For 50 years, Communication Access Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (CAC) a 501(c)(3) organization has been the most trusted organization promoting self-sufficiency, empowering and helping integrating the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind population into mainstream society through its various programs and services created over the years. Communication Access Center for the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing, Inc. is committed to the provision of culturally competent and relevant services that include advocacy and education, community services, interpreting services, and school-based services. Programs and services at Communication Access Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. are guided by the value that we place on dignity, respect, and opportunity in all aspects of our operations. Our vision is that barriers that separate Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind persons from the hearing community will be overcome through the provision of culturally relevant services. open its doors in 1965 at the making by the invention of the TTY in 1964. TTY is a telecommunication device for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing that allows them to make telephone calls to a relay operator who speaks the text typed through the TTY from a Deaf or Hard of Hearing person into the telephone towards the end receiver of the call who is hearing. Unfortunately, the cost of TTY was significantly high making it unaffordable for most Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. A Deaf operated association called Michigan Deaf Association (MDA) brought Communication Access Center, Inc. into existence with a group of volunteers extending their services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people by working as TTY relay operator in a basement of an old house. By 1972, the volunteer group then incorporated named as Social Services for the Hearing Impaired (SSHI) as a non-profit organization made possible by receiving its first United Way grant funding. is extremely proud of our long working relationship with United Way for forty-two years. Thirteen years later SSHI expanded its program to include Senior Citizens and two short years later, a first and still the only organization in the State of Michigan that employs a full time staff American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. In 1988, SSHI entered the community-housing program by starting the first group home program geared towards for the developmentally and mentally disabled that is Deaf, Hard of Hearing or DeafBlind. Among its burgeoning scope of services were sign language classes, community interpreting (designating its first on-staff interpreter in 1985), senior citizens, community housing, and mental health assistances. In 1993, when its reach already extended beyond the city of Flint's boundaries, energized by the 1990 ratification of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the organization was eventually renamed Statewide Services for the Hearing Impaired. In 1998, SSHI was able to secure a contract with the state of Michigan to provide teacher aide services to the Michigan School for the Deaf. Not long after that, a contract to provide substitute teacher support was obtained. Currently, over thirty of our teacher aides and more than ten of our substitute teachers have been helping shape the minds of young students every year since then. In 2003, seeking to properly define its increasingly impactful organizational mission and broadening service scope, Communication Access Center Inc. was then selected as the agency's new name. The last twenty years saw CAC being an important player in ascertaining access to deaf and hard of hearing individuals everywhere, having made valuable contributions to an appeals case regarding use of interpreters in courts; disseminating Weather Alert devices; supporting the use of closed captioning during local ABC newscasts; forming a wide base of communication, social, and behavioral services; creating partnerships with local hospitals, public offices, courts, and other community-based organizations to ensure total access for our deaf and hard of hearing constituents; and allowing the use of Video Relay Services (VRS) and Video Remote Interpreting (VRI). Not only that, CAC saw formation of services geared toward each specific demographic: children ages 3 - 21, senior citizens, and everyone else in between. A perusal of the CAC brochure reveals an extensive range of opportunities for each deaf and hard of hearing individual to benefit on every level, intellectually and emotionally: enrichment classes, summer camps, Venturing Crew programs, vocational outreach, case management, referrals, consumer advocacy, monthly newsletters, Deaf Awareness/Sensitivity workshops, and many more. remains faithful to its organizational mission and continues to strive to meet each changing community need. The next forty years promises a development of many more programs and services in its ultimate goal to be a 'one-stop agency' for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind people everywhere. The community we serve, service providers and other stakeholders in the mainstream society often refer us to the champion of advocacy, resources and referral center dedicated for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind needs. It is the first place that individuals will go or call for assistance because our sign language and cultural competency that enables us to understand their pressing concerns.
