Anyone in washington, d.c.??

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Tristen

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Just wondering what the Deaf culture is like in D.C. My husband has family out there and we would are considering moving there. My 7 month old daughter has severe to profound bilateral hearing loss and we want to raise her as much in her culture as possible. We live in a smallish city in Montana and have the luxury of being able to pick and choose where we live. We never thought we'd live here forever, so when we found out about Gallaudet and how many d/Deaf people there are in D.C., we started researching.

Are there child care centers specifically for deaf children?
Churches who's services are in ASL?
Closed captioned movie theatres?
Do you find more people who know ASL in your day to day life?

Just wondering. Any info is appreciated :)
 
Gallaudet has infant program and elementary school. The school is called Kendall Demonstration Elementary School for the Deaf. Good school!
 
I definitely believe that DC metro is #1 biggest deaf community.

Deaf people in US tends to be most religious than hearies, so yes, there is some deaf services in churches.

Yes, there are CC glasses and CaptiView in most movie theaters, but open captioning is getting rare and dying.

For me, yes, it is often for me to find people with ASL in DC metro but not in Alabama.

The houses are expensive in DC metro so you defeinitely need good job to live comfortably but groceries may be cheaper than in western states due to shorter transportation and distance to distribution centers. I noticed that food prices in DC and Alabama are almost same for Walmart vs Walmart and Publix vs Harris Teeter.
 
DC is obviously a good choice for a deaf child to raise there, but the housing is extremely expensive in DC. You and your spouse will have to find jobs together. The job market is competitive over there. Mclean, VA is very beautiful, but I don't know if it is in your budget. If I were filthy rich, I would like to live in Mclean. :P
 
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Barbaro said:
DC is obviously a good choice for a deaf child to raise there, but the housing is extremely expensive in DC. You and your spouse will have to find jobs together. The job market is competitive over there. Mclean, VA is very beautiful, but I don't know if it is in your budget. If I were filthy rich, I would like to live in Mclean. :P
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My company's headquartered in McLean, actually, so I may be able to keep my current job and just work out of that office.

Yes, definitely more expensive in the area. We wouldn't necessarily live in metro DC. Before moving to MT, we lived in Southern CA, so we know how far your income needs to go in places like DC, even the surrounding communities. But at the end of the day, I want to do what's best for my baby girl and I want to give her the most access to her culture and any and every opportunity I can. I can't even find a babysitter or a daycare that has someone who knows ASL in my town, let alone anything above and beyond. Luckily, the state school for deaf and blind is in my city, but the youngest she can go there is 18 months, and even then, its only a couple hours a week. My husband and I both work full time, so that's a lot of time that she's missing out on being around sign language! I just want to immerse her as much as I can, as early as I can, and I just don't think the answer is MT.
 
Great deaf community in MD/DC/VA.. I have a couple of friends who live in Maryland (Gaithersburg and Silver Spring)- both work or worked at Gallaudet.

Gallaudet used to have a Day Care Center when I was a student there- I don't know if it is still in existence... used to be in the corner of the campus on the Florida Avenue side - to the left of the entrance when you're facing it. They served a mix of deaf and hearing kids (many were employee/students' kids).

As for churches- not really sure on that...Some may offer interpreted services (I think the MCCC one in DC does).

Visited back there in 2015. Seems to be more opportunities to interact with deaf and once the area around Gallaudet grows even more with businesses it would be even better.

Really miss it sometimes.
 
Tristen said:
My company's headquartered in McLean, actually, so I may be able to keep my current job and just work out of that office.

Yes, definitely more expensive in the area. We wouldn't necessarily live in metro DC. Before moving to MT, we lived in Southern CA, so we know how far your income needs to go in places like DC, even the surrounding communities. But at the end of the day, I want to do what's best for my baby girl and I want to give her the most access to her culture and any and every opportunity I can. I can't even find a babysitter or a daycare that has someone who knows ASL in my town, let alone anything above and beyond. Luckily, the state school for deaf and blind is in my city, but the youngest she can go there is 18 months, and even then, its only a couple hours a week. My husband and I both work full time, so that's a lot of time that she's missing out on being around sign language! I just want to immerse her as much as I can, as early as I can, and I just don't think the answer is MT.
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Oh wow, I was sent to daycare and babysitter's houses without sign language, beside "yes", "shh" and "no", it was awful in my experience. :(

In DC metro, there is cheaper housing if you willing to live far away from McLean (a little more than 60 miles) but commute isn't pleasant at all, I'm sure that you had experience with SoCal.

I went to McLean, Tysons Corner, Fairfax, Church Falls, Arlington, Herndon and Reston, as well as Eastern Loudoun County, they are nice places. Tysons Corner is one of my most favorite shopping center - easy access from subway from Gallaudet, even McLean has subway station too - all on new Silver Line.
 
DeafDucky said:
Great deaf community in MD/DC/VA.. I have a couple of friends who live in Maryland (Gaithersburg and Silver Spring)- both work or worked at Gallaudet.

Gallaudet used to have a Day Care Center when I was a student there- I don't know if it is still in existence... used to be in the corner of the campus on the Florida Avenue side - to the left of the entrance when you're facing it. They served a mix of deaf and hearing kids (many were employee/students' kids).

As for churches- not really sure on that...Some may offer interpreted services (I think the MCCC one in DC does).

Visited back there in 2015. Seems to be more opportunities to interact with deaf and once the area around Gallaudet grows even more with businesses it would be even better.

Really miss it sometimes.
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That what you means?

http://www.gallaudet.edu/daily-digest/university-child-dev-center.html
 
So me and my husband have tentatively decided we'd like to be in Washington DC by the time daughter is in kindergarten. That way she can benefit from the school programs there. I'm not saying our state school for the deaf and blind isn't good, but I think, since we have the option/ability to move basically anywhere, why not there?
 
Oregon is deaf understanding if that helps :)
We have a deaf school and preschools. A lot of people here know asl since our schools teach it as a second language. Not as nice as DC.
 
Tristen said:
So me and my husband have tentatively decided we'd like to be in Washington DC by the time daughter is in kindergarten. That way she can benefit from the school programs there. I'm not saying our state school for the deaf and blind isn't good, but I think, since we have the option/ability to move basically anywhere, why not there?
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Look at other schools too. I think KDES and MSSD are both "potential" schools. Meaning the curriclum is on par with hearing schools, and the teachers are well trained, so they have the potential to turn out well educated kids. You could look at Maryland School for the Deaf, TLC in MA, FSDB in Florida, and TSD in Texas for some good Deaf Schools!
 
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