Deaf/Hard of Hearing Role Models – The Ascent Program

In 2020 The Ascent Program was created by the Colorado Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (CO-EHDI) Program. In 2024 this project became a collaborative effort between Colorado Hands & Voices, The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, and CO-EHDI.  This Program is here to connect families of Deaf/Hard of Hearing/DeafBlind (DHHDB) children, Birth to 3 years old, to a DHHDB Role Model.

To request a meeting with a DHHDB Role Model, please fill our the request form or contact Kathy Sevier at ksevier@csdb.org.  You can always talk with your Colorado Hands & Voices Parent Guide to help connect you.

Your D/HH role model can:

• Give proactive and positive support to families and kids who are Deaf/hard of hearing one-on-one.
• Answer questions as wide-ranging as “how do you know when your baby is crying?” to “have you ever faced discrimination?”
• Give parents and kids a “glimpse into the future” for themselves: different professional roles, choices about equipment and sign language, recreational pursuits, and a vision far beyond the limits of the educational/medical arenas of deafness.
• Discussed their own changing approach to communication, language, and identity, and how they choose to advocate for themselves in relationships, work, and the community

To lean more about this program, please watch the videos below.

Short Ascent Program Video

Long Ascent Program Video

Colorado Hands & Voices Partner Project (2014-2020)

Our Partner Project offered an orientation to new Partners-in-training where they learned more about today’s parent journey, giving and getting feedback on how to share their own story, and learning how to support our motto “What works for your child is what makes the choice right” when interacting with families. We worked with some amazing adults who shared generously from their own lived experience.

Thank you to Carmela Roybal, Colorado Hands & Voices Past Partner Project Coordinator, for her many years of service. While we can count the number of families impacted during this time, it is much harder to quantify the sense of hope and joy we saw in parents who were raising their children who are D/HH.  We are always looking for funding to help create connections with D/HH adults, including a hoped-for Deaf/HH Guide Program in the future.