Orange County Deaf Literacy Project

About Orange County Deaf Literacy Project

Our mission is to promote literacy and academic success among Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Orange County. In order to prepare Deaf and hard of hearing students to face the challenges they will encounter after they finish school and join the workplace, our Project seeks to provide books, reading materials, supplemental educational materials, new curricula, experiences, incentives and scholarships to students through existing programs.

The Project hopes that over the long term, by increasing efforts to promote literacy in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing student community, it can raise reading scores county‐wide. Standardized test scores that measure reading comprehension are also, in some cases, the determining factor as to whether a Deaf student receives financial assistance to go to college. Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) is a government organization that may pay for postsecondary schooling for Deaf students. However, funding is partially based on minimum reading level requirements. Therefore, increasing the reading scores of Deaf students throughout the county will impact the ability of this community to seek higher education.