Exploring the History of Advocacy for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals

Read below an article by our parent leader Clark Corogenes as he shares about The Museum of Deaf History, Arts & Culture in Olathe, Kansas. This article was originally shared in The Whole Person Deaf Services Newsletter (Dec 2022).

Parent leader Clark Corogenes (far right) with PLTI KC founder Julie Holland and other allies at The Museum of Deaf History, Arts & Culture.

Saturday, November 12, 2022. Clark Corogenes ILA hosted a private docent tour at Museum Deaf History, Arts & Culture in Olathe, Kansas.  MO legislatures were invited along with staff from Parent Leadership Training Institute-Kansas City (PLTI-KC), MCDHH’s executive director, MO Association of the Deaf (MoAD) Region 1 representatives, and their families.

The deaf museum provides a realistic perspective to all who visit.  One of the goals is to help provide a better understanding as to why throughout our history many education systems, medical systems, and even some hearing parents have failed to provide DHH child access to languages and communication. The museum identifies barriers in our systems and how they negatively impact DHH in academics and employment.

For several months TWP Deaf Services, MoAD, PLTI-KC, and MCDHH have been working with MO legislatures to create a proposal for a new bill, Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K), it explains the importance of language developmental milestones in early childhood for those who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) as well as provides formal resources, early language assessments, and provide early ASL-English mentors for hearing parents with their DHH child with kindergarten readiness.

You can visit and free to learn more at the museum in Johnson County, Kansas, and website: https://www.museumofdeaf.org/.