Deaf and hard of hearing members to a single coalition of organizations. The goals of such a coalition are to build positive attitudes, to improve coordination between these organizations, and to encourage the organizations toward more collaboration and information-sharing.

Karen and Cathy participated in several group exercises and role-playing experiences to understand how help move organizations through the “Z process.” The “Z process” is based on the principles of the five core team roles: creator, advancer, refiner, executor, and flexer. During the workshop, Karen was identified as a flexer (one who can play multiple roles in an organization) and Cathy as an advancer (one who moves projects forward at crucial points). During the role-playing exercise, Karen’s group presented an unpleasant incident involving incest in the family of a little Deaf girl of Deaf parents. Cathy’s group did a presentation on whether a cochlear implant was a good option for a young Deaf boy of hearing parents. The training provided Karen and Cathy with a better understanding of how to share the analysis process of ideas or goals with other board members and the standing members of ASLTAC.

At the conclusion of the training, the workshop participants created a master list of approximately 40 different organizations serving the Deaf and hard of hearing communities of Colorado! The participants recognized the importance of creating a new Colorado-wide coalition of these forty distinct organizations. This new group, called the Colorado Community Coalition (or C3), will have its next meeting on April 2nd.