Services We Provide
    Communication Access services will include:
  1. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services
  2. Accessible rehabilitation and mental health counseling for individual and group sessions
  3. Speechreading classes and sign language classes
  4. Providing psychological and technological education of hearing loss issues through workshops, seminars, and presentations
  5. Assisting in the funding of other non-profit organizations that focus on hearing loss issues
  6. Advocating for accessible communication access
  7. Promoting awareness and education of hearing loss issues in our society

CART Services

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is a word-for-word speech-to-text interpreting service for people who need communication access.  A Certified CART Provider provides instant translation on a computer monitor or other display utilizing a computer, a stenograph machine, and special translation software to provide this service.  CART services are provided for the benefit of an individual consumer or larger group of consumers in a number of settings.

CAI provides CART services for non-profit organizations in the Tampa Bay area and beyond.   Support groups, such as Hearing Loss Association of America chapters and Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA), require CART services in order to facilitate communication and to provide communication access during their meetings. 

We also provide CART services for speechreading classes, rehabilitation counseling, mental health counseling, meetings, workshops, seminars, conventions, and fundraising events to assist other non-profit organizations.

Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling

CAI will provide rehabilitation and mental health individual and group counseling for people with hearing loss.  Our Licensed Mental Health and Rehabilitation Counselors, Lois Maroney and Terri Pendleton, are specially trained counselors who have years of experience in counseling people with all types of hearing loss and are fluent in sign language.  Lois Maroney is also a Late Deafened Adult, has years of experience with hearing loss, and can share her successful coping skills with others.

In addition to the Culturally Deaf population (those born Deaf and have acquired sign language skills), there are many people who lose their hearing later in life, with no direction or guidance or services to assist them with adjusting to their new disability.  The physical and emotional aspects of losing your hearing can become devastating personally, professionally, and financially, especially when coupled with other mental and physical issues.

To call attention to the importance of the need for counselors who are educated in hearing loss issues, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) published a position statement with regard to “Mental Health Services for People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.”

“The purpose of this position statement is to acknowledge and emphasize the importance and need for direct communication, sensitivity to cultural affiliation, and sensitivity to the psychosocial impact of hearing loss in the delivery of mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse services to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened, and deaf-blind in every state throughout the country.”

“The NAD recommends that individuals with hearing loss be referred to specially trained providers whenever and wherever possible….”

To read the entire policy statement, please visit www.NAD.com.

Education

CAI will provide classes to assist people with hearing loss, such as speechreading classes, sign language classes, hearing loss strategies classes, etc.  We will also conduct seminars and workshops at hearing loss conventions and other venues to educate consumers on issues related to hearing loss.

Advocacy

CAI will advocate on behalf of people with hearing loss to find solutions to communication barriers and ensure communication access in various environments in our society.