Hi. My name is Renee Fisher. I am a Support Service Provider (SSP). I work with Deaf-Blind. Today’s article is about Support Service Providers.
SSPs provide three important tasks: providing human guide, facilitating communication, and providing environmental information. That can take place in the home and/or community. SSPs can help with tasks in the home and community. That means they can help with grocery shopping, reading mail, going to the doctors’ appointments, and other tasks in the community like social events, taking walks around the park, going to the gym, and medical appointments like getting blood taken, and other tasks that you would need to do in your home and outside of the home. Support Service Providers are NOT Personal Care Attendants; they do not do cleaning or run errands for the consumer. They also do not teach and provide counseling or social work tasks. SSPs are different than interpreters but can work at the same time as an interpreter.
The company that started the SSP program is Deaf-Blind Living Well Services at the Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania. DBLWS provides SSPs to persons who are Deaf-Blind. In order to receive services, you must be 18 years and older, living in the state of Pennsylvania, out of the K-12 system, and living in the community. This also means that somebody can be living in a group home.
Consumers who are Deaf-Blind use different communication methods. Some consumers are able to hear using hearing aids and some use American Sign Language.
For a Deaf-Blind consumer to receive services through DBLWS, they must submit an application that I can send them through the mail or have someone help them fill out an application. To apply for services, go to our website at www.cilcp.org and find the Deaf-Blind Living Well Services page.
For persons who would like to become Support Service Providers, they should also go to our website at www.cilcp.org and find our Deaf-Blind Living Well Services page. There is an application on that page in order to get your name on the waiting list for training. All Support Service Providers must go through training and have different background checks through the Pennsylvania criminal and Childline clearances. All Support Service Providers must pass those clearances in order to become certified SSPs.
Currently, the SSP program is funded through the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. But we are running out of funding. Show you support contacting your legislators to tell them about how important the SSP program is. Other states in the United States have SSP programs, including New Jersey, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington. Different programs are funded in different ways.
If other states around the nation are interested in starting their own Support Service Provider Program, DBLWS would like to share information about how we started the Pennsylvania program. For more information about the SSP program, check out the website at www.cilcp.org. Thank you.