Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students Experience College

Because of the generosity of people like you, AEF is able to provide grants for which there is no other source of funding. Some of these gifts, while modest in dollar amount, can change lives, like for these deaf and hard-of-hearing students who learned about accommodations on campuses that can make their dreams to attend college a reality.

With a grant from AEF, teachers Jessica Serrano, Mary Grace Basco and Jennifer Watt were able to take deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students from Alameda High, Encinal High, and ASTI (Alameda Science & Technology Institute) on a field trip to San Francisco State University. The group took a tour of the college and then met with staff from the Disability Programs and Resource Center to learn about what accommodations are available to college students with a hearing difference and how to advocate for those accommodations in the university setting. While on their tour, they heard about the latest assistive technology that is available to provide better auditory access in the classroom, learned about advancements in speech-to-text for better note taking, and tried out a new free app called AVA for open captioning. The whole group had a delicious lunch on campus and explored the Gator bookstore getting a taste of college life before heading back to Alameda.

Thanks to our generous donors, these students got to experience the reality that college is available to them in spite of their differences, greatly expanding the horizons of their futures.