This Friday, February 21 at 1 PM, the Maryland State Legislature will hold a hearing about the establishment of a Deaf Culture Digital Library (DCDL) Bill HB653. This groundbreaking resource will connect citizens with resources about ASL and Deaf Culture, allow librarians and service providers of all kinds to connect with grant funding, make the larger community aware of the diversity within the deaf community, and provide resources for all members of the deaf community. Read more about the aims of the DCDL in this excellent post on Holly the Librarian’s blog.
According to Alice Hagemeyer, president of Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action (FOLDA), “This first kind of library for the deaf will also support the public library’s new trend of transforming communities. Thus, citizens will have free access to resources that are related to ASL, literature, arts and history in local communities anywhere in Maryland. America! Globally!…When it becomes a law, it will become a model for other 49 states, DC, 2 commonwealths and 3 territories.”
Whether you are a Marylander or not, YOU can support the Deaf Culture Digital Library! Anyone can email a testimony or letter of support of this bill to Delegate Eric Luedtke via Eric.Luedtke@house.state.md.us.
Stories by Hand 