The Washington, DC metropolitan area, or as some like to refer to it, the Washington-Baltimore area, is home to one of the largest concentrations of deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States. No one knows how many, but the estimate has been in the hundreds of thousands. The area is so large that if I left out something in this article that you feel should have been included, please let me know; it is hard to know where the metro DC area begins and ends.
WASHINGTON, DC
If you live in the District of Columbia itself...
CAPTIONING SERVICES
Caption Gallaudet is the only captioning service that I know of in Washington, DC. There used to be others but they moved their offices elsewhere in the region.
INTERPRETERS
DC-based interpreters can join the Potomac Chapter, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Interpreting agnecies/services in Washington, DC include:
- Gallaudet Interpreting Services
- Partners in Sign, Inc.
- Viscom Interpreting, Inc.
MOVIE THEATERS
These Washington, DC theaters have captioned films. I'm not counting the museum theaters, which have IMAX captioned films:
- AMC Mazza Galleria 7 (rear window)
- AMC Union Station 9 (rear window)
- Loews Georgetown 14 (rear window)
- Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14 (open captions)
ORGANIZATIONS
- District of Columbia Area Black Deaf Advocates (chapter of National Black Deaf Advocates)
- District of Columbia Association of the Deaf
- DC SHHH (chapter of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH))
DC is home to Gallaudet Universityand the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, a high school, and the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School. There is also a private oral charter school, the River School.
SIGN LANGUAGE
- ASL Meetup has Washington, DC chapters.
- DC public library offers sign classes
- Gallaudet University's Center for American Sign Language Literacy offers sign language classes.
- Other DC colleges also offer sign classes
RELIGION
DC is home to Tifereth Israel Congregation, a synagogue in Northwest Washington, DC that provides services for the deaf. Churches for the deaf in DC and that have services for the deaf include:
- Gallaudet University
- Bethesda Baptist Church (near Gallaudet) - 9:00 am and 10:30 am interpreted services
- Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Washington, DC (11:30 am interpreted mass)
- National Community Church - 10:30 am services at Union Station movie theaters, interpreted
SOCIAL SERVICES
- DC Public Library has a Literacy for the Deaf project, to teach deaf adults
- Deaf AIDS Action
- Deaf-Reach(residential services, mental health services, employment services, and more)
MARYLAND
Practically the entire state of Maryland is associated with the greater DC area...
CAPTIONING SERVICES
These Maryland-based captioning companies provide realtime captioning services, offline captioning, and software:
- Caption Reporters, Inc. (Camp Springs)
- Computer Prompting and Captioning Co. (Rockville)
- Pilgrim Imaging Inc. (Stevensville)
FESTIVALS
Being home to one of the largest concentrations of deaf and hard of hearing people, Maryland has its own statewide deaf festivals:
- Maryland Deaf Festival (usually at end of September in Gaithersburg)
- Maryland Deaf Exposition (run by American Deaf Exposition)
INTERPRETERS
Maryland-based interpreters can alsojoin the Potomac Chapter, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. The state is also home to several interpreting agencies:
- Birnbaum Interpreting Services (Silver Spring)
- CSD (Frederick)
- Professional Interpreter Exchange, Inc. (Laurel)
- Sign Language Associates, Inc. (Silver Spring)
MOVIE THEATERS
- AMC Columbia 14 (Baltimore, rear window)
- AMC Owings Mills (rear window captions)
- Loews Center Park 8 (rear window)
- Loews Magic Johnson Capital Center (Largo, rear window)
- Loews Rio 18 (Gaithersburg, rear window)
- Loews Wheaton Plaza 11 (Wheaton, rear window)
- Crown Harbour 9 (Annapolis, open caption)
- Regal Snowden Square (Columbia, open captions)
- Regal Westview Stadium 16 (Frederick, open captions)
- Regal Valley Mall Stadium 16 (Hagerstown, open captions)
- Regal Rockville Center Stadium 13 (Rockville, open captions)
ORGANIZATIONS
- Maryland Coalition for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a coalition of over 50 Maryland organizations for the deaf/LD/HOH.
- Frederick chapter of ASLTA
- Greater Baltimore Hearing Loss Association of America (HLA) chapter
- Montgomery County Association of the Deaf,Inc (under Maryland Assn of the Deaf)
- Montgomery HLA chapter
- Prince George's HLA chapter
RELIGION
Churches for the deaf and with services for the deaf include (this is not a comprehensive listing but a representative one):
