On April 17, NCDHHS' Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DSDHH) held a Community Conversation at the Division of Employment and Independence for People with Disabilities' (EIPD) Winston-Salem Unit Office. This is the 16th listening session the division has held this year. 

Tony Davis, director of DSDHH, and his team conduct the conversations in small group sessions that allow attendees to discuss their experiences and voice their concerns about specific barriers they’ve experienced in their communities. These experiences are acknowledged, discussed and recorded.

“We (Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind people) are a historically marginalized community,” Davis said. “We want to offer these communities the opportunity to come to the table, so that they have a platform to share their experiences. We’re also asking people to let us know which programs and services that should be added and which existing services should be improved.” 

The attendees are encouraged to discuss communication barriers they have experienced in settings such as the workplace, schools and when seeking medical care.

Examples of barriers that have been encountered include:

• People have requested an in-person American Sign Language interpreter to make a health care appointment but have been required to communicate via Video Remote Interpreting Services instead.
• Some have requested an ASL interpreter at the Department of Motor Vehicles, but none were immediately available, they had to wait for hours to be served and never had access to an interpreter.
• A Deaf spouse of a partner in the ICU at the hospital was never provided with an ASL interpreter to communicate with health care providers and doctors.

“The people attending these meetings are very excited to be here because this is a great way to discuss barriers and solutions,” Davis said. “They’re eager to share their frustrations with the barriers they’ve encountered – in fact, some people have come to a second meeting in order to share more.” 

Solutions are offered by the community, and the result is a wealth of quantitative and qualitative data that will guide the division and improve the lives of the people it serves. The perspectives gathered during the Community Conversations will be compiled with assistance from UNC and used to develop the division’s upcoming Strategic Plan.

“We’ll keep going until September or October and we’ll have a total of 40 to 50 listening sessions in all,” said DSDHH Director Tony Davis. “We will share the data we collect with EIPD – we’re going to build an online dashboard so that every division, every agency can work together to better serve North Carolinians."

Davis took the helm as DSDHH director in February 2025. Early on he and his team agreed that the best way to serve their clients was to reach out directly to ask people what they need rather than presuming that they already knew what was needed.

“I feel responsible as a new director to do this. We’re here to collect information and be accountable for it,” he said. “I don’t have all the answers – they are the answers – it’s all about them. Every individual, every person we serve.” 

The information gathered, the needs and solutions identified, these will guide the services provided by DSDHH moving forward.

“All my staff, the regional center employees, the strategic plan will be based on what we’ve learned – this will energize the whole division,” Davis said.  “Every data point has a story behind it – you can’t come to one of these and not have it change you.”

Go to the DSDHH webpage to find out more about the Community Conversations and how to request one in your area.