Services

Housing

Named after the 19th century “Deaf Utopia” island in Massachusetts, the Martha’s Vineyard Place is an affordable housing accessible to the Deaf, hard of hearing and Deaf-blind. The innovated apartments do more than integrating the Deaf and hard of hearing individuals; it allows both preservation of their heritage and elimination of barriers.

Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals face barriers daily due to a lack of services and effective communication that require education and support. That’s where our Deaf and Hard of Hearing Access Specialists come in to provide advocacy, self-empowerment, and sensitivity training as well as education on Federal and State mandates on equal access to services including educational and employment settings.

Seniors

Because Deaf senior citizens are as important, the program ensures and encourages the growth of the growing and active Deaf adult population through interactive activities, trips, and special events. Conveniently, transportation (requested in advance) is provided for the Deaf seniors. The program also offers on-site information and referral services.

Our American Sign Language program is ready to serve our community by providing ASL classes that cover individual sign vocabulary, fingerspelling, grammar, syntax, and deaf culture. Everyone picks up new languages at different speeds, and our instructor is patient and friendly and will help you learn the language at a pace that works for you.

Interpreting

Deaf-run interpreting department provides only certified, qualified sign language interpreters in a wide range of settings. Services include in-person (on location) interpretation services, VRI, and CART. Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) is where the Deaf and hearing persons are in the same room with the interpreting done remotely through a video platform. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART), also known as real-time captioning or live-event captioning, is where qualified CART interpreters transcribe spoken English into accurate English text on a screen. The department is dedicated to delivering equal communication access for the Deaf and hard of hearing community and helping fulfill DAC’s mission.