The Illinois agency that deals with hearing loss issues is getting criticism from groups who deal with deaf people, saying its wasting hundreds of thousands of state dollars through weak leadership and oversight. Critics of the Springfield-based Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission launched an online petition this summer that calls for the group to listen to the community's needs and make systematic changes.
Illinois Association of the Deaf president Corey Axelrod says commission director John Miller and assistant director Janet Lambert are incompetent and shouldn't be leading the agency.
The agency's legal counsel, Tonia Bogener, says the 11-member commission "regularly evaluates" Miller and Lambert and thinks both are "doing adequate work."
