General Information

About the Described and Captioned Media Program

Explore our Web site to learn how we are living our mission to promote and provide equal access to communication and learning for students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind.

The DCMP is an idea that works thanks to funding by the U.S. Department of Education and administration by the National Association of the Deaf.

About the U.S. Department of Education

The mission of the U.S. Department of Education is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation.  The U.S. Department funds the DCMP through the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) , which is part of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).

OSERS supports programs that assist in educating children with special needs, provides for the rehabilitation of youth and adults with disabilities, and supports research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. OSEP is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes formula grants to states, and discretionary grants to institutions of higher education and other nonprofit organizations to support research, demonstrations, technical assistance and dissemination, technology and personnel development, and parent-training and information centers.

About the National Association of the Deaf

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was established in 1880 by deaf leaders who recognized the right of the American deaf community to use sign language, to congregate on issues important to them, and to have its interests represented at the national level. These beliefs remain true to this day, with American Sign Language as a core value. As a nonprofit federation, the mission of the NAD is to preserve, protect and promote the civil, human, and linguistic rights of deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America. The advocacy scope of the NAD is broad, covering the breadth of a lifetime and impacting future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health care, technology, telecommunications, youth leadership, and more.