Deering, Charlotte Chère2023-06-282023-06-282023-06https://hdl.handle.net/1794/28463373 pagesResources are often lacking or difficult to find for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) in the United States. The DHH fall behind in mainstream schools without assistive services and often turn to State Vocational Rehabilitation Services Programs (SVRSP), a federally and state funded education-to-employment program. It provides access to accessibility services so “disabled” people can secure education and employment. A client’s residence determines what website, services, and funds are available. This study is grounded in uncertainty reduction and muted group theories as viewed through a Foucauldian lens. Computer-mediated communication, updated to online-mediated communication, is used as a conceptual model. The core research question asks: How can state and federal agencies improve online access to vocational rehabilitation for the DHH and what are the existing barriers? Public policy mandates states to provide information for DHH individuals and stipulates that the state is responsible for making program information publicly available. DHH access to information and services was examined through a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the SVRSPs on state and territorial government websites. Document analysis provides a contextual overview. The presence and absence of SVRSP information was quantitatively examined through the Content, Usability, Interactivity, Transparency, and Audience (CUITA) model, revealing SVRSP resource gaps. Of the 56 state and territories, 29 had closed captioning, 9 had ASL in videos, 3 mentioned cochlear implants, and 24 mentioned hearing aids. Statistically significant differences among state websites’ relationships with political party leaning, budgets, Cook Political Report, and alignment with a scale of Elazar’s Political Culture classification are reported. Improving online-mediated communication, revising website design, and ensuring website compliance with state and federal laws would serve to unmute the DHH. A qualitative analysis examined five state vocational rehabilitation service program websites in detail. The study determined that much of the SVRSP information was not accessible to the DHH, and website content requires high levels of education. The study concludes that budgets affect SVRSP program resources and therefore influence the quality of the websites. A best-practices checklist for improvement is provided. These findings extend muted group theory to un-muted group theory, demonstrating that the DHH are unmuted not only through language but also by accessibility resources.enCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USdeafpowervocational rehabilitationaccessibilitygovernmentonline informationUncovering Vocational Rehabilitation Online: How the Standardization of State and Federal Government Information Can Empower the Deaf and Hard of HearingThesis / Dissertation