Center for Deaf-Blind Persons, Inc.

08/06/2026

Do you want to give back and help find solutions for challenges facing the DeafBlind community? We have a volunteer opportunity for you!

In 2025, The Center partnered with DHS, various organizations, and community members to create a DeafBlind Advocacy Task Force. Our task force met 5 times over a year and had powerful conversations around issues like employment, transportation challenges, and SSP services. We have so much more work to do!

As a result, we were about to create a workgroup under the umbrella of the Governor's Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. This workgroup will pick up the work of the task force. Right now, we have two meeting dates set.

November 5, 2026 and February 4, 2027. These will be virtual meetings. There will be interpreters and captioning provided. Meetings will be 1pm to 3pm.

As of today, 8 people have signed up to take part in this workgroup. If you or someone you know is passionate about DeafBlind issues and want to volunteer for this workgroup, please email Adrian at [email protected].

Spread the word! Thank you!

08/06/2026

Good morning!

Today, the Center will be closed as we are volunteering at the New Berlin Lions corn roast. We are eternally grateful for the support of not only the New Berlin Lions, but many Lions groups around Wisconsin. We are working the 11am to 6pm shift at the corn roast. Stop by and say hello! The Center will be back to our normal business hours tomorrow. Thank you!

08/05/2026

Independent Living Centers (ILC's) are distributing a needs assessment statewide. They need people to fill this out to best access the needs of people around the state of Wisconsin. Please take a moment to fill this out. It should take about 6 minutes and will help ILC's determine programming statewide.

Help us learn what we need to make Wisconsin a better place to live for people with disabilities!

07/28/2026

Adrian, our executive director has been involved with the Mental Health Alliance for the last few years. This is a group of mental health professionals around Wisconsin who work with the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind communities.

One major barrier to health care and mental health care for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf/Blind people are communication barriers. At the Center, we see almost weekly, examples where people who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind struggle to get access to care because of interpreter shortages. Additionally, some health care providers don't follow the law and often do not provide interpreters which impacts the quality of care for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind people.

The Mental Health Alliance created this flyer to be distributed around the state to educate providers of their responsibilities under the law. Additionally, we are sending letters to providers along with the flyer. The text of the letter is below. If you would like a screen reader accessible PDF of this flyer, let us know. You can reach out to Adrian at [email protected].

Communication with our providers is something many people take for granted. We are hoping to educate people on the importance of providing interpreters for people trying to get help with the health care providers. This is about fairness and it is about the law!

07/22/2026

Hi all!

It is that time of the year again! Wisconsin State Fair will be kicking off soon.

Each year, W.I.S.H. has a state fair outing. Here is information about this year's W.I.S.H. event August 14th. Note, we have extended the event by an hour. It will run from 10am to 3pm.

WISH
(With Impaired Sight and Hearing)

Wisconsin State Fair
Friday, August 14, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Where: State Fair Park – Meet at the Transit Van drop off area (640 S. 84th St, West Allis).
Cost:
Members - $15.00
Non-Members - $20.00
Volunteers - $7.50
Student Volunteers - Free

Must sign up before Wednesday, August 5, 2026.

Pay in advance. If you will need a volunteer to push you in a wheelchair. Let staff know when you sign up.
We will meet at the Transit Van drop off/pick-up area at Gate 2 (640 S. 84th St, West Allis) – just north of Greenfield Avenue. Proper decals are required to access these lots.

Paid members and paid non-members will be paired with a volunteer.

Lunch: Lunch is NOT provided. Bring money or credit card for food, drinks, and souvenirs. Not all vendors will accept cash. Some vendors charge a fee to use the credit card.

Lunch break: Members must allow their volunteer a 20-minute break to eat. Volunteer services end at 3:00 PM. After then, you are on your own if you choose to stay at State Fair.

Write checks out to WISH/CDBP
Mail checks to the
Center for Deaf-Blind Persons
8306 W. Lincoln Ave.
West Allis, WI 53219
No refunds.

Phone: 414-481-7477
E-Mail: [email protected]

Bags must be smaller than 9” x 10” x 12”.
EMPTY soft-sided bags, totes, backpacks, etc. of any size are allowed.
You can bring multiple bags but they must all be smaller than 9” x 10” x 12”.
Empty reusable bottles, cups, and souvenir cups are allowed.
Any carry-in items for family care, such as water, snacks for children, or medical supplies will be permitted – no medical note or proof is needed.
All bags and carry-in items will be searched.

Volunteer Parking: Parking is credit/debit card only. You can purchase parking tickets ahead of time. WISH will reimburse parking up to $15.00 for three carpool cars for volunteers. Call 414-481-7477 to join the carpool.

Check with Milwaukee County Transit System for bus routes.

Wheelchairs or Electric Scooter are available for rent at West Entrance C, outside the T-Mobile Main Entrance E, and the State Fair Main Stage Entrance G.
Rental fees are:
$30 for a Wheelchair
$70 for an Electric Scooter
You can reserve a wheelchair or scooter in advance at VistaMobility.net or by phone at 262-677-2696. You will have to make a deposit for the online reservation with a major credit card. But, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and cash are accepted for the final payment in-person.

Rentals must be returned by midnight.

07/20/2026

Today, Deanne and Adrian went to the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library and ABLE - Audio Braille Literacy Enhancement open house. We were very impressed by their programming. Thanks for having us! Descriptions within each photo.

07/20/2026

Today is virtual leisure at the Center.

A little history about virtual leisure. Prior to the pandemic, the Center used to hold a social leisure group on site Monday afternoons. As we all experienced, COVID-19 changed a lot of things. In order to continue reaching clients, we transitioned to online teaching. By doing so, we realized we could reach a larger audience statewide. As a result, we have continued virtual leisure the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month from 1pm to 3pm.

We have a rotating schedule where each staff member picks the topic/activity and they are in charge of running that particular leisure group. Today's group is run by Dani. She picked an arts and crafts activity. We also have guest speakers and sometimes the group is more of a support group where adults with combined vision and hearing loss can meet, socialize, and talk about life with dual sensory loss.

Here is how it works. The staff member who picks the activity is in their office. They use Zoom and teach from their office. Clients at the Center gather in our educational space and we use the wonderful new smart boards we received from our Lowes Hometown grant last year. Center staff are here to work hands on with the clients on site. You can see in these photos that Deanne and Lily are working with two of our clients who are at the Center today. Lejla, another Center staff is in her office and she is using ASL to help clients all over the state follow the instructions for the activity. Those clients join us from their homes using Zoom. Many of them utilize technology they received from our iCanConnect program which the Center also runs for the state of Wisconsin.

For arts and crafts activities, we mail out packets to clients in other parts of the state. Today, we had 3 clients joining us via Zoom from other parts of the state. Some weeks, we have had as many as 12 participants. There is never a cost to the clients for the supplies or the programming.

Virtual leisure group helps DeafBlind adults avoid feelings of loneliness and isolation. It also helps DeafBlind individuals learn new and fun recreational activities. To learn more about virtual leisure and our other programs, you can contact us at [email protected].

07/15/2026

36 years ago this month, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. On July 27th, Independence First - The Resource for People with Disabilities is hosting a celebration to honor this important legislation. The event is from 10am to 1pm. It will be held at Independence First, 540 S. 1st St. Milwaukee, WI. You must reserve a spot at this link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ada-36th-anniversary-celebration-tickets-1993356220114?aff=oddtdtcreator

We hope you will attend!

07/13/2026

Ok, I think we are back in business. Internet and phones back up and running. Thank you for your patience! Have a great week everyone!

07/13/2026

Well, it must be Monday! We came in today only to discover our phones and internet down. We are trying to work with Spectrum to get it figured out. Sounds like a system outage. If you need immediate assistance, you can call Adrian at 715 456 4907. Or you can email [email protected]. As soon as the issue is resolved, we will post something here! Thank you for your patience!