| (a) Financial and service responsibilities to disabled persons. (1) The Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired (TCDHI) is authorized to provide direct delivery services to persons who are deaf or hearing impaired. These services are rendered through annual contracts with local service providers. TCDHI currently has contracts with service providers located in 16 cities: Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont, Big Spring, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen, San Antonio, Sherman, Tyler, and Waco. (2) The number of staff, types of direct services, and number of clients at each service provider vary considerably. Many provide other direct services in addition to those authorized and subsidized by the state through TCDHI. The range of TCDHI-contracted services include: (A) Interpreter services. Interpreters are provided for clients who are deaf or hearing impaired to
assist them in obtaining, medical, legal, governmental, and economic services. Interpreters are also available through the local service providers for state agencies, courts, and businesses; however, these entities must reimburse the service provider. Payment for interpreters is reimbursed monthly by TCDHI on an hourly basis for services provided. The rate of payment is determined by the fee schedule recommended for interpreters by TCDHI. (B) Information and referral services. Service providers disseminate information regarding general and specialized community services to persons who are deaf or hearing impaired, as well as information about deafness to the general public. (C) Services to older hearing impaired Texans (SOHIT). Clients who are age 60 or older and deaf or hearing impaired are assisted in obtaining information and/or services from agencies such as the Texas Department on Aging, local agencies on aging, social security offices,
and local parks and recreation departments. Services provided may include case management, transportation assistance, nutrition, social interaction, and communication. This program reduces the need for long-term care, provides information to concerned individuals, and provides training to other personnel serving the elderly. These programs are referred to as Services to Older Hearing Impaired Texans (SOHIT). Currently, 11 local service providers offer SOHIT services. (D) Other services. In addition to the services described in subparagraphs (A)-(D) of this paragraph, TCDHI has service and financial responsibilities to: (i) develop and implement a statewide advocacy and education program to ensure the continuity of services to Texans who are deaf or hearing impaired; (ii) ensure more effective coordination/cooperation among public and nonprofit entities that serve persons who are deaf or hearing impaired;
(iii) establish a board for the evaluation of interpreters which commission approval, conducts interpreter exams, prescribes qualifications, evaluates, and certifies interpreters at varying levels of skill. TCDHI is required to charge fees for these services. In addition, statutes require that the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters work with the Texas Rehabilitation Commission to develop a communication competency evaluation for TRC's vocational rehabilitation counselors and other staff who work with clients who are deaf or hearing impaired. Commission (TRC) a communication competency evaluation for vocational rehabilitation counselors who work at TRC with clients who are deaf or hearing impaired; (iv) establish a system to approve courses and workshops for the instruction and continuing education of interpreters; (v) annually review fees recommended by TCDHI for the payment of interpreters and adopt a schedule of reasonable
fees for interpreters at varying levels of skill. This schedule of fees must be made available to and recommended for adoption by other state agencies; (vi) prescribe the qualifications for, and compile a list of, qualified interpreters available for assignment by state agencies, courts, and political subdivisions. This list is to be disseminated to these entities and the general public; (vii) adopt a schedule of reasonable fees recommended for the payment of interpreters required by law to be provided in proceedings of state agencies, courts, and political subdivisions; (viii) adopt a sliding fee scale for persons who are deaf or hearing impaired who receive interpreter services in nongovernmental settings which are reimbursed by TCDHI. The fee scale is based on the requestor's financial ability to pay; however, a client may not be denied this service because of his/her inability to pay;
(ix) design and provide a decal to be attached to motor vehicles regularly operated by persons who are deaf or hearing impaired with a cost of not more than $2.00 per decal; (x) offer a one-week summer camp session for children and youth who are deaf or hearing impaired to participate in barrier-free recreational and instructional activities. TCDHI annually contracts with a private facility for this program. Eligibility requirements are that students must be deaf or hearing impaired, ages 8 through 17; (xi) charge reasonable fees for TCDHI publications. Fees for publications may be waived for a client who is deaf or hearing impaired if he/she is unable to pay; and (xii) publish an annual Directory of Services and an agency newsletter (based on available funding) and make available a Registry of Interpreters. (E) Interagency contracts. Currently, TCD has interagency contracts
primarily concerning interpreter services with the Texas Employment Commission, Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and the Texas Department of Health. (F) Memorandum of understanding. House Bill 550, passed by the 70th Legislature, required TCDHI to write (and adopt by rule) memoranda of understanding to coordinate the delivery of services to persons who are deaf and hearing impaired and to reduce duplication of services with each of the following agencies: Texas Department of Human Services, Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Texas Employment Commission, Texas Department of Health, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas Education Agency, Texas Department on Aging, Texas School for the Deaf, Texas Rehabilitation Commission, and the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and other state agencies that
provide services to persons who are deaf or hearing impaired. TCDHI also participates in two multi-agency memoranda of understanding which facilitate the coordination of services to persons with disabilities and to inmates of the Texas prison system who have disabilities. (b) Service delivery data. (1) The contact person for TCD may be reached at (512) 444-3323 (voice/TDD) and (512) 326-9639 (fax machine). (2) Information regarding councils for the deaf is provided in: (A) the TCDHI Contracted Services Listing that provides lists of services provided by each service provider; (B) the Registry of Interpreters that makes available, on request, the names, locations, phone numbers, and interpreting skill levels of TCDHI-certified (or National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf-certified) interpreters in Texas; (C) the legislative appropriations request (LAR)
which is the agency's request for biennium funding (and information about its program activities, goals, and objectives). The LAR is prepared and submitted to the Legislative Budget Office; (D) Resource Handbook on Interpreting, Interpreter Certification, and Principles of Ethical Behavior explains the interpreter certification procedure, the use of interpreters, and the laws relating to the use of interpreters.
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