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Colorado Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
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Communication Access Assessment 


The Communication Access Assessment (CAA) is a tool that the Colorado Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CCDHH) Education and Training Program provides to public or private entities; i.e., agencies, organizations, and businesses who serve or desire to serve deaf and hard of hearing clients/consumers or employ or intend to employ deaf and hard of hearing people. Completion of the CAA will enable the entities to develop a feasible plan to build their capacity to ensure appropriate, and effective access to communication.    

 

The Communication Access Assessment process involves the following steps:

 

1.     CAA Request Form: An organization completes a CAA Request Form to provide CCDHH with some general information about the entity. The registration form can be accessed on this link.

2.     Pre-Assessment Planning: Once the request form has been completed and received by CCDHH Education and Training Program Specialist, he/she will conduct a routine intake, then contact the entity’s primary contact to either collect more information or setup a pre-assessment planning meeting.  This meeting will enable the entity and specialist to design a plan for conducting the Communication Access Assessment.

 

3.     Electronic Communication Access Assessment: The assessment is composed of three parts: 
         Administrators, staff/service providers, and deaf or hard of hearing clients/consumers.  The information 
         provided by the CAA participants will help generate a snapshot of the areas related to communication 
         accessibility that the entity currently does well, and areas for improvement. 

 

Invite Primary Contact: Once the pre-assessment planning is completed, the specialist will use the ‘Invite Primary Contact’ feature in the CAA database to send instructions to the entity’s primary contact explaining the process for accessing the CAA system, and adding participants to the system.

 

Invite Participants : The entity’s primary contact uses the ‘Invite Participants’ feature in the database to enter names, positions/job titles, and email addresses of the administrator, staff/service provider, and deaf or hard of hearing client/consumers who will participate in the assessment with instruction of how to access the assessment. 

 

Assessment Completion : The assessment will be completed electronically, and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. The following areas of communication accessibility will be assessed: Confidence regarding knowledge and familiarity with resources for deaf and hard of hearing people, communication technology and communication services, as well as the participants’ experiences. 

 

Assessment Report : Once the assessment has been completed, data will be automatically tabulated and recorded in the CAA report of the entity. The Specialist will analyze the data and report to the entity’s administrative team.

 

4.       Action Plan Development : The entity’s administrative team establishes a Communication Access Task Force composed of representatives from administrative team, staff/service providers, and clients/consumers within the entity to develop a communication Access Action Plan containing strategic goal, target goals, strategies and activities related to communication accessibility. This serves as an achievable and sustainable way for the entity to move forward and reach its goals of will enable the entities to develop a feasible plan to build their capacity to ensure appropriate, and effective access to communication.    

 

5.       Action Plan Implementation : The CCDHH Education and Training Program Specialist and some representatives from the task force will present the action plan to the administrative team for approval . Upon approval the administrative team will establish a Communication Access Accountability Team comprised primarily of the members of the Communication Access Task Force to articulate and implement the elements of the action plan.

 

6.     Outcomes Assessment: Upon implementation of the action plan, the CCDHH Education and Training 
         Program Specialist will conduct an Outcomes Communication Access Assessment to determine the 
         impact of the action plan in improving communication access to the entity's programs and services.

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