Trump’s spending cuts hit program that helps deaf-blind kids in Wisconsin

A program around since the 1960s helps deaf-blind children in Wisconsin so they can go to school and communicate with others, but President Trump’s DEI cuts may kill the program after next year.

President Donald Trump’s administrative onslaught against programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) centers mostly on matters of race, gender, and sexual preference, as political conservatives claim members of minority groups should not receive undeserved federal funding.

But Wisconsin children who are deaf and blind are also at risk of being impacted by Trump’s crippling budget cuts.

It’s not that deaf-blind children are getting special treatment, according to the Trump administration, but the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) set up criteria in how grant money used for those services should not leave out applicants from businesses owned by women, minorities, veterans, and the disabled communities.

As a result of that DPI criteria,  Trump’s US Department of Education (DOE) pulled back several years of grants for the Wisconsin Deaf-Blind Technical Assistance Program (WDBTAP), which serves 170 families and provides adaptive technologies so that deaf-blind children can go to school. The federal funding was recently restored for one year by routing it through the National Center on Deafblindness, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The DOE has claimed no funding was being cut, only reviewed—and that funding would be folded into other programs. But the leader of a Wisconsin group that serves deaf-blind adults says it would not be possible to easily replace the seven staffers working at WDBTAP if funding cuts led to them losing their jobs.

“They were it. That’s the ballgame,” said Adrian Klenz, executive director of the Wisconsin Center for DeafBlind Persons. “Those seven individuals have the specialized training to help those with dual sensory loss, and that’s a unique challenge. That’s the stark reality and people need to understand that. It’s terrifying, quite frankly.”

The center is the only agency in Wisconsin specializing in services for adults who are totally deaf and blind or who have varying degrees of dual sensory loss. They provide support and skills training needed to assist clients to live independent and productive lives. The center obviously has a close relationship with WDBTAP and its work with deaf-blind children.

Klenz, a recent guest of our daily radio show, says the adaptive technology and training helps people train for and retain jobs, keep in touch with friends and family, and access resources that lead to a less-dependent life. The WDBTAP doesn’t only help children; their work helps teachers, teachers aides, and family members who would otherwise be overwhelmed.  

Without WDBTAP services, Klenz said, the next generation of deaf-blind children would become adults who just have to “figure it out,” but they won’t. 

“They’ll fall through the cracks,” Klenz said.