TDI Unveils New CEPIN Project Team
Focus is on Emergency Preparedness for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community

Silver Spring, MD [May 4, 2005] - TDI has finalized its new Community Emergency Preparedness Information Network (CEPIN) team. "We're pleased to have such wonderful people on the CEPIN team, especially with the scope of this project," said Jim House, National Coordinator of the CEPIN Project.

"We really worked hard to achieve representation of every aspect of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, and the team certainly achieves that."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded TDI nearly $1.5 million for the two-year CEPIN Project, which focuses on developing model community education programs for deaf and hard of hearing consumers. The CEPIN Project has been grouped into regions represented by carefully chosen agencies serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, and new regional specialists include:

New England & Great Lakes: Stephanie Clark, of DEAF, Inc.
Mid-Atlantic and Southeast: Lise Hamlin, Northern Virginia Resource Center Midwest & Southwest: Kristina Hakey, CSD of Oklahoma West & Hawaii: Christine Seymour, Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency (DCARA)

Stephanie Clark, a second-generation Deaf person and a native of Massachusetts, brings experience as a former TTY/Deaf culture trainer for the Massachusetts Statewide Enhancement 9-1-1 program with the Statewide Emergency Telecommunications Board. Earning her bachelor's degree in social work from Salem State College and master's degree in the University of Massachusetts-Boston's Instructional Design program, Stephanie has provided workshops to the Deaf and interpreter communities on various topics ranging from interpreting to Deaf culture, and has also served as a board member for the Massachusetts State Association of the Deaf and Deaf Women United's Massachusetts chapter. Stephanie freelances part-time as a certified Deaf interpreter, and is an adjunct instructor in the Deaf studies program at a local community college.

Lise Hamlin comes to the team with a wealth of experience. Prior to joining the CEPIN team, Lise served as an employment specialist at TLC/Outcomes in Rockville, Md., and held several positions over seven years with the League for Hard of Hearing in New York, N.Y., including coordination of a statewide grant on health care access. She is a graduate of City College of New York and has a paralegal certificate from New York University's Paralegal Studies Program. She has been recognized with a national Oticon Focus on People award and a Spirit of Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) award.

Lise serves on the SHHH board of trustees and on the steering committee of the Montgomery County Chapter of SHHH. Lise also has served in a number of advisory positions both in the metro area and in New York, as well as others such as the advisory committee for the American Bar Association's work on access to the courts.

Kristina Hakey served as Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Outreach Specialist for CSD of Oklahoma prior to becoming a regional specialist for the CEPIN team. She developed and provided community-wide training on deafness and accessible tools to service providers, and assisted in ensuring that Deaf and Hard of Hearing domestic violence and sexual assault victims had access to all needed services. She also developed and provided community-wide domestic violence and sexual assault awareness education programs to the deaf and hard of hearing community. In addition, Kristina provided Deaf culture and American Sign Language training to service providers. She has taught American Sign Language at Tulsa Technology for eight years, served as the Director of the Miss Deaf Oklahoma Pageant for the past six years, and presently serves on the Oklahoma Association of the Deaf Board.

Christine Seymour has been involved in advocacy for hard of hearing, late-deafened and deaf people both professionally and on a volunteer basis for more than eight years. As Client Support Specialist for Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened people at DCARA's office in San Jose for the past three years, she advocated for communication access in a variety of settings, including the courtroom, workplace, and at public events. She has developed and presented a full program for hard of hearing and deafened people aimed at empowering and motivating toward self-advocacy. She is an active member of the Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA) and is the current President of ALDA East Bay Chapter in San Leandro, Calif. She is also actively involved with local and national SHHH activities.

The team met in late March at the Northern Virginia Resource Center in Fairfax, and participated in several presentations provided by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness, Citizen Corps, and local resources. Brainstorming sessions and dialogue also took place at this pioneering meeting, and the specialists returned to their agencies ready to dive into their new positions. "Survival is a key element of emergencies, and this project strives to knock down barriers commonly attributed to miscommunication," said Claude Stout, TDI executive director.
"We're really eager about developing resources that will empower deaf and hard of hearing individuals with communication access in times of emergencies. With the new team in place, we're off to a great start in emergency preparedness."

About TDI:
TDI is a non-profit advocacy organization that promotes equal access to telecommunications and media for individuals who are deaf, late deafened, hard-of-hearing or deaf-blind. Since 1968, TDI has successfully advocated for federal legislation such as the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Television Decoder Circuitry Act, both of 1990, as well as other legislation and policies mandating greater access to wireless technology, captioning as well as other telecommunication and media technologies. Since its inception, TDI has been promoting access to 9-1-1 centers and other public safety answering points, and is now working to ensure full access to information during natural or manmade disasters and other types of emergencies. TDI publishes annually, a National Directory & Resource Guide, commonly known as The Blue Book, a popular resource book for people with hearing loss, as well as the GA-SK quarterly news magazine. For more information about TDI, visit http://www.tdi-online.org.

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