Deaf Seniors of America
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History of Deaf Seniors of America

The first national conference for deaf seniors was held under the auspices of Travis County Association of Deaf Senior Citizens in Austin, Texas in 1992. It drew more than 920 participants. After this conference, a survey was conducted among thousands of seniors throughout the country about the desirability of having a national organization. The response was overwhelming in favor of it.

The establishment of the National Association of Deaf Senior Citizens (NADSC) took place at the second national conference hosted by the Ohio School for the Deaf Alumni Association in 1994. The Columbus conference brought together more than 1,700 participants.

The Florida Association of the Deaf undertook, on short notice, the task of putting together a mini-conference in Fort Lauderdale in 1995. More than 800 people registered for this conference.

The Arizona Senior Citizens Coalition hosted the fourth national conference in Phoenix in 1997. More than 1,700 participants gathered at this conference. It was here that participants voted to rename to organization Deaf Seniors of America (DSA).

In 1999 the Georgia Association of Deaf Senior Citizens had the honor of managing the fifth national conference in Atlanta. They had 1,300 participants.

DSA has experienced steady growth in membership and influence. It has striven to widen its scope of programs and services to its memberships as resources permitted. Wherever the conferences were held, the local host organizations and their members developed conference programs that were meaningful and relevant to the needs of this population. As someone once said: "DSA is an idea whose time has come." This idea is now a strong, vibrant organization of more than 2,500 members from throughout the United States.