SOCIAL SERVICES
One of the most important social services agencies is the Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Statewide, services are available through the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing state agency.
SCHOOLS
Virginia has a state school, the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (VSDB), in Staunton. Staunton is not part of Northern Virginia, but deaf children from Northern Virginia may attend school at VSDB.
Fairfax County in Northern Virginia offers three center programs based on communication options:
- Camelot (oral)
- Canterbury Woods (cued speech)
- Mantua (total communication)
Middle school is at Frost Middle School, and high school at Woodson High School.
Loudoun County has its own services for deaf. I know that Prince William county already has services for the deaf. Arlington and Alexandria reportedly continue to send deaf students to Kendall, and do not have deaf education programs.
AREAWIDE
Still more organizations and activities are available that invite participation from people from all over the metro DC area, and these are assigned to the category of Areawide:
Areawide Organizations
- ADARA Washington, DC chapter (for rehabilitation professionals)
- ALDA Potomac (late-deafened)
- ASL Dinners (meetings at restaurants)
- Capital Metropolitan Rainbow Alliance (for the regional deaf LGBT community)
- Children of Deaf Adults, and Kids of Deaf Adults have metro DC area chapters
- Deaf Professional Happy Hour
- Greater Washington Asian Deaf Association
- Deaf Worldwide Expo, Washington, DC
- Latino Deaf and Hard of Hearing Association of the Metropolitan DC area
- Metro Washington Assn of the DeafBlind
- Metropolitan Washington Deaf Community Center
- National Capital Hearing Dog Association (meets at the NVRC)
- NTID and Gallaudet alumni associations
- Washington Society for Jewish Deaf
- Washington, DC Deaf Exposition
Areawide Services
- Georgetown University Hospital has a Kids Clinic for the Deaf, which provides health care for deaf children and children in deaf families.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS BASED IN DC AREA
Last but not least, the metro DC area is home to many if not most, of the nation's deaf and hard of hearing organizations. A deaf tourist visiting the DC region could get acquainted with all of these organizations...
- Alexander Graham Bell Assn for the Deaf (DC)
- American Association of the DeafBlind (Silver Spring)
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (Rockville)
- Better Hearing Institute (Alexandria)
- Deaf Abused Women's Network (DC)
- Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government (does not have an office)
- NAD (silver spring)
- National Deaf Business Institute (Silver Spring, no office yet?)
- Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (Alexandria)
- Hearing Loss Association of America (Bethesda)
- TDI (Silver Spring)
