Advocates say Nebraska is lacking in resources for deaf, hard of hearing students
By Jolie Peal , Reporter Nebraska Public Media News
Oct. 28, 2026, 3:26 p.m. ·
Listen To This Story
Members of the deaf and hard of hearing community said during a hearing at the Nebraska Capitol on Wednesday that nearly 30 years after the Nebraska School for the Deaf closed, students are still not receiving the services they need.
State Sen. Danielle Conrad introduced an interim study for the education committee to hear more about the lack of services for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. She said a parent, who also testified later in the hearing, reached out to share his concerns and challenges with accessing the education his child needed. His story prompted this interim study.
“Our hope for our hearing today is that we identify what's happening in Nebraska schools in regards to ensuring equal access to education for students that are deaf and hard of hearing,” Conrad said. “We hope to help identify and establish what best practices are in this regard.”
Adam Wiblishouser was that parent. He lives in Nebraska and currently has a fourth grader attending the Iowa School for the Deaf.
“What it's boiling down to is the school districts are messing with the PWNs (Prior Written Notices), they're messing with the IEPs (Individualized Education Plans), and they're messing with the language that they're using in the PWNs and IEPs to deny services that they don't want to pay for, or is not of a convenience to the school district,” he said. “I've been seeing this over and over and over again. I'm hearing it from other parents. I'm experiencing it.”
While his family lives in the Elkhorn school district, his son first went to Ralston for kindergarten because Elkhorn chose to send him there. Then, Wiblishouser learned about the Iowa School for the Deaf, but he received pushback from Elkhorn, which would have to pay for some of the costs if he enrolled his son at the Iowa school.
Elizabeth Eynon-Kokrda, general counsel with Education Rights Counsel, said there are not enough education sign language interpreters in Nebraska to meet all the needs of the state’s schools.
“Our schools are left competing for a small pool of interpreters, and yet schools are still offering low compensation that does little to attract people to work for them, or to work in this field,” she said.
Eynon-Kokrda said that interpreters for schools are not subject to the same licensing requirements as independent interpreters. She added that leads schools to say they cannot find anyone, when in reality, there may be independent interpreters available, just at a higher price.
“In one case I'm familiar with, the school official said they couldn't find an interpreter in ASL (American sign language). The family finds five independent interpreters willing to contract with that district,” Eynon-Kokrda said. “Who pays the price for this? Deaf and hard of hearing students.”
Eynon-Kokrda said she’d like to see a statewide roster for interpreter availability, recognition for educational interpreters as professional technical staff, compensation improvements and a requirement for schools to document their efforts to hire qualified interpreters.
Nebraska does not have a dedicated school for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. There used to be one, but it closed in 1998.
Linsay Darnall Jr. remembered advocating to keep the school open. He said the state replaced it with regional programs to continue providing services for students who are deaf and hard of hearing, but those services aren’t enough.
“The Nebraska Regional Program is hosting events for the deaf and hard of hearing children to get together and to socialize maybe six times a year,” Darnall said through an interpreter. “The deaf community looks at that and says six times a year — that is not enough.”
Several Nebraska families would send their children to the Iowa School for the Deaf, but Darnall said Nebraska will not always pay for those students.
“From what my understanding is now, the state does pay for tuition,” Darnall said. “They will not pay for dorms. They will not pay for transportation. The school district has to pay for all of that, and that's where the problem comes in. The school district is like, ‘I want to keep the kids here. I want to keep their money here,’ and that's where we have noticed the posturing beginning.”
Conrad asked Darnall about potential cuts to education services for deaf and hard of hearing students. Nebraska Public Media News reported earlier this month that among hypothetical cuts sent into the governor’s office, the Nebraska Department of Education identified those services for potential reductions in the next biennial budget.
“My biggest fear is that if we start these cuts on the children's education now, that is going to delay their language access, that is going to delay their learning abilities, that is going to delay their cognitive abilities,” Darnall said. “That is impacting all of these very, very young children, and what is the financial impact for later, for graduation, for not being able to be gainfully employed later?”
Daniel Pfaff shared how he and his wife, who are both deaf, are wondering where their eight-week-old baby, who is also deaf, will go to school one day. Both Pfaff and his wife went to schools for the deaf — him in Indiana and her in Iowa.
He said he grew up with a rich environment for language while in school because all his peers and his family shared his language. Pfaff said his child won’t have that in Nebraska’s schools.
“But at school, what access do they have? A lot of the interpreters are not qualified, and they have one interpreter for all day, and they want to sit and watch one source of language all day,” Pfaff said through an interpreter. “They need that connection. They need that variety. They need that rich environment.”
Several testifiers, including Pfaff, advocated for a Nebraska-based school for the deaf to return.