The Virginia Department of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (VDDHH) is a special agency for members of the commonwealth that struggle with communication and hearing located in Henrico, Virginia. While VDDHH doesn't currently help finance actual hearing instruments for Virginians, they are still an excellent resource for many different things.
Virginia Relay has been a partner of VDDHH since 1991. Virginia Relay works with a TTY (Text Telephone), and a relay agent. You use the text telephone to essentially text your responses to a relay agent, who read this text to the recipient and then writes back the response. This is great for older individuals who are not familiar with cell phones or greatly prefer landlines, but cannot hear, or properly communicate within the conversation. This isn't just great for people with a hearing loss. The relay agent can also restate spoken speech for individuals who can speak but have issues with things such as Parkinsons, stuttering, Muscular Dystrophy, or had any throat or laryngeal surgery. Services are available in English and Spanish.
You can receive your TTY phone through VDDHH. The Technology Assistance Program (TAP) helps Virginians with hearing and communication difficulties who are below a certain income level. They can provide TTY phones for Virginia Relay along with other technologies to qualified individuals, such as blinking alarm clocks, blinking doorbells, or blinking phone "ringtones", along with highly amplified phones. If you do not qualify for the income requirements, these TAP devices can still be purchased on a 30 day loan-to-purchase basis.
***All Veterans with hearing difficulties who provide proof of honorable discharge are automatically eligible for TAP, regardless of income.***
VDDHH also keeps an up-to-date list of ASL interpreters who are both nationally and VQAS (Virginia Quality Assurance Screened) qualified.
VQAS has four levels of interpreters. Level One would be for someone who needs basic information, and Level Four would be for any complex messages or conversations foregoing anything legal or life-threatening. VQAS can interpret to ASL or transliterate spoken English. For legal services, a program called CART is available to get real-time interpretation to be available for court proceedings. CART interpreters are also available through VDDHH.
Anyone with deafness or communication disorders should at least scan the VDDHH website for resources. Most of their services are mandated and free for Virginians who need it.