Favorable
Committee: Appropriations
HB 0098
The Maryland Catholic Conference is the public policy representative of the three (arch)dioceses serving Maryland, which together encompass over one million Marylanders. Statewide, their parishes, schools, hospitals, and numerous charities combine to form our state’s second largest social service provider network, behind only our state government.
House Bill 98 establishes the Deafblind Co-Navigation Services Program in the Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to provide co-navigation services to deafblind individuals in the State.
House Bill 98 aims to offer co-navigation services to deafblind individuals in the State, ensuring accessibility in communication and decision-making. The services provided by House Bill 98 include: (I) Offering visual and environmental information or sighted services to enhance communication accessibility; (II) Delivering services in the individual’s preferred language and communication mode; (III) assisting the individual in accessing their physical surroundings and making informed decisions about their environment.
Deafblindness affects approximately 2.47 million Americans, with individuals over the age of 65 constituting 63% of this community.(1) The condition creates challenges in accessing both visual and auditory information, requiring external support for understanding the surrounding environment. House Bill 98 seeks to bridge this gap by providing autonomy and decision-making power to the deafblind community. Currently, only 1,276 deafblind individuals nationwide are receiving co-navigation services.(2) The proposed program would significantly expand support, advocating for programming, services, and policies to enhance the quality of life for individuals with deafblindness. The Maryland Catholic Conference strongly supports policies that improve the lives of individuals with disabilities and believes that this program will contribute to greater equity for an underserved population.
For these reasons, the Maryland Catholic Conference asks for a favorable report on HB98. Thank you for your consideration.
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(1) https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.helenkeller.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F06%2FAmerican-Community-Survey-Data-Summaries-2021-Updated-6-24.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK
(2) https://www.nfadb.org/resources/Documents/SSP_Co-navigator%20Position%20Paper-Final.pdf