Below is a script to use when emailing and calling your legislators. Do this today, tomorrow and Monday. Add your personal stories as well. Send this to your family and friends to do the same.

The emails of all the representatives are listed below. Be sure to call and send you district representatives a personal email. You can find your district representative on IAD’s website, www.iadhoosiers.org.

Your Name, Address, and Phone Number

Script:
Please register my opposition to HB 1367 and Vote NO to this bill. Rather than revamp…enhance already existing services at ISD’s Outreach.

This bill is NOT about parent Choice of options and services when it comes to Outreach services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children. It is about gutting one state agency that is an expert in Deaf Education and Early Intervention, the Indiana School for the Deaf Outreach, to replace it with an unknown, unplanned, and unfunded agency under the SOLE direction of the Office of Management and Budget with no accountability to anyone.

This bill was based upon NO official OMB report on ISD’s Outreach and NO accurate fiscal analysis. This bill aims to gut ISD’s Outreach by reinventing the wheel with NO Plan instead of simply enhancing services that are already provided through ISD’s Outreach. This bill is not a Study Group…this bill creates a team SOLELY administered and overseen by OMB who has full authority to hire who they want and place this center wherever they like. This bill seriously leaves out Deaf/ASL Professionals. Deaf children WILL fall through the cracks without Deaf professionals.

* ASL means American Sign Language. A full language comparable to any spoken language.

FACTS:

• ISD’s Outreach Holds NO Bias and DOES meet the resource needs of ALL Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in Indiana. Deaf professionals work along hearing professionals to provide Best Practices in Early Intervention and Education.
• ISD’s Outreach already works with DOE, DOH, FSSA, Early Steps, and even a private religious oral school called St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf.
• ISD’s Outreach is separate from ISD “the school”. Don’t let them throw you off: ISD’s test scores are low because many students who are in mainstream who are failing get enrolled at ISD at a late ages…8, 12, 15 etc., many times middle school. By this time, they are so far behind in language and academics that it is almost impossible to catch them up. ISD tries its best BUT this still pulls ISD’s state test scores down. Those students that start at ISD at an early age, on the average, do VERY well on their state testing. So don’t be fooled. ISD is one of the top schools for the Deaf in the nation.
• 90% of Deaf children come from hearing families. 80% are mainstreamed. There is N0 data on how many use ASL or spoken language or both.
• Cochlear implants are not a cure. Many children with cochlear implants will not benefit from them or will later stop using them. The cochlear implant removes all hearing and when the cochlear implant breaks down or batteries fail, the child is left without any residual hearing.
• St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf who provide services for ages 0 to 8 and Hear Indiana organization are advocate for oral only education and Outreach. This small private school does not provide for any ASL and in fact prohibits its use. ISD’s Outreach is inclusive of all approaches, languages, and opportunities for all ages of Deaf and Hard of Hearing from ages 0 to 21.

Please vote responsibly…..Vote NO.

Thank You,
Your Name

Cut and paste…Put your name in the To: and then put these addresses (below) in the Bcc:. Include your name, address, and phone number.

h1@in.gov; h2@in.gov; h3@in.gov; h4@in.gov; h5@in.gov; h6@in.gov; h7@in.gov; h8@in.gov; h9@in.gov; h10@in.gov; h11@in.gov; h12@in.gov; h13@in.gov; h14@in.gov; h15@in.gov; h16@in.gov; h17@in.gov; h18@in.gov; h19@in.gov; h20@in.gov; h21@in.gov; h22@in.gov; h23@in.gov; h24@in.gov; h25@in.gov; h26@in.gov; h27@in.gov; h28@in.gov; h29@in.gov; h30@in.gov; h31@in.gov; h32@in.gov; h33@in.gov; h34@in.gov; h35@in.gov; h36@in.gov; h37@in.gov; h38@in.gov; h39@in.gov; h40@in.gov; h41@in.gov; h42@in.gov; h43@in.gov; h44@in.gov; h45@in.gov; h46@in.gov; h47@in.gov; h48@in.gov; h49@in.gov; h50@in.gov; h51@in.gov; h52@in.gov; h53@in.gov; h54@in.gov; h55@in.gov; h56@in.gov; h57@in.gov; h58@in.gov; h59@in.gov; h60@in.gov; h61@in.gov; h62@in.gov; h63@in.gov; h64@in.gov; h65@in.gov; h66@in.gov; h67@in.gov; h68@in.gov; h69@in.gov; h70@in.gov; h71@in.gov; h72@in.gov; h73@in.gov; h74@in.gov; h75@in.gov; h76@in.gov; h77@in.gov; h78@in.gov; h79@in.gov; h80@in.gov; h81@in.gov; h82@in.gov; h83@in.gov; h84@in.gov; h85@in.gov; h86@in.gov; h87@in.gov; h88@in.gov; h89@in.gov; h90@in.gov; h91@in.gov; h92@in.gov; h93@in.gov; h94@in.gov; h95@in.gov; h96@in.gov; h97@in.gov; h98@in.gov; h99@in.gov; h100@in.gov