Sunday, July 25 HSF co-founder John Berry and his wife Sara, Executive Director Amanda Womac and HSF board member Terri Parsons attended an informational dinner to learn about Hands and Voices, a parent-driven, parent/professional collaborative group that supports families of deaf and/or hard-of-hearing children without bias about communication modes and methods.

Did you know that 95 percent of all deaf children are born to hearing families and that 90 percent of these families have no background in deafness or connection to the deaf community?

Before Hands and Voices started in 1992, there were very few places where families with deaf and hard-of-hearing children could go to learn more about deafness. Families had to personally attend workshops to get information or to find support. But today, families involved with Hands and Voices have access to information and a network of support in 37 states.

The Hands and Voices informational dinner featured Outreach Director and Executive Director of the Colorado chapter Janet DesGeorges, whose youngest daughter is hard of hearing. Terri Patterson, director of Georgia Hands and Voices, also spoke about what her chapter is doing to support families in her state.

The call to action came at the end when Katherine Baldwin, a mother of three hard-of-hearing children and wife to a hard-of-hearing husband, invited all attendees to help start a Tennessee chapter of Hands and Voices. To learn more about how YOU can get involved, click here or email HSF.