The Beginning:

Several Deaf seniors in Arizona saw their Deaf friends moved to various nursing and assisted living homes all over the state. They saw how so lonesome their friends became. Deaf tenants are often ignored by the management and neighbors who cannot communicate with them or are too lazy to write English on paper. We use American Sign Language (ASL).

 

Action:

So, a group of Deaf seniors took action and established ADSCC in 1979. Basically, the mission is to build and operate retirement homes for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind people in Arizona. The concept is to build an environment where everybody talks ASL, thus preventing extreme loneliness among the tenants. ADSCC has an office in Apache ASL Trails in Tempe, AZ. We rent a hall for meetings. We have about 80 members, most of them above 50 years of age. ADSCC is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt charitable organization approved by the IRS. We have By-Laws, Articles of Incorporation and Strategic Plan.

 

The Work Toward Our Goal:

After three failed attempts to get a funding from Housing and Urban Development, we looked for a professional developer. Erich Schwenker of Cardinal Capital Management (CCM) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin invited ADSCC president Tom Posedley to visit its first Deaf retirement home, a three story building with 43 apartments near Milwaukee. We signed an agreement with CCM on January 29, 2005.

 

AZ Team/ADSCC:

Upon CCM's advice we set up an Arizona Team, consisting of deaf senior leaders in various areas, as a board with officers and committees. The AZ Team meets every month and provides information, decisions and encouragements to CCM whose main role is raising funds and planning on a building. On June 17, 2010 we had a ground-breaking ceremony on a site on 2428 E. Apache Blvd., Tempe, AZ. Afterwards, the AZ Team dissolved and the ADSCC remained as a limited partner since 2011.