Leadership Academy for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is based on a core set of principles about process, approach, and outcomes from Partners in Policymaking:

• Experiential learning: LADHH participants learn by doing. They prepare and deliver testimony. They practice speaking to public officials. They use a variety of different learning methods to acquire the competencies.
• Diversity: LADHH groups are diverse in experiences, disability types, geographic location, gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds, income levels and education levels. LADHH participants learn as much from the experiences of others as from the curriculum.
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing Speakers: LADHH participants obtain training from speakers who provide perspective that is up-to-date on best practices and state-of-the-art at local, state, and national levels.
• Best Practices: LADHH participants learn about what’s possible, not about what already is! They break out of the status quo and ask “What if...”
• Leadership: LADHH participants acquire knowledge for change, not just for knowledge’s sake. They use the things they learn to make action for social change. They provide leadership in their communities. LADHH is not about getting the most services for participants and their families.
• Length of Time: Utah Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing under Division of Services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Utah Association for the Deaf make a commitment to LADHH programs for a full 8 sessions of training in which its participants receive 128 hours of instruction over the course of a program year.
• Sufficient Funding: Funders commit to quality replications that pay for all the program related expenses. This money supports the other quality principles.
• Evaluation: LADHH participants and speakers evaluate their experiences with the program. LADHH participants are surveyed before they begin the program, and at six months following graduation. Long term surveys are done over several classes. These results are tracked and monitored for long term trends.
• Not an Organization: LADHH is a leadership training program. The real work of graduates is in community, state and national organizations. The program links them with networks and helps them acquire the competencies needed to succeed.
• Outcomes: The program’s ultimate outcomes are increased independence, productivity, integration, inclusion and self determination for all LADHH participants and their family members and their people.

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