by Riley Albair | Mar 1, 2024 | Deaf Services, Success Stories, Voting
Maine will have presidential primaries on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Voters will decide on candidates participating in the Democratic and Republican primaries.
Polling places can be tricky places for communication, especially for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people. Polls are often set up in school gyms, cafeteria, and other large areas; they are often busy and full of noise and visual distractions. Voters arriving and leaving, poll workers talking, and everyone hustling and bustling around. Of course, voters who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing have the right to request accommodations in order to communicate effectively at the polls. This could include asking a poll worker to write back and forth, or to remove a face mask momentarily to support communication.
Debra Bare-Rogers, Advocate at Disability Rights Maine, shares how she prepares for the polls as a Hard of hearing person:
“One, as soon as I arrive at the polling place, I tell them, ‘I am Hard of Hearing. Please speak slowly.’ Two, I use an app on my Android smartphone called LiveTranscribe. I show it to the person I am speaking to, and I read the captions of what they are saying. For example, when they ask, ‘what is your name?’ Three, I wear my ‘Please face me, I’m hard of hearing!’ button. Four, I bring pen and paper as a back up, in case I need to ask somebody to write something down that I can’t hear or understand.”
She also shares, “I request a corner voting booth if possible. My hope is that it will be away from the noise and other distractions in the area.”
To find the address of your polling place, visit the Maine Voter Information Lookup Service. If you encounter accessibility barriers on Election Day, please contact Disability Rights Maine at 800-452-1948 or email Molly Thompson, Voting Access Advocate (mthompson@drme.org).
by Riley Albair | Feb 24, 2020 | Deaf Services
On January 1, 2020, Maine became one of only a handful of states that require private insurers to cover the cost of hearing aids for adults.
The change is the result of a bill, “L.D. 38 An Act To Require Insurance Coverage for Hearing Aids for Adults,” which was sponsored by Representative James Handy, and passed by the Maine Legislature in 2019. The law requires private health insurers to cover one hearing aid per ear for adults, every three years, with a minimum coverage of up to $3000 per aid.
Hearing aids are a simple measure that can significantly improve health and self-sufficiency for Mainers with hearing loss. And the need is high: a 2013 report by the state Bureau of Insurance estimated that as many as 173,000 Mainers experience hearing loss.
However, most Maine households do not have the resources to pay the out-of-pocket cost to purchase hearing aids, which typically run from $1500 – $6000…per aid.
Unaided hearing loss carries a steep financial cost for Mainers and their families. A 2007 study by the National Better Hearing Institute concluded that unaided hearing loss for a Wage earner resulted in an average loss of $12,000 per year in household income. It is estimated that 24 million Americans with hearing loss currently do not have access to hearing aids, with unrealized earnings and tax revenue reaching into the billions. In 2017, the Maine Dept. of Labor estimated that approximately half of the individuals on a waiting list for state vocational rehabilitation services were individuals who said they needed a hearing aid in order to find work or keep their current job.
For all of these reasons and more, many cheered when Maine’s new law went into effect. The law marks an important turning point in the recognition that hearing aids are health care, and the cost of hearing aids are medical costs.
However, those hoping that the new law provides a simple solution to a seemingly straightforward problem may be disappointed. Not all Mainers will be able to benefit, and many have been confused by how their insurance interacts with the new law.
One issue is that Maine has limits on what it can mandate insurers to cover. Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans, and self-insured plans are not affected Maine’s new law. The state does not have the power to regulate Medicare or Medicare Advantage plans, which instead are governed by the federal government. And, self-insured plans (including those used by some of Maine’s largest employers) are also exempt from State health insurance benefit mandates.
For those with plans that are covered, they may still find the same problems that plague much of American health care. Annual deductibles could mean an individual could still be responsible for all or part of the cost of a hearing aid before their plan will pay. Individuals could also be responsible for all or part of the cost if they use a provider who is not part of their plan’s network. And since the law only requires coverage up to $3000, a hearing aid that costs more will likely require additional out-of-pocket spending.
Regardless, the new law is a step in the right direction. Maine will now be one of only five states that require state-regulated insurance plans to cover hearing aids for adults.
And many hope that it marks a growing momentum to expand access to hearing aids nationally, as a bill to require Medicare to cover the cost of hearing aids is being considered at the federal level.
For questions about the new hearing aid insurance mandates, or about which insurance plans are required to provide the hearing aid benefit, individuals can contact the Maine Bureau of Insurance at (207) 624-8475 or (800) 300-5000.
by Riley Albair | May 21, 2019 | News
Access to justice is vitally important. Without it, individuals are unable to have their voices heard, exercise their rights, challenge discrimination, or hold decision-makers accountable.
For Mainers who are deaf[1], access to justice includes the elimination of communication barriers when attempting to obtain legal services and representation.
Attorneys have a responsibility to provide deaf clients with accommodations that they may need to communicate. For nearly 30 years, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has required public accommodations, including attorneys engaged in private practice, to provide equal access to their services.[2] This includes providing sign language interpreters, real-time captioning, or other auxiliary aids and services necessary to ensure effective communication with clients who are deaf.
Maine, unlike most states, opted for several years to provide funding for free interpreters for private attorneys. The Legal Interpreter Fund was available to private lawyers and advocates who could use the fund to pay for qualified sign language interpreters or real-time captioning services to meet with deaf clients.[3] This funding was unique. Hospitals, doctor’s offices, and other professionals, in contrast, have long been expected to meet their equal access obligations on their own.
Recently, the Legal Interpreter Fund was repealed in the Governor’s budget. After learning of the repeal of the fund, the Division for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened, together with DRM, announced the change to the public. The announcement acknowledged the misunderstandings regarding equal access obligations that the Legal Interpreting Fund may have created:
“Access to justice is vitally important of course, but by establishing and maintaining this fund, we may have inadvertently sent a message to some Maine lawyers that interpreters are readily available to them at no cost. The message we want to send is that effective communication is vital for all of us when we engage a lawyer, a doctor or any other professional and that Deaf people are entitled to services that create effective communication.”
Regardless of this change, equal access remains an obligation for private attorneys. Attorneys are required, under state and federal law, to provide qualified interpreters or real-time captioning when needed to represent clients who are deaf.
DRM Deaf Services provides advocacy and representation to deaf Maine residents to ensure access to effective communication, including in legal settings. We will continue to advocate for those who have trouble accessing interpreter services, and we will continue to train our communities on civil rights and equal access. Together with our partners, the Division for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and late Deafened, the Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened, and the Maine Deaf Rights Group, we will continue to work ensure equality and communication access for all.
[1] The term “deaf” is to be interpreted to include individuals who may identify as Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and deaf-blind.
[2] Title III of the ADA, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181-89, provides people with disabilities the right to equal access to public accommodations. Both Title III of the ADA, and the regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Justice pursuant to Title III, 28 C.F.R. Part 36, specifically include the offices of lawyers in the definition of public accommodations. 42 U.S.C. § 12181; 28 C.F.R. § 36.104.
[3]For more information, see Division for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing webpage on Legal Interpreting. https://www.maine.gov/rehab/dod/legal_interp_info.shtml
