Mission Statement: AZADB's Mission is to provide support to individuals who have a combined vision and hearing loss, or are completely deaf-blind in the areas of self-advocacy, independent living, recreation & leisure, assistive technology and community access. One of our main goals is to help Deaf-Blind members and non-members live richer and fuller lives through the acquisition of assistive technologies, advocacy and by providing recreation and leisure activities that have been tailored to ensure accessibility for the Deaf-Blind. (See lists of activities under the events page.)

MEMBERSHIP DIVERSITY: Our members have varying levels of Deaf-Blindness or Combined Hearing & Vision Loss. Some of our members are completely Deaf-Blind while others have some combination of hearing and vision loss. Additionally, we have some members who are Deaf-Blind and have additional disabilities such as mild retardation and Cerebral Palsy.

A deaf-blind woman waits outside of her house for a taxi to bring her to a meeting.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES & CHALLENGES: The communication methods used by our members during our activities vary greatly. Some use:

Tactile-sign-language,

Text-based systems produced in large print,

Visual sign language produced at close range

Braille-based systems

A combination of the above methods used in conjunction with speech produced at higher volumes.

 

It is a great challenge during our meetings to meet the communication and information access needs of the individual so they may fully participate and contribute. Without the help of Assistive Technology and Individual Support Service Providers (SSPs) we would not be able conduct our meetings.

A deaf-blind woman's hands are reading on a 80 column Braille display during a meeting.

 

Executive Board Members:

President: Ed Gervasoni - gerv57@AOL.com

Vice President: Andre Hibbert - ahibbert21@hotmail.com

Treasurer: Myra Davis - davis7334@q.com

Secretary: Antonio Silva - ajbsilva@email.arizona.edu

Events Coordinator: Roma Vanduzer - vanduzer@earthlink.net

SSP Representative: Alli Gubanich - alligub@gmail.com