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Hearings to prepare state's blind and deaf schools for possible closure

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

(Updated 4:39 am)

By
Associated Press

WILSON (AP) — Public school leaders are looking for public input as they figure out which of North Carolina's three schools for the deaf and blind should close next year.

The Department of Public Instruction holds the second of three public hearings in Wilson, the home of the Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf. The hearing will be at Barton College this evening.

Officials were at the North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton earlier this week.

This year's state budget requires the closing of either one of those residential special-needs schools or the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh.

The three schools educate a total of about 220 students.

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Nesmuth

September 22, 2011 - 12:47 pm EDT

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which covers public entities like government bodies and business like public schools is responsible for making all public schools accessible to people with hearing disabilities so they don't have to go to costly specialized education programs for the deaf. Its high time we make all public schools accessible to deaf people so we can eliminate the need for pricey deaf schools. Society needs to come to their common sense and parents need to start being their deaf children's advocates by making their nearest public schools accessible to deaf students. Don't forget the newer deaf generations are being raised with new technology that makes them readily interfaceble with their hearing peers and the costs of accommodating these are far less than the costs of accommodating the "Generation X" deafies for which these expensive schools are designed for.