The twins have been attending Parent Child Advocate Program workshops since they were 12, and now they participate each month as group leaders. Through an interpreter, they said it’s important to help younger children communicate and battle the isolation that comes along with being deaf.

“Every hearing person should have to spend a day in ‘deaf world’ just so they can see exactly what it’s like,” said the twins’ mother, Blackstone resident Jeannette Gratz. “If you are a hearing person, you can imagine walking into a room full of deaf people and how you don’t understand anything that’s going on. If you don’t know sign language, you don’t understand the conversations that they’re having.”

In addition to the workshops on weekends, Challenge Discovery Projects also provides access to mental health professionals who are fluent in American Sign Language, said Dan Stembridge, co-founder and executive director for administrative services of the nonprofit.

Some people drive hours for the group’s programs, he said.

“I think it speaks to the unavailability of services,” Stembridge said. “At the end of the day, that’s ... why we started this.”