SC School for the Deaf and the Blind Opens an Outreach Center in Charleston
May 28, 2015
CHARLESTON, SC – Coastal residents will soon have close-to-home access to the many services of the SC School for the Deaf and the Blind. The school plans to open an outreach center in Charleston on June 1.
The center will be the local hub of a myriad of services including early intervention, vision and hearing services, sign language interpreting, and a wide variety of accessibility services. Located at 1064 Gardner Road, the center will serve individuals who are deaf or blind, their families, and the professionals who serve them.
“We’re looking forward to working closely with the families and professionals in the coastal communities to ensure the very best services possible,” said Dr. Page McCraw, interim president of the SC School for the Deaf and the Blind. The school currently serves families of infants and toddlers who are deaf or blind in the 10-county coastal area and provides vision and hearing services on a contractual basis to students in coastal school districts.
Additionally, the school serves the local area with braille and large print materials for all visually impaired students and resources for children who are both deaf and blind. Sign language interpreting services are also available to children and adults. At the Spartanburg campus, the school serves coastal residents through its comprehensive campus educational programs and summer camps.
“A facility located in Charleston will enable us to be more readily available to coastal families and service providers,” said Scott Falcone, director of the school’s division of outreach services. “We will be able to save fuel costs and more efficiently maintain records.”
The school operated a successful outreach center in Charleston for more than 20 years but was forced to close it due to budget constraints in 2010. “We’re excited to come back home,” said Falcone. “The Charleston center was the school’s first outreach center when it opened in 1988 and served as a second home for the school enabling it to expand outreach services across the state.”
The original center was located on Dunbar Street, near the Savannah Highway. Its first manager was Millie Colson, and in 2002, the center was renamed in memory of Millie and her husband Johnny. The new center will retain the Colson name as a tribute to their advocacy for South Carolina residents who are deaf or blind.
The Colsons committed their lives to the deaf and blind communities. They opened their home to those in need and were available around the clock to assist individuals who were deaf or blind. When Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina, Millie Colson organized relief efforts for the deaf and blind communities, and later became an important part of the area’s Emergency Operations Center. Johnny Colson faithfully supported Millie, served as a volunteer maintenance man for the outreach center, and contributed countless hours to improving the center’s computer capabilities.
The SC School for the Deaf and the Blind is the state’s only specialized school for students who are deaf or blind. It offers preK-12 educational programs on its main campus in Spartanburg and specialized vision and hearing services in school districts and homes throughout the state. For more information, go to www.scsdb.org or call the school’s toll-free number at 1-888-447-2732.
