Holy Cross Hosts Educational Forum About How to Communicate with Deaf-Blind Individuals

WORCESTER, Mass. – Ona Stewart and Jeannette O’Campo Welch, active members of the Deaf-Blind community, will educate people about how to communicate with and guide deaf-blind individuals in a forum titled "Communicating with Individuals Who are Deaf-Blind: A ‘Hands-On’ Experience" at the College of the Holy Cross on Feb. 18 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Stein Hall, Room 120. The event is free and open to the public.

Stewart attended the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf in Maine. She has been an active member of the Deaf-Blind Contact Center since 1980. She performed with Elaine Ducharme, director of Deaf-Blind Services Community Network, in "A Woman’s Life: Monologues from the Minds, Through the Hands of Women Who are Deaf-Blind" at Holy Cross last year.

Welch is an artist and interpreter. She was the Deaf-Blind Contact Center program director from 1999 to 2004 and served on the American Association of the Deaf-Blind Support Service Providers Committee.

Stewart and Welch have worked as a team for more than four years.

Paul Hostovsky will interpret.

The event is sponsored by the American Sign Language and Deaf Studies Program at Holy Cross.