Advocates push NJ to keep $1M fund for those with hearing loss

By: Gene Myers
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... As various groups vie for support in an increasingly tight state budget, a group of New Jersey advocates are pushing to extend a nearly $1 million program to help New Jerseyans with hearing loss.
..... The initiative provided funding to 13 counties last year [2022] to add assistive hearing devices, captioning and American Sign Language interpreters in libraries, government offices and other public spaces. But it so far hasn't been included in current budget plans, which must be adopted by June 20 [2023] in time for the 2024 fiscal year.
..... Accessibility options for those who are hard of hearing have long been overlooked, keeping too many in the community stuck at home, said Arlene Romoff, a Hackensack resident who slot her hearing as an adult.
..... "That's an entire class of people who are not participating in our communities right now who could be," she said in an interview.
..... In an effort to mitigate the problem, the state Department of human Services cobbled together $944,000 in money left over from other programs last year, [2022] Romoff said. Thirteen counties applied and used the money to bring some local libraries, police stations and other offices in line with the requirements of the American with Disabilities Act.
..... Passaic County received $75,000 to have sign language interpreters and captioning on video feeds available at important county meetings. It also planed to update its office with inductions lopping wiring that picks up sound and transmits it to hearing ads and cochlear implants.
..... When Catherine O'Shea, whose hearing loss followed a car crash, moved from Hunterdon County to a retirement community in Morris County this year, [2023] she said, she lost a lot.
..... "If I still lived in Hunterdon County, I'd be able to goto the library without a problem and enjoy special events and things they host in their community room," O'Shea said. Pequannock, where she now lives, offers "a perfectly wonderful series of arts events" in its library, but it's hard for her to enjoy it because the building lacks induction lopping, she explained.
..... Hunterdon libraries had taken advantage of the state funding. Pequannock was not among the recipients, according to the Department of Human Services. So O'Shea wasn't optimistic when she decided to attend a show she desperately wanted to see.
..... In it, "a gifted actress" performed a one-woman show about the life of queen Elizabeth. O'Shea made sure to sit in the front row, "but I was only able to understand about 50% of what this wonderful actress was saying."
..... Thirteen counties out of 21 took advantage of the Department of Human Services money last year: [2022] Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic, Salem and Somerset. romoff, a past president of the New Jersey chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America, was one of two people who counseled counties on the process.
..... She was hoping the state would provide a new round of grants to counties that didn't participate the first time, and further expand accessibility in those that did. but the money wasn't included in the latest budget proposal from Governor Phil Murphy.
..... "This funding is essential for people with hearing loss to be able to participate in public events and spaces," she said. "Without it, they will continue to be excluded."
..... Neither the governor's office nor the Department of Human Services replied to messages seeking comment about the program's future.
..... Instead, Christi Peace, deputy press secretary with the governor's office, offered a general statement.
..... "The Murphy administration remains committed to continuing to advance policies and initiatives that will make our state more accessible, which is why the governor increased funding in his fiscal year 2024 budget proposal to expand programs that provide critical assistance and services to New Jerseyans who are deaf and hard of hearing, as well as other residents with disabilities," Peace said.

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