D.C. just took another step toward establishing an office dedicated to the needs of Washingtonians who are deaf and hard of hearing.

The D.C. Council voted unanimously to pass the “Office On Deaf and Hard of Hearing Establishment Amendment Act of 2019” on Tuesday, which would create an office to advocate for legislation and policies that address the needs of the city’s deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing communities.

The office would also serve as a clearinghouse for high-quality American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, and create and distribute a card to D.C. police with instructions on how to effectively communicate with those residents, among other services. The bill also calls for the director of the office to be someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.

“The idea for this office didn’t come from me,” says Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who was among those that introduced the bill. “It came from members of our deaf and hard-of-hearing communities and they really helped educate me.”

There are approximately 38 state agencies dedicated to the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities across the U.S., and some states have more than one, according to the National Association of State Agencies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Graham Forsey, the president of the D.C. Association of the Deaf, says the passage of the bill is “a monumental step forward.”

Through an interpreter, he tells DCist that the office “is going to help tremendously with inclusion,” giving deaf and hard-of-hearing Washingtonians greater representation in local government, and he hopes it will help make D.C.’s programs and services and more accessible.

Allen says the office will serve as a “dedicated advocate and ally” for those residents.

“There will now be an office whose responsibility is to work on the behalf of our deaf, hard-of-hearing, and deafblind communities,” he says. “And that in and of itself, I think, just gives you hope that you’ve got somebody in government who understands, who is there, who is your advocate, who is there to help fight for you.”

The bill sparked controversy last year when advocates said D.C. failed to provide sufficient interpreters for a hearing on the legislation. Robb Dooling, a deaf, queer activist who testified at the meeting, gained attention on Twitter after stating that the Council did not provide a qualified interpreter during his testimony, underscoring the need for such an office.

“Despite having a very large and vibrant deaf, hard-of-hearing and deafblind community in D.C., as well as the incredible resources of Gallaudet University, all too often poor ASL interpretation, both in quantity and quality, shows up at official events,” Dooling said at the time.

The bill is the second iteration of legislation introduced by Councilmembers Allen and David Grosso in 2018, and was developed with the input of local advocates.

The office would work alongside city agencies to ensure that deaf children have language access and developmental support from birth. Forsey notes that children who are deaf and hard of hearing and have language deprivation may reach the age of 10 or 15, or even older, without achieving fluency in any language.

The office will also provide members of the deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing communities with access to workforce development opportunities. According the Yang-Tan Institute at Cornell University’s analysis of 2018 American Community Survey data, about 40% of people with a hearing disability have full-time employment, and members of the community have cited discrimination as an obstacle.

Other advocates previously expressed concerns that the legislation did not do enough. Rachel Dubin, a resident of Ward 2 who is deaf, said last year that the bill discriminated against members of the community who do not use ASL, but use speech and other forms of communication.

“This bill lumps people like me into the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and deafblind community, but with capital letters, and ignores the fact that there are those of us who use listening and spoken language as our main form of communication,” she said at the time.

“There is no deaf community,” she added. “We are all individuals and little ‘d’ deaf is different from big ‘D’ Deaf.”

While deaf refers to the audiological condition of not hearing, Deaf with a capital “D” represents a group people who share a sign language and culture, per the National Association of the Deaf.

As part of an amendment to the bill that was passed Tuesday, the Council changed the defined term “deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing community” to “communities” to better reflect their diversity.

“It may seem like a small thing to make it plural rather than singular,” says Allen. “But it really mattered to members of the deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing communities to say, ‘This is a collection of communities, and don’t treat it like a monolith. Really work hard to make sure the office understands that.'”

As the bill heads to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office, Forsey says he plans to continue working to ensure that the office serves all community members, and that individuals from groups “are a part of the decision-making process.”

“We can’t make regulations in law in scuba diving without a scuba diving expert on the panel, so to say,” he adds. “So it’s that same parallel.”