DLC Today
Twenty years later, things have changed quite a bit. Gone are the hospital’s mental health program and its participants.
A much larger and more diverse deaf population now calls the Tampa area home. (More than 340,000 out of Florida’s 800,000 deaf residents, according to the DLC.)
Accordingly, the DLC has also expanded. Pinellas Public Library Cooperative (PPLC) now administers it, with specially-trained staff providing deaf services at all of its library branches.
With the area’s current deaf population, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.
For instance, although a large percentage of the elderly develop hearing problems, they don’t come to many programs. Rodriguez says that most of them don’t learn ASL, so they want closed-captioning.
Incorporating closed-captioning and an interpreter into a one-hour program costs about $1000. Therefore, DLC presents separate programming for separate groups, recruiting sponsors for closed-captioning and interpreting.
ASL classes remain a cornerstone of DLC’s offerings. All are encouraged to attend, including the hearing. (90% of hearing parents don’t learn ASL.)
The main challenges DLC faces today are funding and space. To overcome financial challenges, DLC partners with many colleges, schools and student volunteers for pro bono services. Grants and fundraising campaigns also help.
Events organized by DLC draw people from all over the state, even as far as Miami. The library can’t fit 250 people, so most programs now take place in a local college auditorium.
Clearly, DLC provides crucial services to the deaf community that are hard to find elsewhere. “We have everything they’re lacking,” says Rodriguez, “so what better place than a library to serve deaf people?”
