Local and Federal Resources
Local Organizations:
Assistive Technology Program for the District of Columbia: Provides demonstrations of hearing assistive and alertive technology.
DC Department on Disability Services (DDS): Provides the residents of the District of Columbia with information, oversight and coordination of services for people with disabilities and those who support them, such as service providers and employers.
DC Office on Aging: Develops and carries out a comprehensive and coordinated system of health, education, employment, and social services for the District’s older adults (60 years and older), persons living with disabilities (18 to 59 years old), and their caregivers.
Federal/International Resources:
Americans with Disabilities Act: Legislation that prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Resources about noise-induced hearing loss.
Department of Defense Hearing Center of Excellence: Leads a collaborative effort to address the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, research, and rehabilitation of hearing loss and impairment, including audio-vestibular dysfunction often related to traumatic brain injury.
Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration: Provides leadership and resources to assist state and other agencies in providing vocational rehabilitation(VR) and other services to individuals with disabilities to maximize their employment, independence and integration into the community and the competitive labor market.
Department of Veterans Affairs: Provides information, services, and compensation for veterans with hearing loss.
Disability.gov: Promotes an inclusive workforce and increases in employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Federal Communications Commission: Addresses a variety of disability-related telecommunications matters, including telecommunications relay service, access to telecommunications equipment and services for people with disabilities, access to emergency information and closed captioning. The FCC also provides expert advice and assistance to consumers, industry and others on issues relevant to people with disabilities.
Food and Drug Administration: Regulates the sales of hearing aids and implantable devices.
National Institute on Aging: Leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: One of the institutes that compose the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Focuses national attention on disorders and dysfunctions of human communication; contributes to advances in biomedical and behavioral research to improve the lives of the millions of people with a communication disorder.
National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research: Sponsors grantees to generate new disability and rehabilitation knowledge and promote its use and adoption.
For a more complete list of national resources and organizations that provide services to people with hearing loss, please visit the national HLAA website.
If you know any local resources that we have missed, please send a note to [email protected] and we will add them to this list.