides a presence and national voice for families of children, youth and adults with disabilities. [No longer operational or updated]
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