Service Area: Knoxville, Tennessee and 19 surrounding counties
Program Established: March 2006
Funding Sources: The KCD Annual Golf Tournament provides the funding and ongoing financial support for the SSP program. SSPs are paid an hourly rate to provide services to DeafBlind individuals.
Eligibility: there are no formal eligibility guidelines; consumers are self-identified
Number of Individuals Served: 13 individuals
Preferred Terminology: SSP
Types of Service Requests: SSPs are contracted to provide services for shopping, and deaf senior citizen social group activities; assistance getting to/from doctor appointments where an interpreter is used for the actual appointment, but an SSP helps with transportation, guiding to and within the building, and provides environmental information while waiting for the appointment
Training Requirements: training is provided to interested SSPs and interpreters; emphasis on self-advocacy by DeafBlind persons
Program Coordination: part-time paid coordination
Transportation: Transportation can be provided to individuals by SSPs.
Other: DeafBlind consumers identified the need for the service and designed the program; almost all of the consumers use ASL as their primary language; all of the SSPs are Deaf.