2006 Report to the Community Annual Report

Employee and Community Services

In 2006 we finalized our Deaf-Blind Program strategic planning process and initiated the planning process for services offered to blind adults.  The full plan is available upon request.  The ECS planning process is focused on the services we provide to blind and developmentally-disabled blind individuals. This process began in November 2006 and wrapped up in February 2007. We are currently reviewing input from our stakeholders and developing recommendations for future service.

In addition to completing our Deaf-Blind strategic planning process and launching our ECS strategic plan, we achieved the following:

We opened our pilot Computer Training Program for blind adults in fall 2006 with 26 individuals completing the pre-qualifying exam for training.

Orientation and Mobility specialists delivered a high number of service hours, 1686, to 148 blind and Deaf-Blind individuals.

Our Orientation and Mobility staff maintained our excellent relationship with Metro Transit Services through the delivery of timely and high quality services to Metro riders. Metro has been so pleased with our services that they are seeking funding to continue our partnership in the next biennium.

We expanded our Housing Support Services to meet the needs of blind employees relocating to Seattle. Our priority is serving blind and Deaf-Blind adults relocating to work at the Lighthouse.

Jodie O’Flaherty became the new supervisor to our Supported Employment Program for blind and Deaf-Blind adults with developmental disabilities.

Jackie Matthews filled the position of Interpreting Services supervisor. Jackie has worked as a certified interpreter for over 20 years in the Seattle Deaf-Blind community.

We streamlined our interpreter scheduling process by launching a new web-based scheduling program, Gridcheck, allowing our interpreting department to operate more efficiently and effectively.

We filled three essential staff positions: Karen Park joined our staff as Deaf-Blind Community Class coordinator, Joey Graff joined ECS as training and development coordinator, and Suzette Ledet became our Deaf-Blind employee support specialist & recruiter.

Five American Sign Language interpreting students completed Lighthouse internships in 2006. Each one of them has continued to stay in touch and support our programs

Deaf-Blind Community Class offered valuable information on a range of topics including: Emergency Preparedness, Election Issues, and Self Defense. The Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing provided an update about their services for Deaf Blind people. Best of all was a series of travel stories from Deaf-Blind people who traveled to Hawaii, Africa, and Israel.  

We hosted Carol Padden, an internationally known Deaf linguist/anthropologist, at Community Class. She gave us a special, informal lecture and the whole community was enthralled, particularly with her beautiful American Sign Language (ASL) and extensive knowledge and background. We hope to make this kind of event an annual tradition!

We provided 16 Group Technology Training Classes to the Deaf-Blind Community during spring in addition to our regular one-on-one classes. These were very successful and popular.

The following programs are part of the Employee and Community Services (ECS) Department:

• Supported Employment Program
• Computer Training Program
• Orientation, Mobility and Housing Services
• Interpreting Services
• Deaf-Blind Program

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